Last Sunday, I was walking home from a trip to the store, when I noticed this billboard, just a half block from my house. I’m not sure how long it’s been up there. It’s probably been there since the launch of Windows Vista in late January.

Beauty is also in the eye of the beholder.

The first thing that struck me about the billboard was the slogan: “Beautiful on the inside, too.” Does that mean that the underlying source code is reminiscent of Jackson Pollock’s drip period? I’ve never associated beautiful with any Microsoft product (or any operating system, for that matter, including Mac OS X. That's not a knock on anything; I just don't think of operating systems as beautiful).

I live in San Francisco’s Sunnyside district, a residential area a good distance south of downtown SF. Which leads me to the second thing that struck me about the Vista billboard: its location. It’s on a busy street, but it's in a location where you can see it only if you're stopped at the light, or you're walking by. I can’t imagine it has any impact. However, the billboard is located three blocks from an elementary school. Is Microsoft trying to influence today’s youth? Probably not, but you never know.