It’s one thing to have your computer crash. It’s another to have it crash in front of thousands of sports fans. This latest humiliation took place Saturday at the pre-game festivities for the Oklahoma/Brigham Young game at the at the brand new $1.15 billion Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. TUAW Reader Jeff tells them that they had a breakdown on the scoreboard screens: first, the screens went blank, then displayed some odd ASCII gibberish, then announced to the assembled crowd that things weren’t going so well in Microsoft land. Jeff was there with his trusty iPhone to capture the moment for us, and we present it to you on this day when you’re not working, either. It’s not the first time this kind of embarrassing stuff has happened; Microsoft had another glitch at the Beijing Olympics last year. But hey, it could happen to anybody, right?

Microsoft’s half-price deal for Windows 7 ran out a few weeks ago, bumping prices back to painful levels. If you’re thinking about pre-ordering anyway, wait. There’s a decent chance there’ll be some new deals as we get closer to launch.

They want the launch to be a success, after all, and success will be measured by sales numbers. The standard upgrade pricing—$120 for Home Premium—is too much to guarantee the kind of rocket launch Microsoft’s looking for. You know, the one that shows they’re back on track, especially after this past quarter.

Pressure from Snow Leopard’s flat $29 upgrade price will help, and Microsoft’s been savvy enough with press for Windows 7 they know that staging another set of deals will be a positive boost getting closer to launch. The early summer pre-orders were for the super-geeks(like myself)—your dad probably didn’t hear anything about it—so another round to get semi-regular people on board would be smart.