In one of what will likely be a bounty of publicity stunts from Microsoft in the coming months, the company distributed 2,000 copies of its new accounting software to the good people of Willow Springs, Ill., population 6,000.

The Chicago Sun-Times offered this description of Microsoft's unorthodox delivery method:

Ed Hodina walked to the curb to pick up his newspaper early Monday and found dozens of miniature parachutes dangling from the trees lining his Willow Springs street.

"I was curious, that's for sure," said Hodina, owner of the 55-year-old Willow Springs Ace Hardware.

Attached to the toy-like parachute was a copy of Microsoft Accounting Express 2007.

It turns out Microsoft's elite airborne software marketing division didn't actually drop the small-business focused accounting program from a C-130, but tossed them from a car. Here's the rest of the story, which describes an advertising campaign highlighting the "entrepreneurial spirit of small town America." Willow Springs, with 85 small businesses, filled the bill.