Students walking past the MU Bookstore and the MU Student Center might have noticed two large tents on the sidewalk in front of the building.

The first of these tents houses the MU Bookstore’s spring sale for its merchandise. The second of the tents belongs to the Microsoft Campus Tour.

The tour’s Windows’ signature sky blue tent holds a whirlwind of activity within its walls. A multitude of PCs, a large flat-screen TV, a photo booth and an Xbox Kinect, fill the tent, along with students and Microsoft employees alike scurrying around them.

“We’re here to show students how to use and become familiar with Windows Live and Windows 7,” employee Edwin Goitia said. “We’re teaching them how to use SkyDrive, too.”

SkyDrive is a way to share thousands of pictures and documents online with friends, Goita said. He also said many students don’t realize it exists, so they don’t know to take advantage of this online service site.

In case all of the hustle and bustle with the computers isn’t enough to draw students in, Microsoft Campus Tour has a few other promotional tricks up its sleeve to entice passersby.

Throughout the day the tour offers free coffee to visitors and for those who are lucky enough to enter the tent in the earlier hours of the morning, free pastries might be provided as well.

In the back of the tent, the tour has set up a Dance Central 2 section with an Xbox Kinect. The employees encourage visitors to come in, take a load off and dance for a while.

“Sometimes we’ve got a crowd lined up for a tournament,” Goitia said.

Sophomores Amanda Richardson and Kearston Winrow took advantage of the dance station to have some fun in the tent.

“We just came in to dance,” Richardson said.

Other visitors, such as Columbia resident Jonathan Nguyen, came into the tent in hopes of winning some free electronics.

“I heard there was an Xbox 360 they’re giving away,” Nguyen said.

Drawings are held at 5 p.m. each day to give away an Xbox 360. At the end of the week will be a special drawing, where two participants will be selected to win a Sony Vaio laptop.

Among the tour’s other attributes are a photo booth station and the opportunity to play around with Photo Fuse, an application which offers a simple way to edit pictures.

The tour travels around the country to universities to promote Microsoft, Goitia said.

“We just approach universities, and it’s either a yes or a no,” he said.

He also said he loves the engagement with people.

The tent will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.