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The first of several new Windows commercials premiered during the NFL season opener

After lackluster sales of its Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft has officially launched its $300 million Windows marketing campaign.  Relying on the popularity of standup comic Jerry Seinfeld, Microsoft reportedly agreed to pay Seinfeld $10 million for his services in a series of commercials to help change Vista's image.

The first Vista commercial featuring Seinfeld aired on TV last night during the first game of the NFL football season, with company co-founder Bill Gates also featured in the commercial.  The 90-second commercial employs typical Seinfeld standup comedy, featuring Seinfeld and Gates shopping at a discount shoe store.  

Windows was mentioned at the end of the commercial after Seinfeld asked Gates if Microsoft is working on a technology to help create "moist and chewy" computers, which is when the Windows logo was shown.  Seinfeld told Gates to adjust his underwear if Microsoft is working on the technology, and Gates does indeed adjust his underwear.

But initial reactions to the first commercial have left some viewers confused and disappointed, and critics who were not impressed with Microsoft choosing Seinfeld likely will have even more ammunition following the airing of the first commercial.

The commercial can be seen by clicking here.

Microsoft has sold at least 180 million Vista licenses since the operating system's launch last year, but the stigma of an overrated, hard to use OS remains, especially when compared to Windows XP or Apple OS X.

Microsoft recently had an advertising push with its Mojave commercials, where unsuspecting users who reportedly didn't like Vista were tricked into using a new operating system, Mojave, which really was Vista.

As the company continues to struggle to get new users to adopt Vista, research indicates Apple continues to gain market share against PCs over the past couple of years.  During the quarter ending in June, Apple had 8.5 percent market share, which is a 38 percent different compared to one year before.

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I think many people missed the point
By Targon on 9/5/2008 8:02:49 AM , Rating: 3
If this was the first commercial, it may be the introduction to the commercial series. Yes, it was weird, and by itself will do nothing, but the next commercial will probably be a more obviously pushing Windows.

On the issue of Vista, many users out there don't know the difference between Microsoft Office and Windows Vista. For people who read technical sites, we know the difference, but many end-users mistake people hating the UI for Microsoft Office 2007 and thinking Vista is the reason they are having so many problems.

I personally hate the new UI for Office 2007, and most people I know have really struggled trying to find where the features have moved to. Many have gone back to Office 2003 just because they know how to find all the features they have been using for years.

I think Microsoft needs to advertise that Windows Vista is NOT Microsoft Office 2007, because that is something that is lost on many people.




RE: I think many people missed the point
By Fenixgoon on 9/5/2008 8:34:58 AM , Rating: 5
i started using office 2007 finally, and after using it for a bit (word only so far, really), i must say that the menu system they created does make things MUCH easier. no crazy text menus to navigate in order to sub- or superscript objects, etc.

office2007 is win, now that i'm used to it (after all of writing one two page paper)


RE: I think many people missed the point
By cochy on 9/5/2008 9:23:12 AM , Rating: 5
Well two things that Office 2007 and Vista has taught Microsoft is that people are lazy and have no patience for learning new UIs.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By Mitch101 on 9/5/2008 9:33:31 AM , Rating: 4
Agreed. Office 2007 rocks to highlight text and hover over styles and watch it change is priceless.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By 67STANG on 9/5/2008 11:11:14 AM , Rating: 1
My company just pushed it to all of us a few months ago. The only priceless thing about it, is how much slower it is than Office 2003. I mean really... should office apps really take this long to load? And yes, I have all the updates...


RE: I think many people missed the point
By artemicion on 9/5/2008 11:28:28 AM , Rating: 2
Don't really have a problem with Word's load time but Outlook 2007 is just absolutely horrendous. It takes forever and a half to load, a million years to check my inboxes, and ages to switch from one folder to another. Granted, I never delete any of my e-mails, so there's about 40k messages distributed over two email accounts, but Apple Mail seems to handle it alright :/

Other than Outlook, I do like Office 2007 overall.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By MarcLeFou on 9/5/2008 11:33:03 AM , Rating: 2
Disable all add-ons under trust center.

It makes a world of difference - I was on the verge of getting more RAM for my laptop but its totally unneeded now.


By gamerk2 on 9/8/2008 8:24:36 AM , Rating: 2
My company PC is a 1.6 GHz Pentium 4. Why should our company upgrade again?

Besides, this might get more people to switch to openOffice. Small and quick, like an OS should be.


By jimbojimbo on 9/5/2008 3:05:24 PM , Rating: 3
Learn what folders are.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By CascadingDarkness on 9/5/2008 12:20:33 PM , Rating: 2
You must be working on a "Vista Capable" PC.

http://www.dailytech.com/Suit+Says+Microsoft+Knowi...


By 67STANG on 9/5/2008 12:51:43 PM , Rating: 2
No... actually they have me on a Dell Precision M6300 with an Intel T7800 (2.6GHz) and 3.5GB RAM...

I'm sure it's "Vista Capable" but as with many IT departments, they have chosen to stick with XP Pro...

And yes, I have disabled most of the add-ins....


By paydirt on 9/5/2008 9:59:11 AM , Rating: 2
Lazy? Maybe. Impatient? Yes. Got it pre-installed on a laptop and I want to do stuff in a spreadsheet right away and not being able to find stuff drives me nuts. Can't remember the feature that I use, but couldn't find it at all, but forgot to hit F1.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By mindless1 on 9/5/2008 10:04:19 AM , Rating: 2
It's not lazy to want to keep productivity up by not having to re-learn to do tasks you already do well. There's no "patience" factor except patience in tolerating a monopoly that refuses to give customers what they wanted.

What these two apps have taught MS is that we don't care what they want us to have, that we are more and more expecting something that improves on the prior version in areas it was considered practically universally deficient, instead of just changing things for the sake of change alone.


By MarcLeFou on 9/5/2008 11:31:34 AM , Rating: 5
The ribbon system is the best UI design of Microsoft since XP launched in 2002!

Sure I hated it for two weeks but you and I are not the ones who required change. It's the office workers that did.

Did you know that a good chunk of the top 10 most requested feature before 2007 were actually already IN the program (I forget the exact number but I believe it was around 6 out of 10) ? I think right there that screams a change was needed.

As for how well designed it is, we rolled it out about 6 months ago were I work (Small Business) and people were comfortable with it on day 1. Sure I'd get a call per week asking me where "x" feature was for about a month but everything is so much more accessible now, the staff discovered new ways to do things so it made them more productive.

The only drawback is Outlook is painfully slow but disabling unneeded add-ons fixes that marvelously.

As a side note, I kind of like the commercial. It's obviously a set-up that will run for a month or two than have a follow-up, most likely in the same "average joe" style which is the target audience. But I do have to confess I've always been a fan of Seinfeld.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By cochy on 9/5/2008 11:32:34 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
It's not lazy to want to keep productivity up by not having to re-learn to do tasks you already do well.


That is a pretty short sighted comment. Let's say for instance that learning a new UI might take some time in the near term, but this UI will allow for high productivity in the longer term (because it's more efficient). I'm not necessarily speaking of Office 2007 in this case, but in general.


By mindless1 on 9/6/2008 1:46:21 AM , Rating: 2
Let's also consider that the new UI may not actually improve productivity, or that by the time there was a minor gain there was already enough retraining time and cost that any potential gain may be completely offset, then welcome to the next version of windows where it may repeat.


By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:20:03 PM , Rating: 4
Which is odd - why would people switch to a Mac then? I guess the number of people going to Apple is pretty small, and it isn't the same people who are annoyed learning a new UI with Vista and Office 07.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By The0ne on 9/5/2008 2:54:23 PM , Rating: 1
I use Word and Excel all day long. I don't have the patience to learn through the new UI. Hours spent trying to figure things out AND get use to where they are are hours spent away from getting any work done. I've tried 3 times now to learn to use the UI more effectively but it's just not working for me. All of my colleagues have already given up on it and gone back to 2003. I've done the same as well.

I wouldn't call it lazy considering we're all hardware/software engineers here.


By GoodBytes on 9/5/2008 3:31:26 PM , Rating: 3
That is a help documentation exists. So that you DON'T spend hours figuring it out.

Office 2007 and Vista help documentation is so simple, that a 5 year old kid can understand it. However, complete enough to explain the most advance features, troubleshoots. It also comes complete with diagrams and pictures.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 4:01:07 PM , Rating: 3
how the hell can anyone not figure out where things are in '07?

it's all RIGHT THERE... :|


By Belard on 9/5/2008 10:51:52 PM , Rating: 1
Look at it from the view of someone who HAS used MS-OFFICE for 10 years. Office 95, 97, 2000, XP, 2002, 2003 are all almost exactly the same. Nothing much changed.

So with O2007 - everything is different. The solution was the option for O2003 interface. A company sells a module for that.

I think O2007 is a step in the right direction... even thou its radical. Vista is not radical, its just plain stupid bloat.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By blaster5k on 9/5/2008 10:04:44 AM , Rating: 5
Yeah, Office 2007 has a UI that makes a lot more sense. The "conventional" UI requires memorizing a complicated set of little toolbar icons and menu locations. It's been standard practice for a number of years, but it was never a good arrangement.

I find it humorous how resistant to change some people are though. They'll defend the old zillion click way of doing something even when an obviously better alternative has been implemented.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By Belard on 9/5/2008 8:41:21 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
If this was the first commercial, it may be the introduction to the commercial series.


I doubt its a serial-series, its 90seconds long - and they'd have to count on the consumers having seen the previous episode to make the next one make sense, or perhaps make the previous one make sense - who knows, who cares? It was dorky, stupid, not funny... American Pie = funny. American Pie 4 or 5(are they past 5?) = not funny.

The issue between Office 2007 and Vista is NOT the issue. Nobody is getting those two confused. Lets see, an Spreadsheet is nothing like calculator.

Yes, Office 2007 is radical and yet it actually WORKS! On my own PC - I'm still using Office 2000. Why? Because OfficeXP, 2002 and 2003 are not much different and O2000 does what I need. But I have a coupon in the mail that'll allow me to pick up the Home/Student version of Office2007 for $45! I think I'll get it. I don't use Outlook - so its a non-issue.

Keep in mind, the development team that designed Office2007 are working on Windows7! Hope they have time to do something with Office 2010. ;)

Nobody is getting Windows and office confused. That's like saying someone has gotten confused with a SONY TV with a PlayStation3.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By mm2587 on 9/5/2008 9:47:26 AM , Rating: 3
No one in the tech world is getting office and vista confused.
But most of the world is not the tech world. My girlfriend worked in a university computer lab when vista came out. The university provides office and windows free of charge to every student. She can not count the number of time people came in asking for vista when they really meant office 2007.

These are college students at a large well known university. If this group is confused about the difference between an operating system and an office suite I'd imagine an even larger percentage of other users are too.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By Proxes on 9/5/2008 11:04:05 AM , Rating: 1
I'll back this up. I've been in IT for over 13 years and the amount of times I've heard people call the OS office names and Office OS names is just ridiculous.

It's about as annoying as people saying NIC card. Ok, it's not as annoying since it's normally techs that say NIC card... sigh.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By CascadingDarkness on 9/5/2008 12:26:40 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
NIC card

You can thank Cisco curriculum for that. I don't think I read it without the redundancy once.

BTW pin number is another one that is almost as annoying.


By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:24:30 PM , Rating: 2
PIN number? like the one you use at the ATM machine?

Ugh. Those always bother me, too.


By Belard on 9/6/2008 11:36:12 PM , Rating: 3
Those are stupid people, if they cant tell the difference between an OS and an Office package. This also should help drive the point home that most people don't REALLY need to have MS brand OFFICE.

Well... as we have seen over and over - the world is full of morons... too bad it easy for them to re-produce. ;(

PS: The stupid naming of MS Office Icons on the desktop.
"Microsoft Office 2007 Word" or something like that. So all you see on the desktop is "Microsoft Office..." Just using "Word 2007" should do.


By mindless1 on 9/5/2008 10:07:21 AM , Rating: 2
It's almost certain to be a serial-series, there'd be no point whatsoever to the commercial if it weren't as it does nothing to entice or encourage sales, barely even mentioning the brand and product which could be missed if someone blinks during the end.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By steven975 on 9/5/2008 9:14:23 AM , Rating: 4
New UI or not (and it's better but it takes getting used to), the data analysis capability of Excel 2007 is significantly greater.

We've been stuck with Excel's 16-bit row addressing scheme for far too long. Now it's gone and I say good riddance. I actually find Excel 2003 is insufficient for my needs at work as it can't analyze enough data. Then there's the multi-threaded recalc in 2007 which saves a lot of time, too.


By steven975 on 9/5/2008 9:18:01 AM , Rating: 2
Also, the Office on Macs can't do Visual Basic. That makes it virtually useless in a corporate environment, at least for anything complicated.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By mindless1 on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
RE: I think many people missed the point
By SavagePotato on 9/5/2008 10:26:37 AM , Rating: 1
Spend a few years doing consumer level technical support and you might quickly discover that common sense is not all that common.

I can't count how many times I have asked people, what operating system are you using and got, "uhh um, I don't know, oh ummm here it is, Microsoft office 2003."

I even remember one customer having a "tech" come in who was really just one of those everybody has one, friend of a friends "computer genius" kid, and proceed to royally hose one of their brand new systems by reloading windows with a cracked copy of xp because they asked him to install office for them.

So yes, he indeed has a point that many people don't know what the enter key is much less the difference between Vista and office 2007. You don't have to be an elite brain to deduce that, just spend a little bit of time talking to average computer users.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By 67STANG on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
RE: I think many people missed the point
By just4U on 9/5/2008 11:53:57 AM , Rating: 2
I can't comment on Office07 but for Vista.. I think your wrong there.. especially as the months go by on a existing install. XP fully loaded with all the apps you use as compared to Vista fully loaded.. Vista is faster.

Oddly enough. (have others found this?)I am going on a 10 month install of Vista64 and ..it seems to be getting faster as the months go by. I don't think it's my imagination either!


RE: I think many people missed the point
By 67STANG on 9/5/2008 1:05:39 PM , Rating: 1
Don't have much experience with Vista 64, although I hear it's pretty speedy-- as it should be.

Apples to apples however (32 bit), XP is faster. I've used both on multiple machines and have tons of IT colleagues that have done the same. The consensus is unanimous.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:29:30 PM , Rating: 2
I can understand why you didn't compare Vista64 to XP64, though. In that apples to apples comparison, XP is more like a crabapple. Or maybe a 'death apple' - the dreaded Manchineel.

Sometimes I accidentally say Manchineel instead of Macintosh....


RE: I think many people missed the point
By glitchc on 9/6/2008 4:44:24 PM , Rating: 2
Sometimes I just don't understand the hate about XP 64 on this website. Have you used it? I use it at work all the time (MATLAB, image and signal processing), and it has yet to crash, once, in all this time. It has been running for a month since the last shutdown and is just as responsive. No memory leaks, no lags, a rather big achievement for someone using MATLAB extensively.

Sounds like the same people who claim "Don't be hating Vista" are quick to bash XP 64 for the sake of Vista, without having ever really used XP 64. And if your claim is "The driver support sucks", well the same argument that holds for Vista holds for XP 64 here. It's the manufacturers' fault, not Microsoft's. XP 64 runs just as fast as XP 32, if not faster. On a Q6600 with 4GB RAM, the responsivity is instantaneous.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By just4U on 9/7/2008 7:50:44 PM , Rating: 2
It's due to driver speculation. Early on XP64 was notorious for vendors not having good drivers for it. The same can be said about Vista but usually they see headlines about this or that new Vista driver is available but they don't hear boo on the Xp64 front.

Many that were leary to make the jump to Vista64 were that way because of the stories told about XP64.


By glitchc on 9/9/2008 10:49:58 AM , Rating: 2
Thank you for reinforcing my point.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By SavagePotato on 9/5/2008 2:40:37 PM , Rating: 1
Go off topic and troll bait much?

You and your it buddies perception of speed has nothing to do with consumer understanding of technology.

For every one of your colleagues and yourself you will find just as many who disagree with you. Oh wait thats right, that argument has been held 1000 times and 1000 times again on dailytech.

Time to move on with the antiquated circa january 2007 vitsta trolling and bashing please.


RE: I think many people missed the point
By 67STANG on 9/5/2008 2:57:31 PM , Rating: 1
No troll bait here... although I guess if it were, that would make you a troll?

Who said speed had anything to do with consumer understanding of technology? Please stay on topic. My comment was on speed, and there is no perception involved. We are talking about IT professionals here-- people who do work with and support every OS from Win2k to Vista. Not people who buy an Acer desktop from Circuit City....

No doubt that argument has been held a thousand times on DT, with generally you as the main proponent of Vista. That's fine, Jobs has his fanboys and apparently Ballmer has his. BTW- if you think someone saying Vista is slower than XP is bashing Vista, you have a lot to learn indeed.


By SavagePotato on 9/5/2008 5:00:04 PM , Rating: 1
So "I think both are slower than what they replace" is on topic as to the consumer knowing the difference between an operating system and an office suite?

Try again mr troll.

Are you honestly coming across as trying to make a point that the original poster intended that tech world can't tell the difference between vista and office 2007, and not the consumer?

Seriously, most blatant shallow obvious troll ever. Go back under your bridge with your other so called it professionals.


By mindless1 on 9/6/2008 1:48:55 AM , Rating: 2
That's not a proof, the callers are only those that lack the basic abilities that non-callers have.


By omnicronx on 9/5/2008 10:31:01 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
You must be smoking crack if you think any typical Vista user can't tell the difference between the OS and interface of everything else,
I am pretty sure hes talking about those that do not use Vista..


RE: I think many people missed the point
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 10:32:45 AM , Rating: 2
he might not be some elite brain, but that still doesn't mean that lots and lots of average computer users still get office and windows confused. A ton of people I personally know equate sitting down at a computer and seeing a start menu with "PC" and they equate seeing the new UI of office 2k7 with "vista"


By mindless1 on 9/6/2008 1:53:42 AM , Rating: 2
What they equate to as using a PC is different than knowing whether office is running or whether they are changing their speaker volume, watching a movie, or launching their other applications from Office or from Windows itself.

Why does it seem like a lot of people don't know? Because they're the ones mentioning having problems while all the rest go about their own business knowing the difference.


By encryptkeeper on 9/5/2008 10:15:49 AM , Rating: 2
It's all about associating the product with something you enjoy watching on TV. Because when I think of bone-crunching gridiron action...I think of two dorky guys buying shoes.


By akugami on 9/5/2008 11:33:08 AM , Rating: 2
Like Fenixgoon says, it just takes some getting used to. As has been mentioned countless times, if you are used to the old ways of looking for things then Office 2007 is going to p*ss you off. However, for brand new users, Office 2007 is more intuitive as an interface. The grouping of features actually make more sense if you think things through logically. There are still some hiccups but being the first iteration of the ribbon, it's not that bad. And I'm someone who is used to the old ways of doing things.

There are plenty of tutorials you can find online for where things are. Not to mention the help system (yes there's a help system) in Office 2007 is actually pretty good.

Take a look at a random selection of programs and you'll see that the features and options are scattered everywhere. This is partially MS's fault. They should have standardized certain options so that most programs follow a standard UI organization. One feature I always go into when re-installing or installing new apps is the options or preferences window. This can be all over the map from the File menu, Edit menu, Tools, menu, or other named menus.

This commercial is a little confusing. The point was to advertise Vista if I'm not mistaken and...it just left me wondering how this would benefit Vista. The mojave commercial did a better job of advertising Vista.


By Meinolf on 9/5/2008 4:52:09 PM , Rating: 2
I think you need to take a class for Office 2007. I used to hate Office 2007 when it first came out took a class and would never go back to the old interface. It makes way more sense the way they have it setup now.


By 16nm on 9/5/2008 9:31:34 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
If this was the first commercial, it may be the introduction to the commercial series. Yes, it was weird, and by itself will do nothing, but the next commercial will probably be a more obviously pushing Windows.
So what if this was the intro to a series? Why not hit the ball out the park the first time with a kickass commercial that everyone gets a good laugh at? You know, the way Apple did.


Boring..
By Nyu on 9/5/2008 6:09:11 AM , Rating: 4
That video is really boring, they need to do better..




RE: Boring..
By afkrotch on 9/5/2008 6:25:11 AM , Rating: 3
I'm at work and can't watch the video, but reading the description has me bored.


RE: Boring..
By Belard on 9/5/2008 8:18:16 AM , Rating: 4
The Actual video is MORE boring that the discription.

The closest thing to anything being funny (not even a smile) is the mug-shot of teen gates.

Lets put it this way...

Dorky PC guy on Apple ADs = Funny, quick, hip
Dorky PC guy on Microsoft ADs = Dorky, boring, stupid

I'm betting the Apple Guys are saying "we need a pay-raise" - considering the quality of their work. ;)


RE: Boring..
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 10:54:17 AM , Rating: 3
i don't find microsoft's or apple's ads any more 'boring' than the other, but the directness of apple's ads is what makes them work so well.

I thought microsoft was actually going to fight back pointing out how useless macs are in various areas.. that would've at least been interesting.


RE: Boring..
By michael2k on 9/5/2008 12:26:24 PM , Rating: 2
It's hard to clearly say a Mac is useless in any area when a Mac can run Windows, Parallels, and Wine.

The only place I can image a Mac being useless is if you need a parallel port...


RE: Boring..
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 12:44:22 PM , Rating: 2
even though techies can get windows running on macs easily, most people associate OSX with macs..


RE: Boring..
By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:36:04 PM , Rating: 2
I think Microsoft has to worry about attacking Macs directly, considering their position in the marketplace.

Also, the Mac ads don't target Microsoft (except for the couple that explicitly mentioned Vista), they target PCs. Which is odd, because, now more than ever, a Mac is a PC.

Even so, if you're in the lead, by a ten to one margin, it just looks bad to badmouth your competition. Not to mention, it probably would just increase public awareness that they have a choice in operating systems. A Microsoft campaign against Macintosh would in a strange way validate the OS as a viable option in the eyes of many consumers, who would, perhaps subconsciously, think, "if they felt the need to attack this product, it must be a real threat. So it must have something to offer. I think I'll look into it." That's the opposite of what Microsoft wants.


RE: Boring..
By therealnickdanger on 9/5/2008 8:09:42 AM , Rating: 3
Well, I don't think the commercial was made with DailyTech readers in mind. I think it sucks as well, but it's obviously not intended for me...


RE: Boring..
By TheDoc9 on 9/5/2008 5:00:37 PM , Rating: 2
It makes as much sense as the coke commercials, who here honestly can see a polar bear drinking a coke.

This commercial was just something to keep Microsoft in peoples minds. It was for the person who's deciding on what to buy next, a mac or a pc. Discussing features that an OSx computer has too will not win Microsoft anything, they'd be perceived as playing catchup.

Eventually they'll be able to just throw features out there on their commercials like apple does (features that PC's have as well of course). The commercials will have to get more differentiated like apples/cokes to the point to where when one comes on you immediately associate the message/feeling with Microsoft. This allows the slow subtle approach of allowing people to choose Microsoft products over apple. There's no force involved and the person thinks they're making the choice themselves when in reality the choice was made for them by the marketers.


RE: Boring..
By HOOfan 1 on 9/5/2008 8:14:54 AM , Rating: 2
I saw it run several times last night on TV, and thought "this is supposed to counter the Mac vs. PC ads?"

I suppose they figure that PC fans have done enough reverse Mac vs. PC ads on youtube. But the Seinfeld commercial is more of an advertisement for shoes than an operating system...


RE: Boring..
By Polynikes on 9/5/2008 8:54:41 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, I was scratching my head as well. How exactly did the commercial respond to the Mac vs. PC ads? I suppose you could look at it as a metaphor... Like, you need to break in Windows for it to get really comfortable, or something, but that doesn't sound like a good message to me.

I guess the other message was that PCs are cheaper (discount store), but I think this stuff would fly right over the head of the average person who watched the Mac vs. PC ads, and isn't aware of how skewed they were.


RE: Boring..
By FITCamaro on 9/5/2008 9:04:39 AM , Rating: 2
Ditto. It left me like "Huh?".

Cmon Microsoft. You can do better than that. "Moist, chewy computers" isn't exactly the campaign I was looking for. You need kick Apple square in the testicles.


RE: Boring..
By Mitch101 on 9/5/2008 9:21:49 AM , Rating: 2
Yup just like when Bill commented about not getting the mac commercials and what they were trying to say I was left was this a commercial for Churros or that Clown shoe store? The only humor was Bill adjusting his shorts.

Please go get Will Farrell!!!


RE: Boring..
By bobcpg on 9/5/2008 9:44:51 AM , Rating: 2
I think you meant, "You need to kick Apple square in the vajay"


RE: Boring..
By paydirt on 9/5/2008 9:54:27 AM , Rating: 2
Horrible Ad. MSFT needs to ask the ad agency for their money back AND fire their Chief Marketing Officer who signed off on this.


RE: Boring..
By Squilliam on 9/5/2008 10:46:28 AM , Rating: 2
I honestly thought it was funny, it made me smile, it had an interesting metaphor. I would rather have that, than be slapped with "Im lovin' it" every 10 minutes.


RE: Boring..
By michael2k on 9/5/2008 12:28:33 PM , Rating: 1
This is Microsoft. You really think they "can do better than that"?

They are the ones that released the original Zune made right with Zune 2, the original XBox made right with the 360, and even Windows Mobile which looks clunky and obsolete compared to Android and iPhone OS.


RE: Boring..
By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:44:01 PM , Rating: 5
I thought it was alright. It's about making Microsoft seem more personable, as a corporation. It's that line of advertising that is effective because people don't feel like their being pushed to buy anything. It's about creating an image for Microsoft that can be juxtaposed against Apple's "sleek poser" image. Microsoft is aiming to brand themselves as "mellow, quirky, easygoing." They want this to overcome the "uberdork" branding that Apple stuck them with in their Mac vs. PC ads.

There may also have been a subtext of, "just because you've got money doesn't mean you have to blow it (i.e., buy flashy Macs), you can be thrifty."


RE: Boring..
By mindless1 on 9/5/2008 10:23:37 AM , Rating: 1
The commercial series appears to be attempting to paint Seinfeld as Seinfeld and Bill Gates as an ordinary everyday person, who will most likely eventually win over even a quirky stereotypical person like Seinfeld about the virtues of Vista and/or Windows 7. They're attempting to create the kind of dialog two strangers, at least former strangers only brought together by location, would have if they lived in a small community and thus saw each other often like you find in TV shows like Northern Exposure.

There's no metaphor, it's just an introduction meant to try and make people relate to the two or at least be more comfortable in the dialog before they converse about topics closer to the sales pitch. The most disappointing thing about the commercial was probably that when people see Seinfeld they expect more humor than that, and if they'd wanted to paint Gates as an everyday person they should have shown him having more problems like accidentally dropping the box of shoes or sitting in gum on the fitting chair or a bunch of goth teens staring at them through the window while they looked at shoes instead of a small (Mexican?) family.

They need to portray contemporary issues like being in a flood, or fairly neutral election related topics, the invasion(s) of Georgia, things that most watching TV will universally relate to in some way because typical TV viewers do end up watching the news regardless of which channel they see it on making that a common denominator of human experience.

They need to paint a picture of the everday things that average customers deal with - outside of computer issues - for their campaign to work but they fall short in not being average people, or at least the script writers him/herself can't relate well enough.


RE: Boring..
By micha90210 on 9/5/2008 10:55:01 AM , Rating: 2
Watching the commercial and getting into the scene, can't hide the thought - "He paid him 10 Million $ for this casual chat and the walk"


Dear Microsoft,
By Snowy on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
RE: Dear Microsoft,
By steven975 on 9/5/2008 9:26:21 AM , Rating: 2
IMO, they do make a great product. They messed up the launch, though, and could have helped more vendors write stable drivers, too.


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By mindless1 on 9/5/2008 10:26:14 AM , Rating: 1
Nothing they did during launch actually effected people's decisions on whether the OS met their needs. Seldom is the primary criticism of Vista, "drivers aren't stable enough".


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By GoodBytes on 9/5/2008 3:34:59 PM , Rating: 2
Fair enough.
But is that Microsoft fault? The OS was in beta (for developers and companies) longer that the OS is released.
If they decided to ignore support, as they want to release new products to piss their consumer off and force them to buy the new product which is about the same as the old one just for Vista support. It's NOT Microsoft fault.


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 10:40:23 AM , Rating: 3
oh how very wrong you are and how you must've forgotten how mindless most sheep are


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By akugami on 9/5/2008 11:37:22 AM , Rating: 2
No I doubt with the millions of upgrades MS sells that most people do not need, Vista being one, MS has not forgotten how mindless most sheeple are. Apple AND MS are counting on the fact that most people are mindless sheep.


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 11:51:56 AM , Rating: 2
my point is that vista was a great product that was simply marketed horribly. sheep need good marketing even more than they need a great product (apple is living proof of this)


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By Inkjammer on 9/5/2008 2:36:28 PM , Rating: 2
I can't even recall a Vista commercial prior to this. Microsoft basically made a few press releases, updated its website and said "!@#$ BE NEW!". A few blogs blogged about it and the internets as a whole went "Vista? What kind of name is 'Vista'?". Marketing put out some fliers describing the different versions and made a few "Vista-capable" stickers that lead consumers wondering "WHY IS MY LAPTOP SO SLOW!?". "Vista-capable" was like spark-welding JATO rockets to a wheelchair and trying to break landspeed records.

I remember how prolific Windows XP's launch was. There was a metric bombardment of advertising. Billboards, posters, busboards, planes flying with XP streamers. All over. I was in college in Philly at the time, and Microsoft had a bunch of people running around in Windows logo-themed butterfly outfits touting the features of XP and... well, it was odd and exceptionaly effeminate at best, but I remember it well. You couldn't get away from the advertising. XP had great marketing (despite the fact it was far more broken at launch than Vista was).

And for the record... I'm a Vista Ultimate user. I dig it.


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By Meinolf on 9/5/2008 5:02:51 PM , Rating: 2
I like Apple Hate the commercials I am MAC fan and use Vista for Gaming and love it. People that have issues are just uneducated on PC's.


RE: Dear Microsoft,
By akugami on 9/5/2008 5:17:25 PM , Rating: 2
I disagree. Vista is not a bad product but I would not categorize it as a great product. Neither is OSX a great product. You can label both as good or decent products but I would not say great.

I also disagree with the Apple comment. Apple does release on occasion great products. The Apple II was a great product. The original Mac was a great product. The original iPod was a great product. A great product does not necessarily mean revolutionary but it has to be a standout in one way or another.

I owned a Diamond Rio but the iPod IMHO knocked the socks off of it and any other competing DAP out at the time. In the iPod's case, it was the much better interface compared to other players. This is not to say MS doesn't release great products on occasion. I just hate how Apple haters label Apple as merely a marketing company who releases expensive bundled crap.

When Vista launched, it was not crap but it was very problematic and the negativity was justified. It needed more time in the oven to bake due to the lack of drivers as well as some general bug fixes. The marketing definitely did not help either but MS probably was counting on the sheeple effect as people would naturally gravitate towards the next MS product. This did not happen simply because even with all of its fault, XP did what people needed and people were familiar with it. There was no visible benefit to moving to Vista.

I own Vista Ultimate and am using the 64 bit version. I can honestly say today that if you're getting a new computer, get Vista. The drivers are where they need to be for the most part and most of the kinks have been worked out. There are still annoyances that I haven't figured out a way to get around but that's for another discussion. Is it a great product? No. Maybe if they released it with all the features they originally set for Longhorn, but not as it is today.


Loved It
By Inkjammer on 9/5/2008 9:05:40 AM , Rating: 2
Personally, I loved the ad. It was random and it didn't make a lot of sense, but it seems more like a teaser than an in your face "HOLY !@#$, VISTA!" approach.

I think it showed Bill Gates as sort of a regular guy, much like "PC" is from the "Mac and PC" commercials. Bill was a little odd and quirky, but with an every day guy approach that the "PC" from the commercials show. I think that's where the commercials seem to be angling. PC has a lot of fun, and enjoys what he does.

I never saw the Mac Guy/Justin Long as being "fun" in the commercials. He was just sort of a guy who seemed to hang around PC, point that out his flaws. Granted, I still love the PC and Mac commercials, but... yeah.




RE: Loved It
By steven975 on 9/5/2008 9:24:28 AM , Rating: 3
I find the PC guy to be way more charismatic myself. I know I'm not alone in that, either.


RE: Loved It
By tmouse on 9/5/2008 9:29:59 AM , Rating: 2
I'm thinking along the same lines. I guess they realized if they copied or directly debunked the Mac/Pc ads they would come off as unoriginal or the as a bully, neither promotes a positive image. They seem to be poking fun at themselves which could promote a more positive feeling to the average Joe, sort of making the monopolistic image of Microsoft more soft and cuddly. It counters the Mac/Pc ads which shows the pc guy as stodgy and over controlled and does so without directly attacking. Could work; I think Gates has enough recognition you do not have to say "buy Microsoft" what else could it be but a Microsoft commercial. Anyone who does not know Bill Gates = Microsoft probably is not going to buy any computer anyways. Self deprecation humor can improve the public perception of a corporation that is seen as aggressive and belligerently omnipotent as being more human and likable.


RE: Loved It
By Inkjammer on 9/5/2008 9:45:53 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Self deprecation humor can improve the public perception of a corporation that is seen as aggressive and belligerently omnipotent as being more human and likable.
Yep. The average person seems to think Microsoft and think "evil empire". Apple, who tends to have far more heavy handed tactics than Microsoft, is always seen as the "suave, cool company". Despite the fact they ninja lock you into everything, forcing you to buy Apple in the future or lose your content.

I think Microsoft just wants to show their fun side, which I'm cool with.


RE: Loved It
By michael2k on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
RE: Loved It
By sld on 9/7/2008 9:44:24 AM , Rating: 2
All your points are accurate except for this:

PC boxes run Linux too, and they can't run OS X, not because Microsoft doesn't want them to. Think Psystar.


RE: Loved It
By tmouse on 9/8/2008 8:26:41 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry Michael

Apple IS a very Draconian company. As a corporation they are just as; if not more litigious as Microsoft. They have bought out or forced into bankruptcy anyone who has even remotely touched on any aspects of their OS they did not sanction. At one time all defective repair parts had to be returned to the company for repair personnel to get replacement parts. They modified the SCSI standard in their early drives so people had to ask whether a SCSI drive was for a PC or An Apple. Jobs has actively pitted groups against each other within the company. To give credit where it is due he has been masterful in creating Apple's soft and fuzzy image but as a corporation Apple is what Microsoft would be if it also owned Intel. Its smaller market share in the PC realm limits its ability to be as much of a threat.


Am I the only one?
By BioRebel on 9/5/2008 8:56:13 AM , Rating: 1
Am I the only one who found the commercial funny? The nonsensical nature of it was just priceless. I mean, Bill Gates the richest man in the world shopping at a discount shoe outlet? DO YOU NOT SEE IT? Goddamn macfags




RE: Am I the only one?
By BansheeX on 9/5/2008 10:28:36 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, let's have a multi-billionaire go from paying maybe $500 for designer shoes to $50. You may as well laugh at him for buying a snickers when he could get a handmade one in a 100% goldleaf wrapper flown in overnight by helicopter from Sweden for $20000. Oh, look, there's Bill Gates buying a Snickers! Look, he's eating it and liking it just like we serfs! The cleverness! The hilarity! For someone with enough money to buy anything to be caught buying something mass produced and still be satisfied! That must be so below him, I'm rofling all over inside.

Lame.


RE: Am I the only one?
By MarcLeFou on 9/5/2008 11:41:58 AM , Rating: 2
I have no idea about Gate's lifestyle but he doesn't strike me as the "living large bling bling type".

Sure he has that amazing home on a golf course and most likely a few others but looking at him he certainly does NOT appear to spend thousands of dollars on his clothes and shoes. And who has ever seen him in an outrageous sports car anyway ?

To me he seems like a pretty much down to earth, "worked to get where I am" kind of guy instead of being an airhead that got everything handed on a gold plater to them like pop starts and pro athletes.


By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 9/5/2008 1:32:51 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I have no idea about Gate's lifestyle but he doesn't strike me as the "living large bling bling type".

He sort of does though. At least whenever I've seen him.


RE: Am I the only one?
By bugzrrad on 9/5/2008 2:50:10 PM , Rating: 2
RE: Am I the only one?
By MarcLeFou on 9/5/2008 4:05:13 PM , Rating: 2
That's surprising. I guess I just see him as a geeky kind of guy. I would have pictured him in a Bentley much more easily.

What's also funny is that the article makes it sound like Porshe 959 are rare in the states and both of the persons they mention having one are ... gates and seinfeld.

Nice coincidence for a 2006 article.


RE: Am I the only one?
By mindless1 on 9/5/2008 10:30:15 AM , Rating: 2
That's part of their goal to paint Vista as a good value. They're wanting subtly introduce common themes and tie them all together with Vista being virtuous in these areas, essentially trying to counter many of the complaints more popular among the masses. The idea is sound but the effect is lackluster at the moment, though we have only seen one commercial so the followup still has potential to be better than the introduction.


$10million for that?
By robinthakur on 9/5/2008 7:42:23 AM , Rating: 1
Are these those commercials all the Microsoft 'fans' have been touting as competitors to the amusing Apple ones? If so, they just wasted $400 million. Jerry Seinfeld must be laughing while rolling around on a bed of money. The Apple ads work well not because it alludes that apple mac's are "moist and chewy" but that it picks actual usability issues (as perceived by joe public) and flatteringly compares them on the mac to the PC. These adverts, love em or hate em work brilliantly to most people bar the tech-noratti.

Bottom Line these won't work the way MS wants them to. Whilst it raises MS's profile in the market, its not incisive or clear cut enough.




RE: $10million for that?
By Belard on 9/5/2008 8:28:48 AM , Rating: 4
As some of us have said on the previous article.

Having someone like Will Farrell do an AD today would have made more sense. Imagine him dressed like Semi-Pro or Bobby Ray charater saying "Vista, so manly - it'll eat a Mac for lunch" - Will unwraps a Mac-Mini (like a hamburger) and sharts EATING it... plastic flying everywhere. He hits the optical drive and he throws it to the ground screaming "who thought of this sh**! It aint taste nuthing like a Mac! ew blah horrible!"

Nope... this ADs tells the viewer about Vista enough... it sucks. The Ad sucks, the product sucks, the writers suck... it suck so much, it made Jerry Seinfeld suck! I wonder if he is being devalued by these ads? What morons tested these ads out and said "yep... that works for me!"?? The stupid Mojave ADs are easily better (Still BS as the people are SHOWN something that we DON'T see, not the same as using it.).


RE: $10million for that?
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 12:23:09 PM , Rating: 2
here's what i'm thinking..

the setting is simply an energetic camera crew running around interviewing random people asking questions...

crew runs up to a guy working on his dell at an airport. they ask him what he thinks of macs and he says "well, apple makes nice machines but I can't connect to my office's resources as easily as I can with windows.. plus i like how my windows mobile phone syncs up wirelessly to all my outlook contacts and calendar entries"...

crew runs into a starbucks and in the row of laptop users they ask the first one (who's using a beautiful sony let's say) "ah, I see you're running Vista, what do you think of it?" and she responds "it's so fast.. I love how i don't even really have to shut it down and it wakes up in a second"

they move on to someone using a macbook pro and start to interview them accidentally.. then make some off-camera remark like "whoops, we can delete that righ.." that gets cut-off as it goes to the next scene, where they go into a basement where a lan party is going on with a bunch of gamers.. some cooler looking than others.

they kinda shout to everyone there "mind if we ask what operating system you're all running?" and one by one they oddly look up and reply "xp here" and "vista for me.. it supports my hardware a little better than xp did" and so on.

the last kid in the room responds with "i only use linux and open source software!" and everyone else in the room starts groaning..

then the crew says "why aren't any of you using macs?" and the whole room just roars in laughter with one of the sanest-looking kids replying "you're joking, right? they're just overpriced toys.. everyone knows you can't game on a mac.. let alone do anything USEFUL"

then the windows vista logo shows up and a black screen just says "Microsoft. Useful."

plus points for pimping all the xp netbooks or vista on the HP mininote in subsequent ads..

---

at the very least, a campaign like this would be interesting.. and at the most it'd be wildly successful


RE: $10million for that?
By napalmjack on 9/5/2008 8:31:22 AM , Rating: 2
By the way, if Seinfeld wasn't rolling around on a bed of money after getting paid $1 million per episode 10 years ago, he never will.


true
By sirius4k on 9/5/2008 6:34:16 AM , Rating: 2
I'm a Windows user and will stay on that road, but that commercial doesn't help at all.

Long story short: it sucked :P




RE: true
By Ferentz on 9/5/2008 6:49:56 AM , Rating: 2
412 views and only 2 stars on youtube... Wonder why so long?


RE: true
By jtesoro on 9/5/2008 8:24:31 AM , Rating: 2
Hahaha, yeah it really sucks, but I figured out the secret to make it better! I'll let you in on it: in YouTube, you must press the "watch in high quality" link. It's the the High Quality commercial that counts guys. Gosh I'm so excited, cuz this is gonna be soooo great!

Trying out now...

Awwwwwww.


RE: true
By PWNettle on 9/5/2008 1:56:17 PM , Rating: 2
Agree. That commercial was pointless and terrible. Seinfeld sucks - can't stand that scrub, and the commercial wasn't funny in any way. It sucked.

Gates is supposed to be retired - he shouldn't be doing commercials - he's a genius but he's not that charismatic and hanging out with a moron like Seinfeld making pitiful attempts at humor isn't going to boost the image of MS or Vista.


Is VISTA an acronym?
By supremelaw on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
RE: Is VISTA an acronym?
By BadAcid on 9/5/2008 12:51:54 PM , Rating: 2
*facepalm*

Does MAC stand for Monitored Application Controller?
or Military Administration Console?


RE: Is VISTA an acronym?
By JustTom on 9/5/2008 1:19:28 PM , Rating: 2
What sort of resistance? Google spits out links just like for anything. ANd why in hell would Google be protecting MS anyway? BTW, did you skip your meds today?


RE: Is VISTA an acronym?
By anotherdude on 9/5/2008 1:48:21 PM , Rating: 2
OMG. Here too. This is crazy talk supremelaw, if you can't see it I don't know what else to say.


RE: Is VISTA an acronym?
By foolsgambit11 on 9/5/2008 1:50:24 PM , Rating: 2
Why are you signing your posts? And why are you signing them like a Nigerian scam e-mail?


WTF
By Trisagion on 9/5/2008 6:48:12 AM , Rating: 2
I think I speak for everyone when I say, What on earth was that about?




RE: WTF
By mmcdonalataocdotgov on 9/5/2008 7:47:12 AM , Rating: 2
Exactly.

The commercial during the Redskins / Giants game was hard to tell it was a commercial for Microsoft. It looked like a commercial for the shoestore. I think Microsoft had a marketing meeting, and needed to figure out just how they could let everyone know how out of touch they are. And it worked wonders. Gd jb, MS.


RE: WTF
By JustTom on 9/5/2008 12:28:04 PM , Rating: 2
I am perplexed by the ad myself. However,this is part of a larger campaign. It should be judged as it unfolds. This might be creating 'watercooler' conversations, one of the aims of most marketing.


Did anyone else notice...
By Blight AC on 9/5/2008 8:36:30 AM , Rating: 2
This picture for his Shoe Circus Clown Club card was his mugshot?

0:57 if you want to check. Nice touch.




RE: Did anyone else notice...
By JustTom on 9/5/2008 1:22:42 PM , Rating: 2
That was probably the coolest part.


By Master Kenobi (blog) on 9/5/2008 2:17:21 PM , Rating: 2
Yes, I found that extremely amusing.


standup comic
By fishbits on 9/5/2008 10:55:18 AM , Rating: 2
"...standup comic Jerry Seinfeld..."

Maybe he should try his hand at a TV series. In the past there have been some standup comics who have successfully made the transition. Of course it's going to take good writing and an excellent supporting cast to go anywhere. If he's working on a pilot, I wonder what the show will be about.




RE: standup comic
By MarcLeFou on 9/5/2008 11:47:27 AM , Rating: 2
I can't tell if this is blatant sarcasm or if this is just the most ironic post ever.


RE: standup comic
By just4U on 9/5/2008 12:09:12 PM , Rating: 2
I basically read it as ... Seinfeld has had his day.. so he's not as big a name as he once was. (some might not know who he is)


Correction
By kelmon on 9/5/2008 6:44:32 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
Microsoft recently had an advertising push with its Mojave commercials, where unsuspecting users who reportedly didn't like Vista were tricked into using a new operating system, Mojave, which really was Vista.


If I recall correctly, the users didn't actually use Vista but had an expert show them how to use it. That's two very different things.




RE: Correction
By BMFPitt on 9/5/2008 7:02:04 AM , Rating: 2
It does kind of show off the fact that they'd probably never seen it before. The majority of Vista-haters I've talked to haven't.


RE: Correction
By steven975 on 9/5/2008 9:22:16 AM , Rating: 2
I was a vista hater myself, precisely because I have not used it.

Vista x64 is now my primary OS and is the best and fastest OS I've ever used. That counts Linux and MacOS, too.


More To Come?
By kelmon on 9/5/2008 6:51:13 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
As the company continues to struggle to get new users to adopt Vista, research indicates Apple continues to gain market share against PCs over the past couple of years. During the quarter ending in June, Apple had 8.5 percent market share, which is a 38 percent different compared to one year before.


I think it is safe to say that this ad is unlikely to change that trend and, if anything, will only confuse the viewer since it clearly has nothing to do with Windows aside from the logo at the end. However, I guess it is fair to say that there's another shoe waiting to drop...

...yes, pun intended.




RE: More To Come?
By Spivonious on 9/5/2008 8:05:06 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, it seemed to be setting up a second commercial where they hopefully actually talk about the product. Unless they've given up on Vista completely and are going to push Windows 7 (Windows MCE - moist and chewy edition) starting now.


what a downer
By anotherdude on 9/5/2008 9:16:32 AM , Rating: 2
Gates looked old and stiff, Seinfeld was uninspired and looks old now too, finally, just in time for the MS ads, the humor was SO WEAK - it may have been the worst response to Apple I could possibly imagine. What a waste of money. They need to pull this POS and start over!!!

That flushing sound was 300 mil going down the toilet.




RE: what a downer
By Alpha4 on 9/5/2008 12:37:03 PM , Rating: 2
FWOOOOOSSSHHHHH!!


market share of Mac
By anotherdude on 9/5/2008 9:41:59 AM , Rating: 2
From the article "As the company continues to struggle to get new users to adopt Vista, research indicates Apple continues to gain market share against PCs over the past couple of years. During the quarter ending in June, Apple had 8.5 percent market share, which is a 38 percent different compared to one year before."

Why does everyone state the "US market share" as "market share" - are these not international products? Do Euros not work as well as Dollars? What, only the US counts? Maybe there is a good reason for this and I am missing it?Worldwide the MAC has less than 5%.




RE: market share of Mac
By JoshuaBuss on 9/5/2008 11:55:15 AM , Rating: 2
most americans tend to forget there's more to the world than america.


It worked well for Apple...
By PointlesS on 9/5/2008 11:19:57 AM , Rating: 2
their commercials didn't make much sense so maybe it'll work for ms?




By anotherdude on 9/5/2008 2:41:31 PM , Rating: 2
Well, the Apple ads make almost no sense at all, but they are still masterpieces of advertising and come off as hip and fresh and very funny. Their dirty little secret of course is that they are telling lies.

The MS add seems stale by comparison, at the very least with Seinfeld it could have been funny but it wasn't.

This was just the first in a series. I aure hope they get the rest right. That last hip shake by Gates was just sad.


better than "I'm a Mac"
By Suntan on 9/5/2008 12:59:42 PM , Rating: 2
Although no commercial will actually do anything to make me decide on a purchase, I'll be much less likely to skip over these Jerry Seinfeld commercials than those horridly gratting "I'm a Mac" commercials. I just pray for a 500lb Acme Anvil to drop down on both of those guys whenever they come on.

-Suntan




RE: better than "I'm a Mac"
By anotherdude on 9/5/2008 2:46:22 PM , Rating: 2
I'm with you. I actually change the channel now. But I also recognize that I'm something of a MS fan and an Apple enemy so what I do doesn't count for much. Sadly I think Mac is winning this war with the young and these ads are a big part of that. Also the average Joe has heard 'bad things' about Vista, thanks not just to the Mac ads but to the tech press that just kept repeating the same line over and over even after the problems were long gone, so for average Joe the Mac ads may even, (shudder), ring true. What a bunch of bull.


Telling the story of Windows
By Digobick on 9/5/2008 9:59:57 AM , Rating: 2
From: Bill Veghte
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 5:37 PM
To: Microsoft - All Employees (QBDG)
Subject: Telling the story of Windows

Since it first launched nearly 25 years ago, Windows has been one of the most successful products in the history of the high tech industry. As we set our sights on the next 25 years, it is essential that we deliver incredible offerings on a great platform. We must also tell the story of how Windows enables a billion people around the globe to do more with their lives today. We must inspire consumers with the promise of what Windows uniquely makes possible across the PC, phone and web.

Telling our story means making significant investments to improve the way consumers experience Windows. To that end, we are focused on making improvements at practically every consumer touch point, from the moment they hear about the Windows brand in our advertising to how they learn more about Windows products online; from how they view Windows and try it at retail to how they use the entire range of Windows offerings – Windows Vista, Windows Mobile and Windows Live – across their whole life.

Today, we are kicking off a highly visible advertising campaign. The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows – a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity. The first in this series of television ads airs initially in the U.S., and it aims to re-ignite consumer excitement about the broader value of Windows. The first television spot aired on NBC during the opening game of the NFL season and will be seen throughout the evening on various primetime programs. Worldwide, you can view this first TV spot at http://msw.

This first set of ads features Bill Gates and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Think of these ads as an icebreaker to reintroduce Microsoft to viewers in a consumer context. Later this month, as the campaign moves into its next phase, we’ll go much deeper in telling the Windows story and celebrating what it can do for consumers at work, at play and on-the-go. At that time, I’ll be back to share more information about our plans to further strengthen the bond between consumers and Windows – one of the most amazing products, businesses and brands of all time, and, with the right tenacity, passion and agility from all of us, a story that has many great chapters to come.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archi...




I thought Ad was Hilarious
By grampaw on 9/5/2008 12:56:04 PM , Rating: 2
I was watching the NFL game on TV. I always just hit the mute button and go do something during the commercial breaks, however, this time Bill Gates appearing caught my eye, so I actually stayed put, watched the commercial, and thought it was quite funny in a dry, sarcastic way. Gates does have potential as a straight man in my opinion. Now if we can only get Warren (as in Buffet) in the picture too...




By thehappyguy on 9/5/2008 3:05:29 PM , Rating: 2
The cake is a lie!

Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld threw that joke way over our freakin' heads...




By Motoman on 9/5/2008 4:48:36 PM , Rating: 2
...isn't using Jerry Seinfeld in a major commercial series now basically the same thing as having ZZ Top do the SuperBowl halftime show...?




By eetnoyer on 9/5/2008 7:53:42 AM , Rating: 1
Otherwise it would have been a waste of money.




Where do I
By V3ctorPT on 9/5/08, Rating: 0
"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007

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