Seinfeld and Gates hit the road for Vista
Those left scratching their heads after Microsoft's first new ad may find themselves just as itchy after the follow-up spot.
A screenshot from the new Microsoft spot launching Thursday night.
(Credit: Microsoft; CNET News)The second in Microsoft's series of new ads airs Thursday night, featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld moving in with a family of "real people" in order to connect with them. The humor seems slightly better to me, but the references to Microsoft's products remain tangential.
In this spot, whose plot appears taken from every sit-com ever made, the two displace a adolescent girl from her room. In an effort to get her room back, she and her siblings set Seinfeld and Gates up as having stolen a family heirloom. That ultimately prompts Gates and Seinfeld to hit the road, with Gates taunting the girl on the way out: "You're not so real."
The latest spot is a two-part ad, with the first part showing on CBS' Big Brother. (an extended version with both parts of the ad should post tonight to Windows.com.) At the end of the new spot, Seinfeld again asks Gates to give him a sign if he's on the right track in guessing what's next. Thankfully, there was no repeat of the butt-wiggle. This time, Gates does his version of the 1980s robot dance.
The ads are the beginnings of an expensive and ambitious effort by Microsoft to try to reclaim the Windows image after letting rival Apple mock it for years.
As for the less than direct start, Microsoft spokesman Eric Hollreiser likens it to starting off a business presentation with a joke.
"It allows you to have a different kind of conversation after you've disarmed (the audience) a bit," he said.
While Microsoft isn't saying just when it will get more direct in its sales pitch, the ads are expected to start talking turkey soon.
"I know there has been some question about 'Is this it?'" he said. "No."
CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=20040177-aa27-4f24-a1ae-140c865c81f9
It is,however missing the Wow. And more then that, the software. Everyone is still aiming at XP with software releases. Until developers start targeting those new features, even the best software still runs like it was on XP.
sderf
That's the problem with making such claims- they are nicely wide reaching and mean nothing.
I guess we'll have to wait until next Thursday if these keep coming out on those dates to see more.
Regarding the Apple commercials, I'm actually surprised no one is stating what absolute lies they are. Macs are better at fun stuff? When was the last time you heard of a LAN party with a bunch of Mac users connecting a bunch of Macs together and playing the latest game with the latest video card and so forth? PCs have the games. Mac users (as I used to be one of them) love to claim they only get the best of them. But the reality is, they get them when they get them. Some publishers release at the same time, some much later. Most don't release at all.
Think about it. You have this little company that has about 6% in the United States and less than 4% worldwide claiming to be the choice computer. When the PC enjoys over a 90% of the market. It is the choice of the enterprise by far. The choice of kids playing games by far. The choice of home users by far. Absolutely the choice of do-it-yourselfers by far. And yet you can watch an ad from Apple that makes the claim that PCs are only good for pie charts and number crunching. Clearly what Apple is trying to do is compare the Mac to the PC as in the DOS / Mac days. Their ads are so out of date, it's not even funny. The ad is fun to watch, yes. But you should also walk away with a feeling of being lied to. Of course, if you are an American TV watcher, I guess so long as it is funny, the lie doesn't matter.
Last I checked Apple openly states they make about 30 - 36% on their Mac line. So that $3,000 Mac carries more than a $1,000 of mark-up costs passed on to you. Ask yourself why it is you buy or build a PC with expansion slots, easily for $550 and the lowest priced Mac with any expansion is $1,999. It's 4 times the price. And pah-leez, don't begin to tell me it's a Rolls Royce and the PC is a Yugo. Look at the hardware in the box. The Mac is using nothing at all special. The game machines these kids build are far better hardware than anything Apple offers.
On NewEgg, they have a really nice Acer Laptop for $649 that has specs that blow away the MacBook for $1,099 or $1,299. And speaking of the MacBook. You guys are okay with a $200 upcharge to go from DVD-ROM/CD-RW to DVD writer? I'm not. It's a rip off.
You can buy a Levano custom made for $1,200 to $1,400 with specs that are better than any Apple laptop at any price. Is the back-lit keyboard and the shiny Apple logo really worth all that? Perhaps you feel OSX is. Personally, I fond OSX limiting. I find most Apple hardware limiting. I find the PC is the machine to have. It's the machine you can build into anything you want. It's the machine you can afford to buy. It's the machine that has the software you need. It's the machine that is choice itself.
Where is Chrome for the Mac? Oh yeah, it's coming. The after-thought market will catch up. The PC is first for a simple reason. It's got the user base.
Would Apple be anywhere near as successful with their iPod or iPhone without selling to the PC market? No way. Why did Apple drop FireWire on the iPod? They switched to USB2 and they invented FireWire. Oh yeah, the vast majority of users have USB2, because they're PC users.
Where is Apple's own sync technology? Oh year, they licensed Microsoft's Active Sync. Where is Apple's Enterprise class email server and client software? Oh yeah, they don't have one. They have Mail.app. Not even on par with the out-dated Outlook Express.
The Mac is the only platform that is so underwhelming and yet thought highly of. I still remember all those ads about intel inside, idiot outside. Hmm... That's an intel processor in the Mac now, yes? What happened to that G5 processor being the fastest personal computer in the world ad? And then right after that, they switch to intel and say they're software is 40% faster. Gosh, that doesn't add up at all.
I thought the PC ad made a good statement. Bill, you've connected over a billion people. Gates replies, I have. That's what these ads are about. One, they are attempting to make Gates and thus Microsoft, into something you can identify with. Two, they are telling you the real fact about Microsoft's accomplishments. Bash them all you like, but at least admit the truth to yourself. Microsoft has succeeded where Apple has failed. And please, don't begin to tell me Apple doesn't want Enterprise money. Steve Jobs is just a sour-graped individual that states "we don't want that market" not because he doesn't want it. Keep in mind this guy lied to his best buddy to make a few bucks off his labor. Steve Jobs will make money anywhere money is to be made. The reason he doesn't go after the enterprise is because it's hard. They go for the low-hanging fruit. If they see a way to get in fast, and make money, they go in. But does Apple actually even try to get a market someone else already owns? No. No guts.
Microsoft didn't always have a large part of the enterprise market either. When I first became a CNE, Novell owned 76% of the server NOS market. MIcrosoft failed time and time again to buy Novell, or build something better. They finally did it though. Today, Novell NetWare is pretty much dead. Novell has moved on to Linux. And Microsoft finally succeeded. Whether you like them or not, they had the guts to stick with it.
Sorry but where is Apple is the enterprise? What happened to their XRAID? Oh yeah, they stuck with it for a couple years, and then poof. They vanished again. Once again proving that if you buy their hardware it will become obsolete quickly and you will be left with bill and hardware that is no longer going to be updated or supported with a new version.
ow, I don't totally hate Apple. I type this on my MacBook, which runs Windows as it's primary OS. I had owned Macs for a very long time. But I also have always owned and built PCs. I continue to use both. So I'm not what most of you are. Which is someone who has used the one of the two, but not both. I happen to come from both a technology background, and a graphics and DVD design background. So don't tell me the Mac is better for design. It's not any better. I can and do use Quark on the PC all the time and it's great.
Personally, I'd love to see an ad that shows kids playing a game together, with the Mac user there watching only, because he bought a Mac and can't play with the rest of the kids. I'm sure he is sitting there smug while wishing he could play with his friends.
I myself use SalesForce.com, a web app, but did you know that if you wanted to integrate it with office applications, it's best done on a PC with IE6 or 7 and Office 2003 and Office 2007? I have tons of pre-written lettterheads, quotes, business forms, etc that make me much faster at my job. And it all works well because I am using a PC, Windows, IE, and Office. Did you know there is an Offline briefcase capability for SalesForce? PC only. Lose the network, traveling on a plane at 36,000 feet? No problem. There is a PC solution to that with this web app. Nothing for the MacOSX. Nothing for Safari. And no, Office Mac is not anywhere near as enterprise connected as the Windows version is.
The PC is the best choice for business. The best choice for games. The best choice for someone who wants choice. It's cheaper, more flexible and a better product for the money. And yet you guys can watch an Apple ad which completely lies to you, and not only be alright with that, you stand up and clap and ask for more. Only in America.
Alex Alexzander
It just seems kind of funny that a rant against Apple hardware is coming from someone who uses both for some reason, yet touts the PC's superiority? What point is there for you to be using a Mac if they are over priced junk?
I'm going to go play a game on my laptop now that ONLY is available for a PC.
Whether you think the Mac is actually better than that is up to you. Personally, I do.
- by rickdev September 12, 2008 5:27 AM PDT
- Alex, thanks for doing what most people don't do when leaving a comment. You had thought behind it, well done.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (52 Comments)I am a PC user and have not used a MAC, so it is unfair of me to say anything good/bad on the subject of the systems. The article was on the Ads MS is now trying to put out to counteract what Apple has been doing. I have to say, that for now, Apple does have the better Ads and do make a statement that MS and PC vendors at a whole have let go on too long. They may or may not be lies, but they do put out information that people are listening too.