Microsoft is really milking the kid thing
If one cute kid can help sell products, more kids must be better, right?
After debuting its first "rookies" spot last week showing 4-year-old Kylie using Windows Live Photo Gallery to fix her goldfish picture, Microsoft is back with a new spot that shows 7-year-old Alexa using the software to create a panoramic photo.
Microsoft is clearly trying to convince us its software is so easy that a kid can master it.
It's not a bad strategy. But I'm a little surprised it's are back at it with Photo Gallery. The first ad was pretty cute, I thought, but also seemed to get the message home. I'm interested to see the approach the company will take when it moves on to other Windows products.
The 6-year-old that can fix my cellular modem networking issues, that kid I'll hire.
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. 
Bingo. The niftiest photo app in the world won't do much good if your printer driver is no good. And when every person watching this commercial can recall a dozen horror stories about their own PC and a hundred from their friends, a 30-second commercial (no matter how cute the kid) won't help. Microsoft's marketing dept. has a thankless and impossible task: selling mediocrity.
Mediocrity was good enough when the entire industry was mediocre. The fact that momentum has sustained Microsoft this long, is more of a condemnation of the rest of the industry than vindication of Microsoft's strategy of stagnation.
I have to assume there are thousands of talented and innovative people working at Microsoft. The only explanation I can come up with for why Microsoft is unable to ship products that are both innovative and useful, is that Ballmer and his similarly clueless executive team are primarily motivated by the bottom line rather than excellence.
I have great hopes for Microsoft. Those hopes might possibly begin to be realized when Ballmer is dumped and replaced with someone who isn't a used-car salesman at heart.
I agree, Ballmer is not qualified to run the worlds largest software company... he is an embarrassment to the company
How is the lack of a specialized printer's driver Vista's or Microsoft's problem?
Shouldn't you contact the manufacturer of the printer?
If its that specialized I'd assume you paid enough money to afford support?
What I was trying to get at is that when XP came out you could use the previous (win2k) driver. Because they royally !@#$! up Vista, you can't do the same. It isn't ancient hardware and under previous Microsoft OS's you could use drivers for one OS version earlier. That is something that is directly related to Microsoft.
And how is the Printer's refusal to develop drivers for older systems while trying to push newer printers onto you a Microsoft thing? It's the printing company's fault/choice to not support newer OSs. They are trying to sell you a new printer in case you haven't gotten the message yet.
Sounds similar to Microsoft's method, except Microsoft is starting to realize it needs to change some of its thinking or it may become irrelevant.
If they need a free photo editor, they'll just Google, oops, MSN Search, for it.
Paint.net, for example is an excellent FREE photo editor, less complex than GIMP, which is excellent for the advanced user. DCEnhance is another excellent FREE easy to use basic photo editor.
I see the kid typing on the keyboard, but I only get to see the back of the screen. When I see the screen, it is so up close that you don't see the person typing on the keyboard. Why a seven year old? They would have done this with a one month old. They could have shown that a kid drooling over a keyboard, and over the screen, something magically compose a video and sent to youtube. Sure why not. I bet Apple can't do that.
My thought in watching both commercials was: Where you actually see kids doing projects on computers is at the Apple Store.
The same thing goes with my "uncool" PC computers. I hand built the three that my family uses, along with the home server that backs them all up nightly and streams all my photos and music to my Xbox 360. Very "cool". How many out there have hand built their Macs? Show of hands? Didn't think so. Very "uncool".
I notice that the only term that both you and t8 are able to use describe the advantage of the Mac over the PC is the word "cool". Other than that, you resort to talking smack about the PC with overused cliches and juvenile taunts. Apparently, you don't have the fortitude to stand on your own and set your own definition of "cool", and have to fall in with the flock of other Mac sheep and their "cool" stuff. Remember, you only have one life to live. Stop trying to do what's "cool" and try other things. You may realize that non-Apple things are "cool".
Come on, get a life. The fact that you use the character that the Mac ad uses to portray the PC confirms that you have no self awareness and have to resort to the images that Apple projects into your head through their lame commercials to make your point. Open your eyes, walk away from the screen, and get outside and do something. You might be able to think on your own soon.
(BTW, I do own a brown Zune. It kicks a**, and the money I saved on it went into a weekend of snowmobiling.)
Actually the truth is I don't own a MAC. I have a Windows XP box & laptop and a Lunux EEEPC.
Not going to buy Vista or a new computer with Vista and not going to buy a Zune, or Microsoft Bob.
Oh, and as far as the Zune, don't knock it till you try it. You might be surprised.
I can relax a little because I don't have to worry so much about virii, plus I'm right there to make sure he doesn't go to any questionable sites. Plus my content-filtering Linux firewall/router gives another layer of protection for all of the computers in the network.
Thankfully, It uses Flash, not Silverlight, which most folks haven't installed.
- by Angmarr April 11, 2009 1:01 PM PDT
- go i love the mac vs. pc war!
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