“The long, oft-baffling ‘teaser” ads’ by Microsoft Corp. featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates that kicked off two weeks ago are abruptly ending, the company said late Wednesday, as part two of its $300 million Windows marketing rehab campaign begins,” Eric Lai reports for Computerworld.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft ought to spend $300 million on coding, not ads.
Lai continues, “Carrying the theme ‘Windows. Life without walls,’ the new ads will show Microsoft ‘audaciously embracing’ the phrase ‘I’m a PC’ — which has been so successfully tarnished by Apple Inc.’s ads the past two years — in order to rehabilitate it.”
MacDailyNews Take: In a world without fences and walls, who needs Gates and Windows?
Lai continues, “One of the new commercials will even show a real Microsoft engineer who is a ringer for John Hodgman, the actor who plays the abused PC character in the Apple ads, introducing himself: ‘Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype,'”
Full article here.
Stuart Elliott reports for The New York Times, “Mr. Gates makes a cameo appearance in the new Microsoft spots, along with celebrities like the actress Eva Longoria, the author Deepak Chopra and the singer Pharrell Williams. But the stars are everyday PC users, from scientists and fashion designers to shark hunters and teachers, all of whom affirm, in fast-paced, upbeat vignettes, their pride in using the computers that run on Microsoft operating systems and software.”
MacDailyNews Take: All of whom have never tried a Mac or they’d be Mac users regaling us with “I can’t believe how stupid I was for so many years suffering with Windows! I’m so glad I finally switched!” Our reader feedback and email inboxes are stuffed full with such bittersweet missives.
These former everyday PC users definitely will not be featured:
• Inquirer tech writer switches to Apple Mac: ‘Fed up with the absolute turd that is Windows Vista’ – July 07, 2008
• Intel sees no Vista on horizon; decides not to ‘upgrade’ 80k employees to Microsoft’s Windows Vista – June 25, 2008
• Axel Springer dumps Microsoft Windows, switches 10,000 employees to Apple Macintosh – July 05, 2008
• 25-year PC vet dumps Microsoft’s Windows for Apple Mac, finds ‘digital heaven’ – March 31, 2008
• Oregon’s George Fox University dumps Windows PCs for Apple Macs – March 03, 2008
• Chris Pirillo: 50 Reasons to switch from Microsoft Windows to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 18, 2008
• Microsoft’s Windows Vista, Office 2007 expelled from British schools – January 11, 2008
• Microsoft’s Windows Vista convinces tech writer to buy an Apple MacBook – December 11, 2007
• SMU Cox School of Business dumps PCs for Apple Macs – October 30, 2007
• Wall Street Journal readers endorse dumping Windows and switching to Apple Macintosh – September 17, 2007
• Boom! Largest automobile processing company in North America dumps Windows PCs for Apple Macs – July 16, 2007
• US National Institute of Standards and Technology bans Microsoft Windows Vista – March 12, 2007
• Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X, finds software plentiful – March 12, 2007
• US DOT, FAA ban ‘upgrading’ to Windows Vista, Explorer 7, Office 2007; looks at Macs – March 02, 2007
• Wilkes University to dump all Windows PCs, replace with Apple Macs – February 22, 2007
• Computerworld: Windows expert dumps Windows, switches to Apple’s Mac OS X – February 08, 2007
• Windows sufferer spends six hours trying to ‘upgrade’ to Vista, says: ‘I should’ve bought a Mac’ – February 07, 2007
• Windows Vista woes push BBC News editor to regret never having ‘defected’ to Apple Mac – February 06, 2007
• Windows Vista disappointment drives longtime ‘Microsoft apologist’ to Apple’s Mac OS X – January 17, 2007
• Top Windows developer dumps Microsoft’s ‘pile of crap’ for Apple’s Mac OS X – September 12, 2006
• Sophos Security: Dump Windows, Get a Mac – July 05, 2006
• Sydney Morning Herald Tech columnist dumps Microsoft Windows, switches to Apple Mac – June 13, 2006
• Japan’s Aozora Bank dumps 2,300 Windows PCs for Apple Macs – April 03, 2006
Elliott continues, “Among them are more than 60 Microsoft employees, who are accompanied in the ads by e-mail addresses — even Mr. Gates’s ().”
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft employees affirming their pride in using Windows? That’s convincing. By the way, send Gates massively large images of canned ham; he loves that almost as much as getting leaked code from the next Mac OS.
We guess these guys aren’t in the ads:
• No one’s immune to Microsoft Windows hell – not even Bill Gates – June 25, 2008
• Microsoft executives’ internal emails highlight Windows Vista discontent – March 10, 2008
• Even Microsoft’s top execs ‘burned’ by Vista problems – February 29, 2008
• Microsoft’s Steve Jobs-wannabe J Allard has 9 iPods and uses an Apple Mac – November 28, 2006
• Microsoft Windows Vista developers used Apple Macs for inspiration – November 27, 2006
• Microsoft CEO Ballmer spends two days unsuccessfully trying to clean Windows PC malware – June 05, 2006
Elliott continues, “A giant advertiser responding to the disparagement of a smaller rival can be fraught with peril. Consumers may see it as a validation of the claims, or even bullying. On the other hand, ignoring the taunts can damage images and sales.” Rob Reilly, partner and co-executive creative director at Microsoft’s ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky said that Microsoft’s “celebration of PC users is intended to show them ‘connected to this community of people who are creative, who are passionate.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Is it really a winning sales tactic to celebrate the fact that hundreds of thousands of Internet traffic-clogging Windows PC spambots are connected via TCP/IP to creative, passionate Mac users?
Elliott continues, “The theme of ‘Life without walls’ was the concept for the Microsoft campaign ‘from the beginning,’ he added, because it declares ‘that the goal of Windows is to help remove the walls in your life, now and in the future.'”
MacDailyNews Take: How does shackling yourself to Microsoft “solutions” from which they strive to make it nearly impossible (Outlook, for just one example; by the way, use Little Machines’ Outlook2Mac) to extricate yourself or your business help “remove walls in your life?” It’s just total hypocrisy: Microsoft’s entire business is based on is constructing walls to keep the sheep penned in now and in the future.
Elliott reports, “Coming magazine and outdoor ads focus on how Windows can be used for mobile devices, TV sets and laptops along with PCs.”
MacDailyNews Take: Another one who didn’t get a callback:
• Microsoft sycophant Mary Jo Foley: Windows Mobile is awful; avoid it like the plague – May 08, 2008
Full article here.