>>Watching this does not make me want to buy
>>Windows Vista or anything that Microsoft
>>sells for that matter.

No, it doesn’t. That’s not the point. M$ST imagines themselves to be like General Electric, with their old “We bring good things to living, we bring good things to life” ads. No product being pimped, just trying to ingrain the M$FT brand in everyone’s brain.

That way, when the come out with Window 7.0 (or whatever), people’s reaction will be “Oh, remember those Gates/ Seinfeld ads”.

Not “Oh Christ, they’re the ones who put out that gawdawful Vista dog of and OS”.

That will only work on people who have NOT USED Vista, though. I will remember this abortion of an operating system (and who was responsible for it) as long as I live.

Not. No more than 5%, on a good day. You’d have to see it hit ~25% before much serious effort would go into making malware.

Bah. Balmer looks like the lovable monster played by Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein.

Come to think of it, Ellison looks a bit like Frau Blucher.

A fatal exception 0E has occurred at 0028:C0011E36 in VXD VMM(01) + 00010E36. The current application will be terminated.

I don’t get that argument – change to what? If I look at Apple’s year on year growth, cash position, brand identity, price growth, and investor targets I’ve got to think they are doing something right. They are outgrowing most, if not all, of their industry.

If I look at your (and others) comments in this blog the Apple brand draws a very strong reaction. That is worth money in my mind.

BTW, if you think Steve Jobs is an arrogant worm you should see Larry Ellison or Steve Ballmer up close.

Now lets see if Apple can attempt to break the Mac user stereotype who sips cuppachinos all day at Starbucks, dresses in turtlenecks to “be like Steve”, and behaves as an intellectual snob, and more or less thinks they are elitists.

MS is concerned that they’ve lost their edge in the consumer market compared with other companies including Apple. The problem is that they have a steady business model but no products are breaking out. For example, is anyone excited about Windows Mobile, Zune, IE, or Live (search, maps, office, etc)? They are also unsure about whether they want their products to live on desktop or the “cloud” – and in true MS fashion they have chosen both.

There is some interesting stuff in the pipe like Mesh but this ad campaign is about creating a new identity for the brand with the hope that products will follow. Their brand identity is completely unfocused and they are trying to sharpen it – which explains why no products are ever mentioned.

I don’t like Microsoft as a company. They bully other companies and sue people all the time. They buy up competitors when they can or put out poorly crafted derivative products when they can’t.

I don’t like Apple as a company. They charge too much for their products. Their brand is all about looking down on everyone because you paid too much for your gadget. They place unnecessary restrictions on the use of their products. These restrictions all point to their disdain for their own customers.

Both companies have pushed for and attained monopolies at different times. Pretending one is some how superior to the other is dumb.