rk's Journal: That's it! I'm sold!

After seeing the first Seinfeld Microsoft ad I'm totally sold! I went out and bought eight licenses for Windows Vista Ultimate right after viewing! I'm muking and paving my Linux boxes, and upgrading my XP ones. I even bought copies for my two PPC Mac laptops. It doesn't work on them, but I just stick the little license tags on them to because it makes me feel so good to see it.

Seriously, WTF? A 90 second ad for a computer software company that doesn't mention computers at all until the 75-second mark? I figure the standard 30 second spot will be the last 30 seconds (The first 60 seconds is the throwaway gag), but once again, it's Microsoft talking about all this wonderful software they'll make "someday".

The ad itself is mildly amusing, but these are the kind of ads that are supposed to make people buy Vista? At least the Mohave thing was about their actual products. This is a brand-building ad of the kind a new 90s internet startup would spend half their venture capital on to air during the Superbowl. Does Microsoft really need to have their name out there more? Well, yeah, brand-building is an ongoing task, but last I heard Microsoft is having product affinity problems, not brand-awareness issues. Hell, people are only too aware of the Microsoft brand, and the word on the street is "avoid their new thing if you can. XP is better." I'm not saying that viewpoint was or is accurate. I don't know enough about Vista to judge[1]. But, at least in marketing, perception is reality.

I do have to say that between the "Bill's last day" video and this one, he's shown that he's got a pretty good sense of comedic timing. But I know lots of funny people. It doesn't mean I'm buying an operating system from them.

[1] - I know XP is better for me because I have a driver for some music hardware I own that is XP only[2].

[2] - Well, It's been a while since I checked: Digitech GNX4 drivers are available for Vista now. I'm getting a free copy of Vista Ultimate later this month, so maybe I'll give it a whirl. So I guess the ad sorta worked after all. :-) Note that only because Microsoft is giving it away to me, and my hardware is now supported will I contemplate the upgrade. The features of Vista are not compelling enough to me on its own merits to justify the $110 gray-market upgrade price, much less the >$200 price that MS charges.

That's it?

[Shadow Wrought]

Wow. I guess the old adage that if you can't say anything good, you shouldn't say anything at all still applies. I found their imagine commercials far more compelling (the ones with the kids dreaming in chalk outlines). I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Vista...

actually

[Bill Dog]

...but these are the kind of ads that are supposed to make people buy Vista?

I've seen it a couple of times on TV, and my reaction was that it was an admission that Vista is ho-hum, but trying to plant the idea that MS is nonetheless still capable of producing neat operating environments (maybe not edible, tho!) for your computer, and that rest assured that cool things are on their way. Kind of "yeah, well, okay, write off Vista as uninspiring, but please, please don't write off our company!"

I found myself f

Re:

[rk]

Interesting point, but when is Windows 7 supposed to ship? I've heard early 2010 and this is a company that is famous for letting release dates slip. Not that I mind that... I'd rather they take their time and release something better. Seems to me that we're a long way off from effectively building goodwill for a follow-on product.

Plus: isn't this just more of the same from MS, too? They release a mediocre (or worse [wikipedia.org]) OS and then swear the next one will be great? I'll admit I'm a Unix/Linux fanboy first a

Re:

[Bill Dog]

The point that they're their own primary competitor is astute. And as such if the ad campaign was for image-building, such as to counter Apple's touchy-feely ads against them, as some are suggesting, then it was a waste of money. Because the only organization that can, by any stretch of the imagination, affect MS's future sales to any significant extent, is MS. And their future sales is not predicated on name-awareness, which they already have. Neither is it on how people feel about the company. Except for

Re:

[ces]

But even as image building ads these suck. I mean compare them to say the "Think Different" ads which helped Apple rebuild it's brand.

I mean so we know their Chairman is an OK guy and has a sense of humor. But it really doesn't tell me anything about the company.

For that matter MSFT really has no idea what it wants to be when it grows up. I know people that work there and there really isn't any unified sense of what the company is trying to do as a whole.