A Decade of Dreadful Microsoft Ads 220
Barence writes "PC Pro has rounded up the most howlingly awful examples of ads churned out by Microsoft over the past decade. The selection includes the cringe-worthy Gates & Seinfeld ads — where Gates looks like he’s delivering his lines with the help of a cattle prod — to the terrible Windows 7 party ads (an 'F1 key for social inadequates,' according to PC Pro), to the one that got away: an excellent in-house training video produced by The Office's Ricky Gervais."
The Decade of Microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
Personal
XP released in 2001, is still going strong and will be for quite some time.
7 released in 2009, is going strong and has received great reviews.
Professional
Server 2003 released in 2003, is still going strong and will be for quite some time.
Server 2008 released in 2008, is going strong and has received great reviews.
There was the Vista speed bump but overall this was without a doubt a Microsoft decade.
Re:Is that Windows 1.0 commercial real? (Score:5, Informative)
Once it was possible for these things to leak onto the Internet, I think they quit doing them.
--Greg
Ricky Gervais made two of those... (Score:4, Informative)
Both are excellent comedy imho.
Re:Is that Windows 1.0 commercial real? (Score:4, Informative)
My favorite spoof was of a VW commercial (I think?) where two guys are drove around, goofed off, picked up a couch that smelled funny, leave it by the side of the road, etc. In the spoof, Gates and Ballmer and driving around, goofing off (Gates plays with a bobblehead doll and shakes his head in the same fashion). They pick up a Sun server, thinks it smells funny, and leave it in the trash.
Hm.. guess I can see why they wouldn't want that leaked, they'd get sued.
I remember many videos that were tie-ins to movies: dance videos (Men in Black, but with different lyrics), a funny one spoofing Austin Powers with Ballmer as Dr. Evil.
Some of the fake ad/morale event/company meeting videos were really funny!
Linux can't run your devices (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not sure if people realize it, but the device portion is largely taken care of.
Try upgrading to Windows 7 today, and notice that suddenly your printer or web cam no longer work, because there are no drivers, especially since OEMs are pushing x64 bit versions of Windows 7.
Conversely, Linux supports more hardware than any OS on the planet, from small embedded devices, legacy hardware, desktops, servers, tablets, phones, to super-computers.
The 2.6.33-rc1 kernel even has an OSS Nvidia driver built in now. Most Nvidia and ATI hardware should work out of the box without proprietary drivers (not that I'm opposed to proprietary drivers if they truly work better).
I find most hardware just works out of the box with no work in Linux, but I find myself hunting for drivers in Windows all the time. People are stuck in this mindset that Linux hardware support is lacking, but that just isn't the case.
Songsmith?!? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:It's OK when it's You (Score:5, Informative)
um bullshit.
90% of all OSX software installs to the applications directory and DO NOT REQUIRE admin password for install.
the only apps that need admin acces are ones that try to install services or files to the system folder.
Did you even use a mac or are you making this stuff up? Because in the last 5 years of OSX use at home and work I have NEVER ran into what you are talking about except for highly system invasive apps.
Re:It's OK when it's You (Score:3, Informative)
If you run as a user with the "Allow user to administer this computer" checked, then, yes, installations to the Applications folder don't require a password. If, on the other hand, you have an admin only account, and run as a user, then, yes, you will need the password.