I'm a PC and I'm 4-1/2

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Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 10, 2009 @09:55PM from the tweedledum-tweedledee dept.

theodp writes "Microsoft's new Windows ad made its debut during the Grammy Awards on Sunday. It stars a 4-year-old cutie named Kylie (Silverlight required) showing how easy it is to use Windows Live Photo Gallery to edit and share photos. And while it's impressive that little Kylie is able to transfer a snapshot of her pet fish from her camera to a PC, color-correct it, and e-mail it to her family, what's truly amazing is that the toddler was also apparently able to read, understand, and accept Windows Live's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. (But minors can't legally execute contracts, can they?)"

39 of 435 comments (clear)

Dear God! by nog_lorp · 2009-02-10 21:56 · Score: 5, Funny

"I'm a PC and I'm 4 1/2"
They're assimilating children to make them smart enough to use their products? MONSTERS!
1. Re:Dear God! by dhavleak · 2009-02-10 22:21 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I doubt kdawson has actually ever read a complete EULA either -- he simply needed something to bitch about..
2. Re:Dear God! by sgbett · 2009-02-10 22:36 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Quite, my 4 year old has no problem browsing the net on macos, linus or windows. And is particularly takwn with the iphone and the scribble app.
  Reminds me I think I might have to change my pin number when she gets a bit older. Not that I would use the same pin for my bank card as my iphone, thats crazy talk.
  
  --
  Invaders must die
3. Re:Dear God! by Kokuyo · 2009-02-10 22:44 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ...browsing the net on ... linus...
  What, you got Torvalds to babysit your kid?! You ROCK!
4. Re:Dear God! by Fred_A · 2009-02-10 23:02 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Reminds me I think I might have to change my pin number when she gets a bit older.
  It is supposed to be a Personal PIN Number after all...
  
  --
  
  May contain traces of nut.
  Made from the freshest electrons.
5. Re:Dear God! by MyLongNickName · 2009-02-11 00:14 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I doubt kdawson has ever read a submission in its entirety.
  
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  See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
6. Re:Dear God! by AikonMGB · 2009-02-11 00:31 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Not that I would use the same pin for my bank card as my iphone, thats crazy talk.
  That's only because you know the bank won't let you use 1234 on your card ;)
  1234? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his bank card!
7. Re:Dear God! by largoyle · 2009-02-11 00:54 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  1234? Hey thats the combination on my bank card!
8. Re:Dear God! by PopeRatzo · 2009-02-11 01:33 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Fortunately, Apple doesn't have any EULAs, TOUs or privacy policies. Those things are icky and Apple is far too progressive and serene to have them.
  If this ad had shown a 4 1/2 year old using an iMac, this discussion would be about how many Peabody Awards it was going to win.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
9. Re:Dear God! by elrous0 · 2009-02-11 02:29 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Silly rabbit, /. editors can't read. They just mash at the buttons until something happens.
  
  --
  SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
The plot thickens by MichaelSmith · 2009-02-10 22:00 · Score: 4, Interesting

I clicked the link to install Silverlight (firefox, ubuntu, i386) and got sent to Moonlight.

--
http://michaelsmith.id.au
1. Re:The plot thickens by noundi · 2009-02-10 22:15 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Personally, I'm quite happy with no Silverlight and Gnash for Flash viewing (set to start in "pause" mode).
  So you're saying that we don't need another platform for epelepticly blinking ads that jump around your monitor and covers 90% of the page you're trying to read? This is outrageous!
  
  --
  I am the lawn!
2. Re:The plot thickens by pr100 · 2009-02-10 22:22 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Me too, I courageously decided to install the firefox plugin when asked. It restarted firefox... then muttered about installing some codecs, which I also permitted, it then claimed to be restarting firefox again, but apparently just closed it.
  I restarted firefox manually, tried once again to view the link, and was prompted to upgrade my version of silverlight. At this point I gave up...
3. Re:The plot thickens by Errtu76 · 2009-02-10 22:40 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I installed the Moonlight plugin, restarted FF and then it (the plugin) asked me if i wanted to download codecs. As soon as i clicked on Accept firefox crashed. This on Ubuntu 8.10 x86
4. Re:The plot thickens by aliquis · 2009-02-10 22:55 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I downloaded Silverlight in OS X, installed without restarting browser, opened the video clip, this is what happens:
  * I've taken a picture of my fish tank.
  * First I plug this thing in *plugs in USB*
  * Then I make this photo better (or something such), you don't get to see anything worth it in the application, images gets more saturated and better levels.
  * Then I share it with my friends (pre-typed family in a to-field.)
  * I'm 4.5 years old and I'm a PC.
  That's all, the whole thing is over in 15 seconds or so, so unless you enjoy seeing an USB-cable get plugged in, the result of pressing "auto"/"fix it" and how the to fields in an e-mail look you won't be missing anything.
  I've uninstalled Silverlight now ..
5. Re:The plot thickens by stonedcat · 2009-02-11 00:29 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Microsoft has deployed something that doesn't work.
  Well I guess there's a first time for everything.
  
  --
  You can't take the sky from me.
6. Re:The plot thickens by Lachlan+Hunt · 2009-02-11 01:11 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Last time I installed Silverlight on my Mac was to stream the Beijing Olympics from NBC, and that was only because I was stuck in a foreign country where it wasn't broadcast in English. I uninstalled it pretty soon after.
  So the bar for me to install Silverlight again is pretty high, and a crappy 30 second Microsoft ad just doesn't cut it.
  Anyway, I found a copy on YouTube, so I can continue to avoid Silverlight a little longer.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtilWL4mnhI
  
  --
  By reading this signature, you hereby agree with the content of the above comment.
7. Re:The plot thickens by PopeRatzo · 2009-02-11 01:49 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Damn that Microsoft for making Moonlight, which didn't run on this young man's computer.
  
  --
  You are welcome on my lawn.
Bill tightens his fist! by Probie · 2009-02-10 22:07 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm a PC and I'm oppressed.

--
Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.
1. Re:Bill tightens his fist! by $RANDOMLUSER · 2009-02-10 23:13 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Well I'm a Linux and I'm depressed.
  
  --
  No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
2. Re:Bill tightens his fist! by ionix5891 · 2009-02-10 23:42 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  its ok have hope 2009 will be the year of the linux :)
It's already on youtube, no silverlight! by gsasha · 2009-02-10 22:15 · Score: 5, Informative

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhre2C4THT4
1. Re:It's already on youtube, no silverlight! by KasperMeerts · 2009-02-10 22:43 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Weren't you dead?
  
  --
  As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields.
2. Re:It's already on youtube, no silverlight! by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-10 23:22 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'm so glad that Microsoft is the only corporation on the planet to use kids in advertisements to promote a product.
3. Re:It's already on youtube, no silverlight! by jellomizer · 2009-02-11 01:25 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Even in my travels in the real world doing work for Microsoft Shops I haven't seen to many people really that Gung-Ho about Windows (any more). Most of them really don't care what OS they use just as long as they know how to use it, or even know what Windows is as an OS really is or where the OS Starts and the computer ends.
  Most people take it, it is something I need to get what I want done and thats it. I guess there could be a radical subculture that are real huge Windows fans just as they are Linux Zealots on Slashdot and Mac Fanboys. I think most of them were from the Apple vs. IBM days of the 80's Who just couldn't give up their old arguments, as an Mac Owner who back in the 80's and early 90's use to be on the IBM camp, I had to break a promise to myself to never get a Mac, as I needed to realize the Ideals I have fought for have been loss. (Speed of DOS, Shipped with development tools...). Also I think a lot of my Fear of switching went away when I went with Linux back in 1994, where I learned how I could get by without MS. Then with the Mac with OS X with a Unix prompt the last thing I was hating Macs for were gone (or at least a hopeless battle)
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Monkey see, monkey do.. by AlterRNow · 2009-02-10 22:21 · Score: 5, Insightful

.. does not mean monkey understand.
This doesn't show it is easy to use, it merely demonstrates the ability of a 4 1/2 year old to follow a set of instructions.

--
The disappearing pencil trick. Let me show you it.
1. Re:Monkey see, monkey do.. by bluenovadesign · 2009-02-10 22:58 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  My 3 year old monkey(who obviously can't read/write) uses the computer all the time and I'm amazed at what she gets up to (ok she's not posting on slashdot, but give her time). She can switch on, start up the web browser, (her home page is the BBC kids page CBeebies) and she just looks around, finds the games to play, works out what to do and plays them. When she gets bored she goes back and chooses something else - painting a picture, watching a video etc. She only ever asks for help when she gets stuck in a dead end (like when she needs to download an add-on). I imagine the Monkey v4.5 is considerably more advanced.
Re:Easy to share photo's, difficult to share a mov by ketilwaa · 2009-02-10 22:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

You are aware that one usually needs to download a flash player to view videos on Youtube, no? This is just a competing format. The main problem with Silverlight from where I sit is that it adds to the bloat, not that I need to download it, or that it comes from Microsoft.
Re:What? by N1AK · 2009-02-10 22:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

I'm normally the one complaining about the manic MS bashing on /. but I think the summary makes an important point. Even MS advertising completely gloss over the need for users to agree to a set of extensive contracts to use the system, something that a small child certainly isn't able to do.

It seems somehow wrong to me that it is just accepted that people ignore online contracts, and yet the consequences of breaking those can be severe like with Lori Drew. Although different, it is not altogether unlike using a child in an advert for loans secured on your property "look how easy it is to get that new car, even a kid can manage it".
Re:OP is a condescending asshole, and it shows... by calmofthestorm · 2009-02-10 22:33 · Score: 4, Insightful

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
OP is flaimbait,
but so are you.

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93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
Re:OP is a condescending asshole, and it shows... by L4t3r4lu5 · 2009-02-10 22:51 · Score: 4, Funny

Flame. Stop relying on Spellcheck.

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Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Oh please... by wbren · 2009-02-10 22:51 · Score: 5, Insightful

And while it's impressive that little Kylie is able to transfer a snapshot of her pet fish from her camera to a PC, color-correct it, and e-mail it to her family, what's truly amazing is that the toddler was also apparently able to read, understand, and accept Windows Live's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. (But minors can't legally execute contracts, can they?)
Really? Out of all the things you could have criticized Microsoft for, you chose the one thing that Microsoft has in common with every other software company (an insane EULA/TOS)?
That would be like me saying "And while it's impressive that little Kylie is able to transfer a snapshot of her pet fish from her camera to a PC, color-correct it, and e-mail it to her family, what's truly amazing is that someone with an @aol.com email address was able to figure out how to submit a story to /."
See what I mean? Saying something like that weakens your whole argument... Oops!

--
-William Brendel
Re:Nauseating by aliquis · 2009-02-10 22:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Think-Of-The-Children
Fuck, now you got me horny again.
LEAVE MS ALONE!!!! by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-10 23:14 · Score: 5, Funny

I agree with everyone here who is upset with the way Microsoft is being treated on Slashdot.
How fucking dare anyone out there make fun of Microsoft after all it has been through.!
They lost their battle with Vista, they had to resurrect XP. They gave birth to Windows fucking 7!
Their new CEO turned out to be a chair thrower. All you people care about is... Linux and FOSS.
Microsoft is A HUMAN! (ah! ooh!) What you don't realize is that Microsoft is making you all this money and all you do is write a bunch of crap about it.
Microsoft hasn't performed on stage in years. Its Songsmith demo-song is called "gimme more" for a reason because all you people want is MORE! MORE-MORE, MORE: MORE!.
LEAVE MS ALONE! You are lucky they even developed Songsmith for you BASTARDS! LEAVE MICROSOFT ALONE!....Please.
Steve Jobs talked about professionalism and said if Microsoft was a professional they would've pulled it off with Vista no matter what.
Speaking of professionalism, when is it professional to publicly bash a corporation who is going through a hard time????
Leave Microsoft Alone Please. ! Leave Microsoft alone! right now! I mean it.!
Anyone that has a problem with MS you deal with me, because MS is not well right now.
LEAVE Microsoft ALONE!
*sobs*
I'm a PC and i come with linux installed ... by noddyxoi · 2009-02-10 23:47 · Score: 4, Interesting

and therefore, since i haven't payed for anything more than a Personal Computer i'm not a Windows.
Re:OP is a condescending asshole, and it shows... by xstonedogx · 2009-02-11 00:03 · Score: 5, Funny

As the proud parent of a Linux user I advocate throwing a bare bones slackware install on strange hardware, giving the 4-year-old the root password, and walking away.
She's six now and she knows if she wants to be networked she has to roll her own cat 5 and figure out the appropriate network settings. She's almost there. (Boy was she mad when she finally figured out I had originally installed token ring on her box!) If she wants internet access she has to hack into the firewall and give herself that access.
You know, you see them struggling and you really want to help them, but you have to resist the urge. Otherwise they'll never learn!
Windows Vista Graphics Viewer sucks... by Jackie_Chan_Fan · 2009-02-11 00:36 · Score: 5, Funny

The graphics viewer in Vista and Windows 7, is the most worthless peice of shit ever. It doesnt conform to ANY logical workflow for browsing, zooming, managing files quickly. Its just like its own ass backwards way of doing things.
Microsoft could learn a lot from studying some of the other viewers out there.
The graphics viewer doesnt even read a lot of formats used in production environments, nor does it respect embedded ICC color profiles. ITS WORTHLESS.
Its a toy, just like the media player, the thumbnail viewing capability of explorer... etc.
Why cant MS make some SERIOUS applications that actually get work done.
Stop making apps for 4 year olds.
I'm sure the online Live graphics thing is just as lame. Its another late to the game web service that others already provide and have an established user base and better integration on PCs, mobile devices, etc..
pfft, sending pictures... by boredhacker · 2009-02-11 01:02 · Score: 4, Funny

...my 4.5 year old can debug a friggin' kernel.
Re:OP is a condescending poopoohead, and it shows. by Lumpy · 2009-02-11 02:19 · Score: 4, Funny

You know, it's possible a 4 1/2 year old has parents...
not a chance. this child was born in a test tube and incubator at microsoft labs. She was raised the past 4.5 years in a crib that had every iteration of windows and microsoft products in it on flatscreens surrounding her. It's the genetic love child of Gates and Ballmer.
Who knew those two ugly guys would make such a cute baby?

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Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.