The Jerry Seinfeld ad just puts them in the spotlight again. With a kind of strange set-up ("A commercial about nothing"), but it works for what they intended - keep MS in the public eye. And associate them with Churros and "we have a sense of humor".
"This commercial doesn't talk about or show any Microsoft product at all, except a vague mention at the very end vaguely comparing a computer (MS doesn't make computers) to cake."
And yet, it has been on Digg, Slashdot, Fark and every major website the day it launched.
As a brand awareness commercial, it even got you, most likely a Linux geek (this is Slashdot after all) talking about the ad, and the MS brand.
"The market isn't going to die just because some doom and gloom prophets say so, they've been saying that for a while now." Yeah, at least 10 years. I remember Evil Avatar saying "PC games are dead! Dying soon! " a few years ago...
If you watched the show, you might notice they have tried to riff on Barack Obama's gaffes, but apparently he doesn't provide as much material as George Bush or McCain.
They did make fun of John Edwards, who I believe is a democrat.
They try to make fun of both camps equally (at least the Daily Show does, I don't watch the Colbert Report).
No, I think in Apple's case it has more to do with the insane loyalty that mac-heads have to the Cult of Apple. Makes you wonder if they're really that good.
So it's not just the TV ads, I personally thought those were extremely, extremely annoying. The power of Mac seems to be word of mouth.
Some might remember the idea of programming "good" software virii that would latch onto the "evil" ones and spread patches for malware all over the net...
You know when you want to unplug a USB device safely? You go to the taskbar and choose the option, and Windows tells you "Sorry, can't do that, that device is being used right now".
First of all, there's a "loading" Javascript message in the middle that never goes away(correction: it went away after 3 minutes of letting the page load. On a second try, it never went away. It must be calling some resource that is overloaded or something)
While the page is "loading", you can see the text you are interested in the background, but you can't read it because it is jumping around 3 columns, from left to center to right. That's right, the text keeps jumping all the time.
When the page finally settles (after a few minutes), there is a page footer that does not like to go at the end of the page - instead it decides to settle smack dab in the middle of the page, thus interrupting your reading of the text.
Really, the page is so bad, I'm astounded that it comes from the world's "leading software technology developer" *roll eyes*
The last thing they want is people going "wtf, microsofts site is broken!" because they don't realize its silverlight.
Actually, Microsoft's site IS broken, silverlight or no. Whenever you visit it with Opera browser, columns keep jumping all over the place, many buttons don't work, tables are all out of whack...
Not that I go there often but I happened to visit a couple of days ago and, well, it's crap.
Slashdot Mirror
... say the same thing.
Don't we have enough adults now who grew up playing videogames, that could tell you that it was an enjoyable activity and that's it?
As in everything, it's bad without moderation (re: 18 hour play sessions on WoW), but really, this debate is as ridiculous as they get.
DRM is not about pirates, it's about killing the reseller market for games.
How is this bad publicity?
THIS is bad publicity: http://venturebeat.com/2008/09/05/xbox-360-defects-an-inside-history-of-microsofts-video-game-console-woes/
The Jerry Seinfeld ad just puts them in the spotlight again. With a kind of strange set-up ("A commercial about nothing"), but it works for what they intended - keep MS in the public eye. And associate them with Churros and "we have a sense of humor".
"This commercial doesn't talk about or show any Microsoft product at all, except a vague mention at the very end vaguely comparing a computer (MS doesn't make computers) to cake."
And yet, it has been on Digg, Slashdot, Fark and every major website the day it launched.
As a brand awareness commercial, it even got you, most likely a Linux geek (this is Slashdot after all) talking about the ad, and the MS brand.
Thus, they succedeed, brilliantly, and they win.
Well, basically Sony's decline begins when they buy an Entertainment arm in the 80's. There's a lot of info on Wikipedia about it.
They had probably the best reputation of any Japanese electronics company back then.
"The market isn't going to die just because some doom and gloom prophets say so, they've been saying that for a while now."
Yeah, at least 10 years. I remember Evil Avatar saying "PC games are dead! Dying soon! " a few years ago...
That lowers his chances of being a target for crazy nutjobs, because if Obama goes, who would want a mexican Vicepresident? ; )
IS AWESOME
I thought they'd make you re-buy them as DLC or something. It's a great move, I think.
Now, if I could pay just $5 dollars and get MP3s to play on my ipod...
If you watched the show, you might notice they have tried to riff on Barack Obama's gaffes, but apparently he doesn't provide as much material as George Bush or McCain.
They did make fun of John Edwards, who I believe is a democrat.
They try to make fun of both camps equally (at least the Daily Show does, I don't watch the Colbert Report).
The midichlorians absolutely destroyed my admiration for the series. I haven't bought anything Star Wars related since 1999, and I don't plan to.
It just put the whole franchise on the level of a Flash Gordon film or something.
Did any of those happen on a televised broadcast of one of the most (if not THE most) watched events of the world?
If not, I'd say this is more notable than your OSX crash that you wrote about on your blog. =P
No, I think in Apple's case it has more to do with the insane loyalty that mac-heads have to the Cult of Apple. Makes you wonder if they're really that good.
So it's not just the TV ads, I personally thought those were extremely, extremely annoying. The power of Mac seems to be word of mouth.
Instead of quitting, why didn't you raise prices?
I hate to be the GRAMMER NAZI, but isn't the correct word "Virii"? =/
Some might remember the idea of programming "good" software virii that would latch onto the "evil" ones and spread patches for malware all over the net...
Microsoft will just not care, and 5 years down the line they'll sue Linus for copyright infringement on their Midori OS. =)
I just dropped a new 160 gb laptop and I lost all the data. I-m very interested in these new SSD drives.
Kind of related suggestion:
You know when you want to unplug a USB device safely? You go to the taskbar and choose the option, and Windows tells you "Sorry, can't do that, that device is being used right now".
How about telling me what the hell is using it?
Thanks =)
Love the Firefly reference too.
Forgive the ignorance but I am not american, what does AP stand for?
For real. Why am I still paying 20 bucks for a recording of the 1960's? (Beatles, Hendrix, etc)...
You dont know who is Antony Scalia, do you?
Read up on his track record. Bush likes him for a reason.
And Mexico does it 3 years later.
Seriously, just stand and fight it on your own ground - it is only a matter of time until the practice spreads all over the globe.
I just checked Microsoft's site again, and this was the worst page of the few that I visited:
http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/technology/hardware/do-you-need-to-turn-off-your-pc-at-night.aspx
First of all, there's a "loading" Javascript message in the middle that never goes away(correction: it went away after 3 minutes of letting the page load. On a second try, it never went away. It must be calling some resource that is overloaded or something)
While the page is "loading", you can see the text you are interested in the background, but you can't read it because it is jumping around 3 columns, from left to center to right. That's right, the text keeps jumping all the time.
When the page finally settles (after a few minutes), there is a page footer that does not like to go at the end of the page - instead it decides to settle smack dab in the middle of the page, thus interrupting your reading of the text.
Really, the page is so bad, I'm astounded that it comes from the world's "leading software technology developer" *roll eyes*
The last thing they want is people going "wtf, microsofts site is broken!" because they don't realize its silverlight.
Actually, Microsoft's site IS broken, silverlight or no. Whenever you visit it with Opera browser, columns keep jumping all over the place, many buttons don't work, tables are all out of whack...
Not that I go there often but I happened to visit a couple of days ago and, well, it's crap.