Microsoft's Answer to Apple Ads: Seinfeld

Some find Seinfeld/ Gates routine unfunny; others, 'hilarious'

(NEWSER) - A new Microsoft ad is sparking praise and putdowns in roughly equal measure around the Web today. Paul McDougall calls the spot "outdated and not very funny" in InformationWeek, but says it's revealing—of a tech company totally out of touch with Generation Y. The choice of “has-been” Jerry Seinfeld proves that Microsoft is “dominated by middle-aged white guys who made their own millions more than a decade ago." More»

(NEWSER) - Microsoft has changed at least one of its highly successful "Laptop Hunter" ads after Apple called to complain about it, Advertising Age reports. In the original, a law student shopping for a laptop observes: "This Mac is $2,000, and that's before adding anything." Her mother adds, "Why would you pay twice the price?" But Apple's lawyer called to say the ad was out of date, and Mac prices had gone down. So the shopper now says only: "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand." She still rejects a Mac in favor of a $972 Dell PC. More»

Cryptic ads left some 'scratching their heads'

(NEWSER) - Microsoft has axed the cryptic Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates ads that left some viewers "scratching their heads," Michelle Quinn writes in the Los Angeles Times. Though a Microsoft spokesman claims it was the plan all along to stop here, the blogosphere is abuzz about Microsoft's "strained effort" to seem "cool and in touch with regular customers" in response to Apple's Mac vs. PC ads. More»

Consumer-focused OS sports poor performance, big cost

(NEWSER) - Microsoft's strategy of marketing Vista to consumers has turned off its other core constituency, the Wall Street Journal reports: business. Certainly, technical issues and a fat price tag have decimated the number of companies planning to install it: Just 26% of IT departments say they expect to install Vista by 2010, down from 68% last year. More»

She. Is. Not. Kidding.

(NEWSER) - You might think the world's second-richest guy's kids would be spoiled, and they might be: But they sure as hell don't have iPods. Melinda Gates revealed a household ban on all things Apple in an interview with the New York Times Magazine (via HuffPo): Of the kids, she says, "I have gotten that argument—'You may have a Zune.' " Pressed as to rumors that Bill works on an Apple laptop, Gates says, "False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep." More»