now=Seinfeld, then=John Cleese, Alan Alda, and "Dr. Who"

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.globalnerdy.com/2008/08/21/seinfeld-and-celebrity-computer-endorsements/

The URL says it all... spend a lunch hour recalling the memories... ah yes, the painful memories (yes, I actually remember seeing the "Friends" training videos for Windoze 95...)

[Mr. Analog]

The Doctor Who ones are hilarious, I have some of them on DVD (as bonus features).

[Mr. Analog]

Also, as a side note, isn't it kinda @%&#ed that Microsoft would pick Seinfeld, an comedian whose programme showed a Mac predominantly displayed in his fictional apartment?

[Darren Dirt]

I like the comments at the top of the article I linked above... yes, happily, before this is even out, 99.44% of tech-savvy folks are saying EPIC FAIL.

Gawker sums it up best:

    Scene from "Seinfeld" showing the Mac in his apartmentYes, because if there?s one surefire way to convince everyone Vista is cool, cutting edge and not liable to get frazzled by life?s minor complications, it?s hiring a 1990s sitcom star and professional kvetcher! Who, um, very visibly owned a series of Macs on his show. This is Microsoft?s worst promotional concept since, well, since its last Vista campaign, the Mojave Experiment, which decisively proved that people hate Vista but will use it if they are tricked into thinking it?s something else, like a stable, functional tool. Here?s how Madison Avenue is responding:

    ?They are not seen as cool,? says Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, a New York branding firm. ?Apple is cool. Can anyone even recall a Microsoft ad? No.?

    And they won?t be able to remember this one either, because using Seinfeld humor in ads was already considered tired three years ago.

PS: cross ref. this 3 year old Slate* article...
http://www.slate.com/id/2125904/



*which, happily, introduced me to a Seinfeld book I have never heard of that, sadly, is apparently out of print.

[Darren Dirt]

WOW, the Ricky Gervais Microsoft UK training video titled "The Office Values" (with Gervais as the loveable clueless dolt David Brent) is bloody brilliant, yeah? (With Stephen Merchant as the straight-faced, perpetually shocked long-suffering interviewer...)

[Darren Dirt]

Well, I just now chose to suffer through the "awkward"ness that is The First Seinfeld-Gates Commercial.

Hmph.


I think I was more amused, with more memorable dialogue and scenes, in the "Bill's Last Day at Microsoft" video. (And I like how JayZ "warned" Seinfeld about how difficult it'll be working with BillG )


This summary description is just as valuable as actually watching it...
http://www.crn.com/software/210500223

[Lazybones]

Several places have referred to it as the "Ad about Nothing". One small giggle in there is that the photo on gates member card is his classic arrest photo from his youth.

Most guess this will be a series and this is just the intro to the characters, still it didn't manage to be funny.

[Darren Dirt]

this is just the intro to the characters

^ pretty much what a few M$ defenders seem to be saying...
http://www.macworld.com/article/135405/2008/09/microsoftad.html

(also see: http://www.macuser.com/advertising/whats_the_deal_with_his_commer.php )




update 7pm: wow, this "deep analysis" is right on the money...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/webscout/2008/09/seinfeld-and-ga.html

But the commercial is not actually tapping into the "nothing" that Seinfeld was famously about. "Seinfeld" was about "nothing" because it showed everything that four friends did together. It was the "nothing" of, "What'd you do today?" "Nothing." But the Microsoft spot's little shoe-store vignette relies on unfunny far-fetched details: Seinfeld asking Gates if he ever takes a shower with his clothes on, for example. Thunk.

Gates and Seinfeld may both be schlumpy dressers, but their regular-guy qualities stop there. Neither is the Warren Buffett kind of rich, the frugal sort who knows the value of a dollar and doesn't put himself above the working man (or so we believe about Buffett). Instead the ad seems to be somehow making light of bargain-shopping, as if it's just a lark for these guys, or some kind of joke that we're not quite in on.

The most disturbing part of the commercial begins with a cut to a Latino family standing outside the store and looking in the window as they too eat churros. "Es el Conquistador?" the woman says. The man replies in Spanish, "They run tight." There are English subtitles. These dark-skinned people stand close together and have befuddled expressions on their faces. They seem to take Shoe Circus very seriously.

Perhaps they're supposed to represent the consumers "around the globe" that Microsoft is trying to "reconnect" with, but the depiction seems condescending and borderline offensive. These are the kind of people who actually shop at a Shoe Circus, and not by choice. With their grim faces they look as if they have actual problems to deal with besides the tightness of the Conquistador, so the spectacle of them watching the two eternally boyish, care-free retired zillionaires try on shoes leaves a bad aftertaste.

"epic" fail? or just fail? ...

[Darren Dirt]

the shoe is Windows.

Bill tries on a shoe from the proprietor, complains it doesn't fit, but is assured that over time it will.

He gets help from Jerry, because the proprietor's help is lacking.

Jerry discovers a feature in the shoe that is somewhat vague.

Jerry shows Bill the Conquistador (a more advanced shoe), assures him that if he works hard with it, the shoe will work out.

Some outsiders look in and make comments about the difficulty of the shoe.

- a comment by "darkone", analyzing the symbolism...