[Steve_S]

The Microsoft kid commercials are much better than previous attempts. However, you have to admit, it all comes off as rather fake in the end when they say "I'm a PC". For starters, that's not something any kid would naturally say. This also makes it clear that everything I just watched and somehow found to be believable is somehow staged and fake (as if I didn't already know that).
Microsoft is trying to hard to fight the Apple commercials by branding the "PC". Microsoft should focus on branding Microsoft and Windows. If the "I'm a PC" campaign ever took off (which is highly doubtful), all it would take would be to demonstrate running Windows in a window on a Mac (with something like Parallels) and claiming "oh yeah, and I'm a PC too". Apple is selling hardware and Microsoft is selling software, but they're trying to go head to head. It doesn't work well.

[luckmor]

This "I'm a PC" campaign is typical Microsoft cargo-cult mentality when they try to copy Apple - they are using the same phrase as in the "Get a Mac" campaign, but without really understanding it.
John Hodgman is a metaphorical PC, not a user of a PC. His PC doesn't get a virus, he does. That is part of the charm. Despite their claims to the contrary, the folks in the Microsoft ads are not PCs, they are users of PCs (although celiawessen might be on to something).
This irks me more than Apple's "Think Different" campaign, which at least had a possible grammatical interpretation.

[XMattingly]

I caught one Kylie commercial, and while it's cute and a marked improvement over the initial run, I still don't see it as effective of a sales pitch than Apple's campaign. Anyone with even a modest amount of Windows experience should realize this latest pitch is completely bunk: what is Kylie going to do when her computer can't recognize the digital camera's drivers?
Again, I still say it connects better than the defensive tone of the initial "I'm a PC" run.

[jmorris411]

Now remember, Microsoft's new slogan is actually "Life without (fire)walls...."

[Xenu]

Microsoft just doesn't get it. Trying to criticize Apple by imitating their ad campaign just strengthen's Apple.

[OkeiAwjr]

Xenu said:

Microsoft just doesn't get it. Trying to criticize Apple by imitating their ad campaign just strengthen's Apple.

Yes, I have to agree fully on that. I am immediately struck by how Microsoft is yet again imitating Apple with these ads. The background music and the "I'm a PC" are clearly direct responses to Apple's ad campaign, and to me, just shows Microsoft as desperate to play "catch up", answering to Apple, rather than to innovate and do something new. I'm astounded to the extent they are now letting Apple call the shots; how unabashedly they have been copying UI elements from OS X; and how they are now increasingly trying to duplicate Apple's business models.

I was also really struck by how frank an admission Microsoft made with Mojave Experiment ads that Vista has an overwhelmingly negative market perception. Even if I knew nothing about Vista before seeing that ad, it itself would send up all sorts of red flags for me.

Apple has them on the run, and it shows.

[Thaytis]

Yeah.... I'm going to listen to a 4 year old tell me on which computer I'm going to use.... MS commercials just drive home the point that they are absolutely pathetic and out of touch.... Just like their new slogan... Windows, life without walls? How freakin' dumb is that? Just to state the obvious that in the real world.... a window cannot exist without a wall. Where the heck else do windows go, except in a wall? So by definition, windows needs walls.... ridiculous.

[People_Eater]

> However, Microsoft was smart to go with children because Apple doesn't dare spoof The Rookies. "What is Apple going to do, make fun of little kids?"
[/quote]
This statement is really odd, because when has Apple ever used a "spoof" in an advertising campaign? I guess the 1984 ad could be considered as a spoof of Orwell, but it's actually more "inspired by" than a parody.
Oddest of all is that the Microsoft ads are intended to be a direct response (if not a spoof) of the Apple ads. But Apple just doesn't roll that way, they tend to come up with their own ideas for advertising, not parody other ads.

[People_Eater]

> However, you have to admit, it all comes off as rather fake in the end when they say "I'm a PC".
[/quote]
The whole concept is weird. In the "I'm a Mac" ads, the characters are clearly actors, playing the role of their respective Operating Systems. So, it makes some sense. The situation is supposed to be absurd, not naturalistic.
But the Microsoft "I'm a PC" ads portray actual users proclaiming that they are a PC. Most people would say they are a human being (or a woman, man or child), not an inanimate piece of electronics.
It's weird and demeaning. It's reducing a person to the status of a machine. Haters like to bash Apple fans for identifying too much with their computers, but now Microsoft has taken it to another level by explicitly stating that when you use Windows, you become some sort of automaton or product.

[ejrejr]

One of the biggest things I've gotten out of the Rookies ads and the positive feedback about Win7 is confirmation that there's this odd, shrill collection of people who waste so much time and energy demeaning anything Microsoft.

The Mac faithful must want to swing a mouse and give them a good whack on the side of head and just ask them to chill and enjoy the goodness they have.

Why spend so much effort trying to convince the world that Microsoft can do no right? It's like the folks blathering in between conniptions about Live Search putting up a picture of a snow leopard. Sheesh. Goodness forbid if they ever put up a picture of a fruit still life with an apple under poor lighting. What does it mean? You’re not focusing on enjoying life. That’s what it means.

[XMattingly]

Quote

{size:10px} ejrejr wrote: One of the biggest things I've gotten out of ... the positive feedback about Win7 is confirmation that there's this odd, shrill collection of people who waste so much time and energy demeaning anything Microsoft.{size}

You mean, positive feedback about a de-turded version of Vista? If you're quite thrilled to be shilling out a few hundred bucks for what amounts to a massive service pack upgrade (and Microsoft essentially only fixing what they should have gotten right two years ago), then I'd say that confirms that you're not too realistic about what's coming out of Redmond these days.

Quote

{size:10px} Why spend so much effort trying to convince the world that Microsoft can do no right?{size}

I think Steve Ballmer is convinced that M$ can do no wrong, and very few people are delusional enough to buy into it these days. So people who choose to hit the message boards (Mac enthusiasts or otherwise) may or may not be wasting their time - I won't pass judgement on that... but it's certainly not so much an attempt to convince as it is another opportunity to laugh and point.

Excuse me... now I must go to the back yard to burn some ants with a magnifying glass.

[john-d]

A more accurate ad would feature a teenager stating "I'm a PC" while seated in front of one and going on to ask, "So how do I stop all these pop-up windows?" Cut to a close up of their screen filling up, as an endless number of windows continue to open.

That's pretty much been my experience when visiting most Mom & Pop PC users' houses. When I can, I've been able to donate our old iMacs to them, and I'm still getting thanked to this day.

[bparry1990]

I agree! What a silly slogan..
"Life without walls"?
Think about it - Is it possible to have a window without a wall in which to put it? That would mean Life without walls would be life without windows.. Result!

[cabelaj]

"Life without walls".....another words with out walls then you dont need windows. Haha!