Ron Schenone

Microsoft Drops Seinfeld – Company Is Out Of Touch

Posted by on Sep 18, 2008 | 7 Comments

Anyone who was tortured watching the lameness of the commercials with Gates & Seinfeld together can only come to one conclusion. Microsoft is totally out of touch with consumers or the company seems to think we are all idiots. So which is it people? I don’t consider myself an idiot and I doubt that you do either.

That only leaves one other conclusion. Microsoft is so far away from what the public wants that they can’t see the forest from the tress. Get over it. The public doesn’t like Vista, which is your Edsel.

If those Apple vs PC commercials really bother you that much, buy all of the TV stations and refuse Apple’s business. But one thing you as a company cannot change. Apple has a better mouse trap.

The good news is that Microsoft has decided to drop future commercials with these two together. It seems that few found the commercials funny. It also seems that Seinfeld is being blamed for the lack of humor that was not displayed on the tube.

So what do you think? Is Microsoft fighting a battle it cannot win? Is the mighty software giant from Redmond starting to lose its gusto?

Comments welcome.

Source

PS It seems that Microsoft is going to continue their ad campaign using a PC lookalike.

Source.

  • http://www.baldguyweb.com/blog El Pelon

    Well, duh. I mean who could possibly look funny compared to the rip-roaring barrel of laughs that is Bill Gates?

  • Erik Jacobsen

    Reminds me of this story from The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/perfectly_marketed_tv_show_somehow

    They did everything, except look at the product itself.

  • Matis

    While I do not consider myself an idiot, I do consider myself to have a sense of humor.

    Obviously, the author of this article lost theirs. Who cares what they are advertising anyway? They’re funny!

    You, me, and everyone else has already decided which OS that they prefer, so why the hostility?

    These ads are a LOT better than some jackhole standing at a podium, reading specs…but if you prefer the alternative…then I think you are a robot—-get ‘em!

  • Barbara

    First commercial “How they met”
    Second commercial “Learning how the other half live”
    Third commercial “Probably will be talking to there computer” clone of apple.

    No one talks about a good commercial, but they do cover lousy ones. So you keep talking Microsoft did this or that and the microsoft name draws more to look for and at the next commercial. And if you notice Apple has been fading from view.

    Barbara

  • Diana Wilcox

    If there were a point, even if it took a few commercials to get to it – but this just seemed to be wandering around without a destination in mind. I liked seeing both of them. I just wanted there to be a point.

  • John

    I really don’t understand, at all, what Microsoft thought they were conveying to me or to anyone else for that matter with these lame attempts at humor to make me believe in Windows. Jerry Seinfeld has nothing to do with computers and the everyday reality of what we go through to protect ourselves or to struggle with getting our computers to just behave and do the work we need done and Bill Gates is too far removed from everyday life with his millions and his own “neverland” for me to think he really has anything at heart to improve my day-to-day computing needs or issues the issues that we deal with in the Wonderful World of Microsoft.

    What a waste of time, effort, and millions of dollars. For years I have watched MS make some of the most ludicrous changes to their OS without any logic whatsoever, reshuffling menus, tightening up security but failing to really nail it down, continuing to allow copious amounts of OS vulnerabilities to permit invasion and hacking, slapping a label on the old and calling it new

    I’ve asked myself, rhetorically, for years just who runs their “focus groups” and how can they be so blind, obstinate, and so callous in foisting such drivel on the consumer.

    It accomplishes nothing more than continued grumbling, dissatisfaction, and a slow evolution to competitors products to escape the Microsoft Mindset of Mindlessness.

    I know, with certainty, that if another OS could pickup where Windows leaves off, the masses would take to it like rats to the Pied Piper.

    Maybe, someday, Apple will relinquish their chokehold on their product development and manufacturing process and unleash the real “leopard” that slays the Microsoft dragon.

  • M. Free

    First, the commercials are rediculous. I’d like to think that a commercial should be intended to get the consumer to take action, like buying the product being advertised. The Seinfeld/Gates commercials just don’t do that. The MAC commercials try to point out the benefits to owning a MAC. The real reason that MAC is making some inroads into the Microsoft world is the fact that MAC computers now are based upon the Intel microprocessor, and as such can run BOTH Windows and MAC software. So, it behooves Microsoft to consider doing the same thing. The majority of consumers do not require the MAC O/S to run the majority of programs that consumers use, so perhaps Microsoft needs to “push” that message. As it is, consumers pay a premium t acquire a new MAC over a new PC, so if you do not need MAC based software, why bother. That’s the message. Personally, if the price of a comparable MAC and PC were the same, I’m buying the MAC. But the price differential combined with the fact that I have no real need for MAC software means that I’m still buying PC. BTW, from what I can tell, the lack of info that the average consumer has is the real reason that MAC is still increasing market share. The truth be told, the hardware and software are no better nor safer than PC and Windows.