Seen the latest Microsoft TV commercial? I won’t bore you with a YouTube link…visually, it’s not that different from the first one – you know…the one that was Microsoft’s lame answer to the brilliant “I’m a Mac…and I’m a PC” spots by Apple. The new spot is just different enough to be blog-worthy. In this spot, the John Hodgman clone (savor the irony there), say’s “I’m a PC…and I’m not alone.” He’s then joined by his minions of similarly-brainwashed Vista victims (we presume they’re victims of that craptacular BugFest that is Vista – they [wisely] never bother to mention their O/S affiliation). Their name is Legion say things like “I’m a PC.” “No…I’M a PC.” Nobody’s gonna confuse this tribe with Spartacus. No, but if you listen long enough (but if you don’t, I can’t says i blame you…Tivo away, campers!), the effect sounds more like an AA meeting than it does a product endorsement.
“My name is John Doe, and I’m a PC.”
“Hi, John!”
“And it’s been five hours since my last system crash.”
Sadly (for him, anyway), I don’t think this is exactly what Steve Balmer has in mind. If Microsoft intends to wow everybody with how great it is to be connected to everybody else, they’re about a decade late and a couple of billion dollars short. I can tell you, it’s not about community and connectivity…it’s about ease-of-use and reliability. The only thing I can count on with any of my PCs is that I can’t count on them, especially when it matters most. If Microsoft can’t fix that, nothing else matters. Not the misguided marketing. Not dazzling new products. Not nuthin.’ In the final analysis, perhaps these commercials are unintendedly honest, albeit in a post-ironic manner. Which, come to think about it, would be a first for Microsoft.
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