New Warm, Fuzzy (and Funny) Microsoft commercial airs

Since I wasn’t glued to the tele tonight I had to see this as it splattered across the interwebs: the first commercial starring former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. While the comments on the commercial seems to be about 70 – 30 against for most folks at Engadget and Gizmodo, I thought it was cute and funny.

Gizmodo

Besides the slick and probably expensive editing designed to make Jerry Seinfeld look like the more awkward of the pair, there’s not a whole lot of special effects in this clip. In fact, there’s not really a whole lot of anything, including laughs, information or pimping of Vista.

Engadget

As promised, Gates and Seinfeld made their television pair-up debut tonight, in an advertisement for something or other. We were sad to see Seinfeld sans-bee suit, and Gates is lacking in Costanza-isms, but we might just be looking at a beautiful friendship here. Video is after the break.

Unlike many of the commenters on the above sites, I watched it a few times and totally “got it.” (That’s why you like us here so much at MorninPaper, we “get” the stuff the other folks don’t.

Anyway, Gates and Seinfeld gentle repartee was spot on perfect for the first outing between the two and as an introduction for the new marketing campaign. It wasn’t about much, Seinfeld spots Gates shopping in a discount shoe store and then the two talk shoes, yes shoes – discount shoes no less!

It’s not until the end that you get the tease there is more to come when Seinfeld asks Gates about what Microsoft might be up to next.

No, it didn’t go for the jugular of the “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” but that was probably a wise move. We’ve been there, done that. Good, bad or indifferent, it is what it is. Microsoft needed to stake a different turf, go in a different direction, separate themselves by going after a different audience or kind of computer user. I think they’ve succeeded.

I’ll be looking forward to more from this series of commercials.

Enjoy the clip above if you missed it the first time around.
Click the VIDEO tab above to watch clip