Actually, I liked that ads. Microsoft has also quashed the idea that the Bill Gates/Sienfeld ad campaign has been canceled..

They stated from the begining that it would be an evolving ad campaign with the first part simply there to get our attention. Guess what, it worked.

Beep beep!

I thought I was the only one, who made that assertion. I watched it, and my friends in office, thought I was crazy. I almost jumped out of my chair, "they used code complete, awesome".

The office mates replied, whats that, to which I banished them from my office, to do a google search of their query.

Dudes, you forgot that Justin Long was in very NOT forgettable Idiocracy. I heard about Idiocracy the first time right here on Coding Horror (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000772.html). I loved Justin's character.

+1 for fans of the ads. I have really been surprised that so many of the people I know detest them so vehemently. How was the Seinfeld show such a success, but now all of a sudden, nobody seems to "get" that style of humor?

Steve Jobs was quoted (somewhere I can't remember) as saying that the "I'm a Mac / I'm a PC" ads work because PC is the more likable of the two. It was expected that you would like Hodgman better than the other guy.

I like Slashdot's synopsis of the ad...

"Microsoft has introduced a new advertisement in which the aging former CEO and comedian take up residence with a family, causing infighting and malicious plots by the family members. Although the ad does not mention Microsoft's operating system directly, it does mirror the real world experience of the company's products — appearing where not wanted, hard to remove, causing administration headaches, and finally being forced out in hopes of getting one's living space back."

I like Long's character and think that the Hodgman character would be much better off if he were a Mac:)

Wow, I'm guessing Matthew Eckstein must've been reading that chapter recently. Either that, or he has a mythical photographic memory with perfect recall. Or he's just smart.

The thing about these PC ads is they're a lot funnier if you just think of them as comedy shorts, not ads.

Did anybody see the new PC ad last night on Jay Leno/Conan O'Brian? It started with a guy in a white room wearing a brown suit saying, "I'm a PC, and I'm a stereotype." The entire commercial was brilliant; just the kind of response Microsoft should've fired back in the first place.

Of course, the video is also on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJzzjaSk-ZM

> Dudes, you forgot that Justin Long was in very NOT forgettable Idiocracy.

Ooh, appealing to my love of Idiocracy. That's a low blow, sir. LOW!

He was good in that (Dr. Lexus?), but he was also a very minor character. Remember his doctorly diagnosis? "You're f**ed up, you talk like a f**, and your s**t's all retarded."

Ah, the future. Good times.

I like those commercials. They're strange -- but somehow entertaining. Too bad if they're being cancelled :-(

This is crazy, but I literally read that section in Code Complete last night. When I first bought that book I read it all the way through in 2 days because I was so fascinated by what was contained within.

Now, I read it for pleasure and am taking my time. How odd that you decide to excerpt the exact words I read before bed last night.

Well, saying that the 'I'm a PC/I'm a Mac' ads fail to achieve their goals is not too smart. The reason for advertising is not just to get people talking: it's to ultimately sell stuff, this is not new. Those ads have been doing a pretty good job for Apple's sales, haven't they?

I think one can never underestimate the talent advertisers sport for making people think and feel the way they want. Believing one is immune to that (and also saying that those ads fail because the PC guy inspires more likeness) borders plain naivety.

Having that said, I wouldn't be eager to tell whether the new MS ads fail or not, simply because I expect this to be part o a bigger plan, one which only the advertisers would really get the whole picture. Or maybe I'm completely off and this will all come back to me : )

To be honest, I hope they succeed: competition is always good, if Apple becomes the next Microsoft, it wouldn't be fun at all, even tough I chose to own a Mac recently.

Of course my favorite line of the commercial:

"Are there monsters in this story?"
"Yes, but it's OK. There's a firewall."

LMAO. People really need to lighten up over these ads.

The UK Mac/PC ads have the same effect. They use the comedy duo from the sitcom Peep Show. While the PC guy (David Mitchell) is indeed a bit of a nerd, the Mac guy is a drugged up waster. And David Mitchell is a comic genius live, so you really end up rooting for him.

These ads are a long time coming, and I (personally) am laughing at the intensity of the storm they've kicked up. On top of that, with advertising being what it is, I'm only predicting the storm to get stronger.

Maybe I'll even start watching TV again to see what happens...

I think the commercials are funny, and I did like the use of Code Complete. I found it ironically amusing that Gates was reading it. I agree with Coleman... people need to lighten up a bit - stop critiquing the ads as if they were presidential speeches. They are mildly funny, although they could easily be funnier with Gates and Seinfeld. To me, the ads say "we [MS] would like to be fun, but we're not"

> that's advertising for you: a giant pack of lies

I think it's a huge stretch to say an ad is a "pack of lies" because the *actors* in the ad aren't the same as the characters they are portraying. By that measure, every non-fiction TV show and movie is also a giant pack of lies. They're called "actors" because they're acting!

Well, I just watched this new ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkZdkHylJ3w) and it brings a whole new argument to the table. Very nice, and demands some move by Apple, definitely.

(I'm not sure this is new, but I live in Brazil, so I've been following these ads online, and this was posted yesterday.)

It must be a cultural thing. I think this commercial is so boring as to not merit even a casual disparing remark.

I'd suggest whoever wrote that blurb about the ads is a raging toolbox, as the average joe who watches that commercial is getting the message, and not going, "HEY! JOHN HODGMAN IS WAY COOLER!"

(And I hate macs [And windows, for what it's worth.])

I'd suggest whoever wrote that blurb about the ads is a raging toolbox, as the average joe who watches that commercial is getting the message, and not going, "HEY! JOHN HODGMAN IS WAY COOLER!"

(And I hate macs [And windows, for what it's worth.])

doh. Sorry for the duplicate. got some error about lack of permissions on submitting last time, and it wasn't on the page.. re-posted and there it was.

.. twice.

The Seinfeld/Gates adverts were a great advert for Seinfeld, I believe they had a Microsoft logo at the end so were they sponsored by Microsoft? (I suspect this is why they were cancelled)

The PC/MAC adverts (Especially the UK versions) were very funny an memorable and so worked to get people to think "perhaps I'll look in to this Mac thing..."

The latest Microsoft ads fail because anyone who knows what an operating system is knows already that Microsoft has a large share of the market and everyone uses it, and those that don't, don't care ...So who is the advert aimed at?

BTW : I wondered what the book was .. I knew someone would know!

jeff--

According to the NYTimes from two days ago, these Seinfeld/Gates spots were just teasers for a more complete campaign making direct reference to the Mac/PC ads. MS is definitely NOT pulling this campaign:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/business/media/18adco.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=mac%20pc%20ads&st=cse&oref=slogin

---e[ch]

These ads are comparatively well written and amusing. The only misstep being when Jerry asks Gates when he'll make an edible computer. That made me cringe. I look forward to more.

The Apple ads always have reminded me of the old Road Runner cartoons. Even though you know that poor Wile E. is going to fail, in the end, you find yourself rooting for him because the Road Runner is a bit of a prat.

But the reason those ads work is because while leading you in with humor, they put forth the message that PCs are clunky and schluby and get in the way. The other thing that I think Microsoft misses with their "response" ads is that every Apple ad articulates a clear message about a single feature that (in Apple's eyes) differentiates the two OSes. The message is always more than "PC=dork, Mac=cool". That part, and the comedy, is just the leader to get you watching.

The first Microsoft ads were a disaster in this respect as they don't even mention the damn product. The new one is a bit better, but it still doesn't do at all what the Apple ads do really well: articulate a concrete reason to buy the OS. At best, it says "lots of people get their work done with Windows", which is better than the Seinfeld ads, which essentially say nothing.

If I were Microsoft, I would stop with the losing battle of trying to out-cool Apple and instead concentrate on those features were Windows does better than Apple.

I was wondering what the book Gates was reading in the ad was.

I haven't read Code Complete, so I'm not familiar with all the wrinkles of his explanation of Table Driven Methods, but based on the descriptions I've found online, there is a section in my favorite programming book, SCIP, on a similar technique, dubbed "Data-Directed Programming" (see: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-17.html#%_sec_2.4.3 ).

(And just to get my personal dig into the platform wars, I switched to Mac from Linux when I realized an iBook was basically just a Unix laptop where all the drivers and software actually worked out the box.)

Say what you want about the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" ad campaign, but there's no denying that Apples market share is going up fast...much faster and in the opposite direction of many other computer companies. So I think Apple hit it out of the park with that concept. MS's response is a little lame and desperate feeling...plus they are indirectly equating themselves to "PCs", which they are not (linux runs on a PC).

Hey you forgot to mention that Justin Long was in the GREAT movie Galaxy Quest!

Man, I think that your unhealthy fascination with that book has nothing to do with Matthew Eckstein's unhealthy fascination with that book. I mean, who could ever know, from 20 words, which book Bill was reading?!?
To the poster on top, that¡s true, until they hit the "mark". The mark will be when their commercial target get's tired of their lame OS, their lame practices and their lame dictatorship business rules. At least Microsoft never told me not to build something for their architecture.
Anyway, the ads are sort of funny, thanks to Seinfeild I suppose. I just loved the Chinese food delivery guy sketch. But somehow, while watching it I was over at Sun's Web Site downloading the latest SDK... that's irony :) or not, but who cares?

Microsoft cribbing from Apple's successful ad campaign reeks of desperation. "We want to be cool too, like Apple, whilst simultaneously insisting we're not!" Or something. Why Microsoft even feels the need to address Apple, an insignificant gnat nipping on its heels, on behalf of its OEMs, is a complete mystery. I guess it's slightly wittier than the recent "Mojave"/"Punk'd" silliness.

> Hey you forgot to mention that Justin Long was in
> the GREAT movie Galaxy Quest!

I was going to mention that too... LOVE that movie.

Most importantly, Justin Long was in Live Free or Die Hard. Of course, he played a hacker who used a PC...

John Hodgman is the stronger satirist of the two, and he's an easy character to love and feel sympathy for. And that's exactly the point. If audiences couldn't relate to him and his gripes about Windows, the ads wouldn't work. Remember, in the ads, PC isn't "Windows", he's just the more abstract "PC." Windows is his inescapable burden and he's trying to make the best of it. The subtext has nothing to do with Long; Its all about relating to Hodgman and then realizing that, unlike him, you have a choice.

The MS response ad is like a political ad. It does counter the argument. But in this case they're still letting their opponent frame the debate. And they still seem to, in many ways, miss the point of the Apple ads. Nowhere is this more apparently than the utterly forgettable, inane "world without walls" tagline.

I bought the book after reading so much about it here, and in other programming blogs.
Haven't finished it yet, but it certainly hasn't disappointed so far!

That was so bad, I can't watch it more than one third. I guess I am out of the discussions.

wasn't the mac dude in the last Die Hard?

I know this isn't a poll, but +1 for liking the ads. I think they are entertaining. Say a lot about the rest of my life, I guess.

I had to cover up my Apple emblem with a sticker because I was ashamed of being in the smug club. Check it.

http://dewde.com/?p=163

peace|dewde

I actually like the ads as well. I'm bummed they are not doing more of the ads.

there are people that do, and there is everyone else

How much would it cost to rewrite IE and make a decent browser out of it? Microsoft image started to crumble with the first release of IE and it has not stopped since. As soon as Microsoft discovered the Internet Age, the Virus/Trojan infestation started. Every week, for the past 10 years, MS has been releasing security patches.

That's a lot of security holes, many of those in the IE "bird's nest" API.

Not to mention poor memory management in IE or the severe incompatibilities between IE6 and IE7 (rendering issues, actually, but when something is ugly, it is ugly nonetheless).

Making IE faster and secure by design would improve MS image instantly.

Justin was the hacker in Live Free or Die Hard, which I have to say was much better than I had expected. Was it silly? Absolutely. Was it completely ridiculous? Of course. But it was also a lot of fun, certainly more than I had in the second and third installments and Justin did extremely well as the non-action star computer geek.

"You killed a helicopter with a CAR!!!!"
"I was out of bullets."

"You just shot yourself!"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Wow, nice catch!

Actually, I liked that last ad. Not sure about the rest. I don't think they deserve to get this bashing, though. The humor is rather dry, but I like the feel of it I guess. And I'm a Mac guy ;)

It is not possible to make a good ad with BG and JS in it.

If you really like them then I think you have some serious soul searching to do...

@steve

I really like them, it's like mini seinfelds. Where do I sign up for the soul searching? Will there be cake?

My assumption was that the Seinfeld ads were supposed to make Microsoft look a little more "approachable"—less like the out of touch megacorp that it has come to resemble. Humanizing them with Seinfeld and Gates doing dorky stuff makes them look personable and quirky.

I'm not sure it worked. But $5 says that was the intention.

At first I was stumped by the ads. Then as they progressed, I started to "get it". They aren't bad, but they are slow to make a point.

I like the WHG III luggage. The girl putting the giraffe in the bag could be equated to a Mac/Linux/Unix user, trying anything to make Microsoft go away. Which happened. In my opinion, that says that Microsoft knows that they won't please everyone, but they are going to try and understand the needs of the common people more and not just corporate people.

And yes, I own a Mac. And it runs Vista. I'll always support both companies for what they offer me for my needs.

As for the book, I too was wondering what that was! Now I know! Thanks, Jeff, for enlightening me!

This is so ironic given that my plan is to buy that book on the way home from work today, seeing as how I've never read it and Stack Overflow has above and beyond labeled it the #1 book you must read.

Funny you should mention Seinfeld being someone who was famous 10 years ago... my first impression on hearing the new "I'm a PC" ad from Microsoft was "Hey, they're finally doing a kind of parody of those 10-year-old Mac ads!" It turns out that the Long/Hodgman "I'm a Mac" ads are only two and a half years old (U.S. release May 2006, according to Wikipedia), but still, I wonder if Microsoft's ad department is expecting accolades for doing something now that they should have done two years ago. At this point, I think they'd have been better off ignoring the Mac ads.

I don't see why the Seinfeld ads would have gotten negative reviews, though. I thought they were kind of pointless, but I'd rather watch two bumbling white guys try on shoes than the latest beer or car commercial any day. (Well, I guess I do agree that "Look! We can afford rich people to shill for us!" is a stupid and unattractive way to sell a product, especially during a recession; but, on the other hand, it seems to be working for American Express.)

That detail makes the ad priceless :)

I do like these commercials; it's entertaining and has nothing to do with the product - even distances the man associated with it from society in the "we need to live with real people" line. Yet it's one of the few commercials I'll bring up in a conversation.

My only hope is that they remove those stupid Windows Mojave commercials... anyone with half a brain knows those and the "fake restaurant" commercials are total BS. The restaurants may be supplied by fast food chains, but I seriously doubt the attention and time they put into making those meals is anything like what I've experienced from their actual restaurants. Same goes for the mojave commercials; I seriously doubt any of those people knew anything about Vista and were "wow"'d by a new skin or graphic setup Microsoft used to disguise it.

Note: my problem is with those COMMERCIALS, not the products.

Of course people hate it. I doubt Microsoft could do anything that people wouldn't hate - such is how cool it is to hate Microsoft.

The ads are hysterical and don't make me change the channel, unlike Apple's condescending offerings and coffee-shop hipster image.

Water is still wet, the sky is still blue and i still love my wife.

speaking of die hard, actually The Last Boyscout, but .. still the same movie, different names. and a quote from this article.... the circle of life i guess

It's a commercial about nothing!!

Seriously though, "the goal of advertising is to get people talking about it" is wrong. Well, misleading I suppose, which is nothing new to advertising. The goal of advertising is to make more money selling stuff, by getting more people to buy your stuff. The goal of <em>advertising companies</em> on the other hand, is to make more money selling <em>ads.</em> For this reason, they want you to talk about the business of advertising, that ad, and what they were thinking when they made it.

Wow. You like the same book Bill Gates does.

You're cool.

I think there's more to the ad than nothing.

It really begs reading into. Use some literary sense and you can see there's all kinds of analogies to the computer industry, user acceptance, Windows XP, legacy applications. I thought it was funny that the giraffe had being the family for 6 years (the amount of years since Windows XP came out).

What I don't get though, is what exactly is the intended overall message?

Is it really: Real people are boneheaded and idiosyncratic, not snobby and perfect (like Mac users). Thus Microsoft/PC's are the REAL WORLD and if you are an average joe, you should use a PC?

Another reason Bill Gates used Code Complete: the publisher. Microsoft Press.

Thanks! I've been trying to learn from what book Gates was reading. Code Complete has been on my list for awhile; perhaps now I'll borrow the copy from work.

Am I the only guy who thought it was totally amazing that they got Bill G to do the robot?! ("Ok, and power down. Now power back up")

He's not a bad straight man to Seinfeld. They should get their own show.

ROTFL... that bit of the spot with Gates reading the "bedtime story" is actually the funniest bit, IMHO.
But I had not noticed the "quote" from the book... man you must have read it many times to notice this small detail :-))

Microsoft Press books have a very distinctive cover, which can easily be recognized in the ad. Of their books, Code Complete is very probably the most prominent.

Jeff, this post has no meat. What are you actually trying to say here?

Jeff, which of Tufte's books on your bookshelf (seen on your book reading post) would you recommend as Tufte first-read?

thanks

I think the ad campaign has thus far been brilliant. I am looking forward to seeing the next one, which is undoubtedly their intention. I'll never install Vista, because it sucks. However, I think they are on to something here that Mac, yet again, is going to be unable to compete with.

I hope somebody from Microsoft is readng these comments. I absolutley love the ads. Over the last 3 years I've learned C#, TSQL and the .Net framework...all on a PC and from a jumpstart in Excel with VBA. I just recently switched to Vista and love it...after turning off UAC. (which really isn't a bad thing if your kid has ever screwed your computer up). I would recommend getting Vista to anyone. It is the warm fuzzy feeling that XP just doesn't have and is competative with Apple's product. Aero is butter. Microsoft is a great company that has operated in such a way to become the premiere software company worldwide. Phenominal achievement. Wish I worked there. :)

"mixing with regular people". how condescending. Bill and Jerry care nothing for human beings. they are laughing at us inside. we are fools to believe they care.

Microsoft doesnt have to address those ads at all. All one has to do is walk into an Apple Store and realize that you're going to pay a premium of 50% to 100% for the same exact hardware in the Apple Stores that you can walk over to Best Buy and get an HP or Dell. Sorry. I dont care how much "better" the OS is (and it isnt). Ever try to actually USE of of those Apples? My God its unproductive, in the least!

Isn't it cheaper still not to pay for either OS (Windows variant or OS X), and use a free OS? Why isn't there a more diverse environment of OS in our world? It is theorized that product diversity is representative of a healthy market in the same way biodiversity is representative of a healthy ecosystem. If world OS usage is +90% Windows in the global market it follows that our information age is demonstratively unhealthy. The primary reason for that lack of diversity is criminal behavior on the part of the company with that +90% share. Unfortunately many government judicial systems are stuck fighting monopolies with laws designed for railroad tycoons and steel barons. Please save our world and choose a non-windows OS today and quit buying into the crime syndicate! If the mob made a good OS would you buy it?

Luke, you gotta admit—Mafia XP would be pretty awesome. With company names like BambinoWare and CementShooz. Talk about killer apps!

sorry for being dumb, but according to wikipedia:

...Today a PC may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs....

So its just the same old..

Apple is trying to say that are not like the rest and always does something new. And Microsoft is trying to say there is no other.

Microsoft has a long tradition of funny virals...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juO1TY7xuUo

Found this one when searching for the old one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84U85Y--iTY

Who said that thing about Hodgman and Long? He is wrong! Ed was an awesome tv-show, one of the best! (Of the world!)

Ok, Jeff, you got me. I'm finally buying Code Complete. Just gotta finish the last two volumes of TAOCP first... NOT!

I just fear that, having passed four years since the last edition, they would release another one in the near future. Do you think there's a real chance?

I don't understand how people don't know what book those lines came from... I knew the answer after :
"You can use [the table driven method] approach in any object-oriented language. It's less error-prone"
that was enough to get me to remember the whole story.
That was way to obvious.

It has been reported that Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' campaign was (partly) created using Macs and Adobe software.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/151315/macs_produced_part_of_microsofts_im_a_pc_ads.html

I saw the both the ads. Its was a bit different, and it was nice. I like the concept of the ad. I liked the ad in which they both go and spend with the middle class family. I liked the bit bit where they use the kids put the leather giraffe and the bed time stroy reading part. I hope they both make more ads.

Got me buying the book. Currently reading it, great book so far :)

Apple's "Get a Mac" ad series is nothing short of absolutely freaking brilliant. They are captivating, they communicate well, they are simple to shoot, and they have an endless supply of material. Sure, Hodgman is way better as an actor than Long -- but that's part of the magic of the ad. The focus is always on PC, never on Mac.

MS's Seinfeld "ads" were a complete flop. MS's PR department may say otherwise, but they just weren't connecting at all. And there's no way they paid Seinfeld $10 million to just make two ads.

In contrast, MS's "I'm a PC" ads are good, if not great. They seem to convey the feeling that if you are using a PC, you are one of many. There's no shame in running with the crowd. Unfortunately, for MS, this is not a revelation -- PC's have been more numerous than other small computers for over 25 years. If this is the only message, then the ads will soon become tiresome.

PS - Dodgeball is one of the best B-grade movies ever, right up there with The Fifth Element.

> According to the NYTimes from two days ago, these Seinfeld/Gates
> spots were just teasers for a more complete campaign making direct
> reference to the Mac/PC ads. MS is definitely NOT pulling this
> campaign:

Right. The ads by themselves are really crappy ads for Microsoft. However, they do accomplish one thing fairly well: They humanize Bill Gates.

My theory is that the ultimate goal is to start using Bill like Wendy's used to use founder Dave Thomas after he handed over the company. The problem they had is that Bill doesn't have the greatest of images. If they just started right in with that style of ad, we wouldn't be going, "Hey, its Bill". Instead we'd be going "Hey, its that billionarie a-hole." So they needed this pre-campaign to soften his image.

If you look at it that way, the ads start to make sense.

The ads are strange and seem almost more like a Seinfeld series than any sort of Microsoft ad. I keep waiting for the punchline, some point where it all becomes clear. So far, it's a no go.

The "I'm a PC" Microsoft ads make much more sense and seem more to attach the Apple ads. I would expect these to be more successful... though these Seinfeld episodes did get people talking. Sadly, about the wrong thing though.

"I'm a PC" makes no sense. You can run linux, windows or mac OS on a PC. It's just another way for MS to blind the consumer to their other options.

When I first started programming after being a graphic designer for so many years, I came across this site and therefore picked up Coding Complete. I now consider both to be required reading regardless of the language one is working in. I use the techniques as much as I reasonably can in Applescript and REALbasic and I firmly believe that software development has been made much accessible (and actually a whole lot of fun) for myself as a direct result of reading both. Sorry for the gratuitous gushy rave. I have little brand loyalty for anything, but I have it for this site and Code Complete.

Of course, I'm sure one of the main reasons why Bill is reading Code Complete is because it's also published by Microsoft Press.

>Even if every one of those conversations starts with "what the hell
>were they thinking", hey -- it's a conversation. About an ad. The
>ad agencies have won.

No, they've only won if their ad made you buy the product they were selling. If an ad makes you say "I will never buy that crap, ever" and you never buy it, then they have lost, regardless how much you discuss it.

wow... I think that was one of the most worthless and boring posts I've ever read... anywhere. CodingHorror sure seems to have gone downhill in the last several months. It used to be entertaining.

' "I'm a PC" makes no sense. You can run linux, windows or mac OS on a PC. It's just another way for MS to blind the consumer to their other options.'

Those ads are a direct response to Apple's "I'm a PC" ads. If you're going to blame anyone for equating the term "PC" with the Windows operating system, blame Apple, because they've been running those ads for years.

Aaron G.

Very true, but it's different when MS takes claim to it. And, I'm pretty sure Apple was not the first to make the connection. I guess it originated from the fact that (PC == not a Mac) and the MS market share meant that (PC == windows).

i have a few comments to make:
1. firstly congrats on stackoverflow.com. i hope it has matched/exceeded your expectations.
2. i am glad you have not neglected your blog
3. please read my take on the whole ms saga.
http://quest49.blogspot.com/2008/09/microsoft.html

Life without walls? Where do the Windows go when there are no walls? And again, doesn't the "I'm a PC" ad reinforce the fact that they have a de facto monopoly on OSes? How about, "I am a free OS and I don't hurt innovation and creativity, on the contrary I encourage it."?

Nice video.Thanks for sharing.

I love Code Complete. It was McConnell's best by far as I glance at its spine on my bookshelf. The Apple ads do a great job of sticking the pins in MSFT. They can take it and deserve the ribbing.

I just grabbed my copy of Code Complete circa 1993 and the Table Driven Design section is in Chapter 12. Sorry, but I cannot find the paragraph you are referring to. What is the printing of your book? is it a later printing? Of course, this is a great book regardless. So are Steve's other books.

The video is nice.I enjoyed this.But failed to find anything funny in it.

The irony is that Apple is better at vendor lock-in that Microsoft. Both are evil.

What's so funny?

hehe..nice video :) really enjoyed it :D

>>What's so funny?
Its funny how all those people think its funny...

Wierd And entertaining, Havnt seen before

Hey Jeff,

It's always humorous when I talk to people who haven't read Code Complete about the phenomenal contents and wonderful knowledge contained within. I generally get weird looks and disbelief that a highly technical book could be "that good." I drank it up when I was in college, and I attribute about 85% of how I think about software development to the annals of its pages.

I love that Gates was reading to the child from that.

I also hate the Mac vs PC comercials. ;-)
-Rob

Nice clip !

It's really funny :-)

I didn't get what are they tried to express with the video. That is not serious or funny.

The only really disturbing thing about the apple ads is that somehow in them "PC" is synonymous with Windows. Windows may be the major PC operating system out there, but it's not the only PC operating system and every PC doesn't run Windows. I guess they don't want to compare themselves to the other PC OS:es as there isn't as much to poke fun at there.

Microsoft cribbing from Apple's successful ad campaign reeks of desperation. "We want to be cool too, like Apple, whilst simultaneously insisting we're not!" Or something. Why Microsoft even feels the need to address Apple, an insignificant gnat nipping on its heels, on behalf of its OEMs, is a complete mystery. I guess it's slightly wittier than the recent "Mojave"/"Punk'd" silliness.