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10 reasons why Jerry Seinfeld should not punt Windows Vista

pMost people are aware that Jerry Seinfeld has been hired by Microsoft (for $10 Million) to help them in their campaign to take on Apple and to revive the tarnished reputation of Windows Vista in the market. The idea is to portray "real life people" using Windows Vista and how it changed their computing life (or ways of doing things). Jerry and Bill Gates are the only celebs featured in the campaign. The rest of the people will be ordinary people like musicians or photographers. (MAC user demographics being targeted here).

I have listed my top 10 reasons why Jerry Seinfeld should not be used for the campaign.
What are yours?

10. He is not the IT manager / IT Director of any company, and his business IT motivation means jack to me.

9. Feeling nostalgic about some 90's sitcom wont make me think twice about implementing some cocked up operating system.

8. He has the worst voice in the world. I think that would put me off any advertising campaign!

7. He is an actor, comedian and an avid automobile collector not a serious computer user or a person who would be exposed to some of the "shakier" areas of Vista. What can Microsoft possibly expect a user like that to do on their system. And what about the rest of us who run software drivers and older hardware?

6. The campaign is badly positioned. Jerry is 54 years old. He is basically only representing 7% of the global computer users.

Stats indicate the following percentages of computer and internet users by age group.
18-24: 56%
25-34: 39%
35-54: 33%
55 or older: 7%

5. Come on, he was the voice for Barry Bee Benson in the most horrible kiddies movie of all time, Bee Movie.

4. Official stats show that 35% of all Vista computers are downgraded to XP. Is Jerry going to help us find / write drivers for all the nice hardware we are having trouble with.

3. The campaign's slogan is "Windows not Walls". It will focus on the need to "break down barriers that prevent people and ideas from connecting". I think windows is full of holes and some witty play on words and a $300 million campaign will not change my perspective. A $300 million rewrite of the software certainly will!

2. Making me laugh at witty quips is not going to sway any business decision I make, regarding the future direction of my IT department for the next 3-5 years. Also his jokes and good humor will not cover the ever escalating license costs from Microsoft.

1. In the episodes of Seinfeld you plainly see exclusively MAC computers being used (or at least around)!!! He is not a Windows user nor a fan of Microsoft.

This article is a bit tongue in cheek as Jerry is a super funny guy and I really respect how he has built himself up as a brand over the years. However he knows jack squat about IT.

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  1. Blogger Andrew Jackson | August 26, 2008 at 2:03 PM |  

    Well, he is a comedian, so he's helping us laugh even more at Vista! But seriously folks, I also agree that he isn't the best person to help MS with this.

  2. Anonymous Anonymous | August 27, 2008 at 11:54 AM |  

    All about perception. Are the guys who the Mac adverts IT gurus.

  3. Anonymous Anonymous | August 27, 2008 at 12:39 PM |  

    The reason why you don't see any Windows PC's in Seinfeld episodes is simple: Vista wasn't around yet!

    Well, my reason here is pretty much as ridiculous as your ten :P

  4. Blogger RexMan | August 27, 2008 at 7:41 PM |  

    Thanks for your comments chaps.
    Anonymous:
    Agreed it is all about perceptions. Unfortunately the end user is hearing comments like "its slower than xp" or "it does not work with older stuff".

    They are hearing these comments from people who they regard as "IT boffins". So really if the IT Boffs talk good about XP then all the users will listen to the Boffs. (ie they should have positioned the campaign better).

    The Windows market is not at all like the glam and hype type of market that surrounds Mac devices and software.

    Ernst
    Hehehe you saying that Vista is better than Mac. I think maybe comparing the old MACOS vs Vista, yes (hehehe *ducks*). But not the new Mac stuff. (*ducks again*)

    Have you ever seen a mac notebook running Windows XP in Parallels? *drool*

    Damn impressive stuff. You have a start button and everything. Half the time the you are alt-tabbing between Mac and Windows programs without even knowing it.

    Don't get me wrong about Microsoft, I use almost exclusively Windows XP and we develop exclusively Windows and .Net software.