

Worst Microsoft Video Promo Ever, Take 2. Just Cover Up The Mac With Stickers. - vaksel
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/15/worst-microsoft-video-promo-ever-take-2-just-cover-up-the-mac-with-stickers/

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mixmax
The classical Steve Jobs quote seems to be fitting here:

 _The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have
absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a
big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't
bring much culture into their products._

The video aside, the music that is presumably made by this product sounds
exactly like something made on a Yamaha DX7, which went out of production in
1986! (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_DX7>)

It's awful, and it made me want a glow-in-the-dark towel more than it made me
want songsmith.

~~~
amichail
I don't see much originality coming from Apple either. Not sure what he means
by culture.

BTW, there's lots of cool research coming out of Microsoft Research, but
little of it seems to make it into their products.

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maw
_Not sure what he means by culture._

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

~~~
furyg3
Culture is like dark matter. It's basically a catch-all phrase for stuff we
encounter and can't logically explain yet.

Why do Europeans shake hands and Asians bow? Culture!

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dazzawazza
Why can't they just be running Windows on Bootcamp. It's no different from
running in a DELL, HP or Acer box is it?

Macbooks are the most aesthetically pleasing laptops out there so I can
imagine directors wanting it in an advert rather then a plastic piece of crap.

~~~
demallien
The problem is that they chose to cover up the Apple logo. I mean, sure, using
an aethetically pleasing 3rd party product in an ad is no problem, but you
shouldn't then try to disguise the fact. If the Apple logo really does pose a
problem, don't use a Mac in the ad.

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grouchyOldGuy
Identifiable brands are ususally obfuscated unless the brand owner pays to
advertise their brand (at least in the USA). Look at sitcoms on TV. The
husband drinks beer out of a can that is red & white like a Budweiser can, but
it clearly isn't a Budweiser can. Product placement is usually paid for, like
Taco Bell did in the movie "Demolition Man".

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acangiano
This the modern equivalent of the Wa-Wa-Wa-Windows promo:
[http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4915875929930836239&#...</a>

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speek
The Windows 386 is by far the best promo I've ever seen. It easily takes the
cake for being the most awesome.

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DLWormwood
This phenomenon is depressingly typical. Some of the cable channels I watch
have a late night ad for virus blocking software. Despite the screenshots and
fine print mentioning that the product is PC only, the majority of the
computers shown in the ad are MacBooks and iMacs. (This ad is old enough that
the machines shown weren't necessarily running Intel chips.)

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bprater
This thing is so silly that they must be gaming for the viral crowd.

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neilc
Do you guys not realize that this is a joke? Because I'm fairly sure that it
is done firmly with tongue in cheek -- and it's pretty damn funny, too.

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gojomo
I don't quite get the piling-on of this video.

Singing by average folks is always a bit corny _and_ campy.
Homespun/improvised lyrics and 'casiotone'-like accompaniment makes it even
more so.

But it's also social, goofy fun -- as the enduring popularity of karaoke and
American Idol demonstrate -- and an important musical & cultural activity
(especially for children).

The video fits the earnest aesthetic of amateur/folk/ad-hoc singing, and to
mock it for that is to miss the point.

I suspect the Songsmith team is happy even for the ridicule -- as a viral
vehicle for promoting awareness of what their work does, the video is among
the 'best' rather than 'worst' of that genre. (It's much better than the
nonsensical Gates-Seinfeld videos.)

Finally, no discussion of Songsmith would be complete without:

<http://music.metafilter.com/2943/Runnin-With-The-Songsmith>

~~~
llimllib
That link made me laugh like a maniac, I'm sure my neighbors think I'm insane
now. Thank you so much for the link.

I don't think I agree with you about the ad, but I'm far too happy to argue
about it now. It just seems pointless... maybe DLR Songsmith is the cure for
"Someone is wrong on the internet" disease?

~~~
gojomo
I suppose I should have split up the two parts of my comment. Now I can't tell
if people are endorsing my brilliant and insightful contrarian analysis, or
just the funny link.

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froo
I'd be surprised if this wasn't intentional - as the saying goes, theres no
such thing as bad publicity.

The Seinfeld-Gates ads got how much free press?

I'd be willing to lay money on this being a sign of things to come with MS -
with so many people poking fun at their products, they're actively trying to
divert the attention to other things.

Seems more like a play straight out of the bush-cheney administration's
playbook :P

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danw
I've seen Microsoft representatives speaking at conferences running Vista
under bootcamp on a macbook pro, so it's no big deal.

As for the advert, it's been a great viral hit, likely intentionally bad. The
software is pretty awesome.

Check out the range of "Classic songs by Songsmith" videos appearing on
youtube too <http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ypycpKQxXR0>

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petercooper
This is a bit of a meta comment, but that TechCrunch has only just posted this
demonstrates how awesome Twitter is for being on top of memes, news, and what
not. I saw the Steve Jobs stand down news on Twitter first, and this Songsmith
thing went around a few of my Twitter networks a few days ago already.

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alexsolo
I wouldn't pick on MS for having a Mac in the ad. They just probably hired a
firm to make their ad (have you noticed how most ads use Macs with stickers
over the apple logo whenever they need to show a notebook?).

I would however criticize them for the absolute lameness of the ad.

~~~
neilc
_I wouldn't pick on MS for having a Mac in the ad._

Yeah, I find this sort of thing funny. Internet people get all worked up into
a lather when they discover that, say, some machine somewhere in Microsoft's
network is running Apache/Unix or OSX (OMG!). In the real world, no one cares
-- they have real problems to solve, and at the end of the day, what brand of
computer you're using is not a big deal.

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kwamenum86
1) Sell your Microsoft shares

2) I actually think the product is a decent one but the advert was unwatchable

3) I'm pretty sure they user Autotune to give that girl's voice the correct
pitch

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brk
When Wired digs for their year-end filler stories in 2019, this
video/commercial will make the list of "10 Worst Ads of 2009 (Before the Age
of Instant Viral Peer to Peer iPhone10g Marketing)"

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eli
Am I missing something? All I see is an ad for a software product. I wouldn't
buy it, but I could imagine my niece digging it.

It's a lame ad, but so are most ads.

 _shrug_

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mattmaroon
Nothing more fun than when people who aren't even remotely in the target
audience critique the quality of ads.

Though really, they couldn't get a Dell?

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dkokelley
I used to be a pretty good musician, but after watching that I don't think
I'll be able to play anymore. Anybody want my guitars and equipment?

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Jimclev
Forget about the laptop, whose idea was it to cast the most annoying kid in
the universe?

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epall
Wow. That is just painful. I didn't even make it to 30 seconds.

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llimllib
at least skip to the marketing meeting where he pitches his jingle. _comedy
gold_

