Jerry Seinfeld Will Plug Vista 776
Barence writes "Microsoft has signed up comedian Jerry Seinfeld to its $300 million Vista PR blitz, as it attempts to turn around the negative perception surrounding its operating system. Reports suggest Bill Gates will also appear in the ads, which, given the comedy timing he displayed in his 'Bill's Last Day' video, and the deadpan manner of Seinfeld, could result in a huge hit for the company." Reader Zarmanto notes in his journal that "Mac users might be quite amused, considering that (like many other TV shows) the set of Seinfeld always had a Macintosh prominently displayed in the background."
Re:Jerry Seinfeld (Score:5, Informative)
No, the parent should be moderated as incorrect. Jerry Seinfeld was offered $5 million per episode to do another season of Seinfeld and turned it down. So no, he won't just go wherever the money is.
Oh, sweet irony! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't Care (Score:5, Informative)
They should care -- they pay for that. Macs don't show up by accident -- they show up because Apple pays for them to show up. When you buy a Mac, part of what you pay goes for Apple to buy product placements.
Just FWIW, the last time I checked Apple had the largest product placement budget of any computer maker I could find. At least at that time, HP had something like 10 times the computer sales, but less than one third the product placement budget.
Personally, I think this is true genius on the part of Apple. I'm convinced that product placements probably have a better payoff than almost any other sort of advertising. I think that's particularly true when/if a large part of what you're selling is a style or image.
Re:I wish Don Rickles was alive (Score:1, Informative)
I wish Don Rickles was alive
That's not funny, dickface. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Rickles [wikipedia.org]
[Citation needed] (Score:5, Informative)
They should care -- they pay for that. Macs don't show up by accident -- they show up because Apple pays for them to show up. When you buy a Mac, part of what you pay goes for Apple to buy product placements.
Just FWIW, the last time I checked Apple had the largest product placement budget of any computer maker I could find. At least at that time, HP had something like 10 times the computer sales, but less than one third the product placement budget.
Source, please.
As far as I can tell, Apple's product placement "budget" consists largely of making flashy-looking hardware that style-conscious Hollywood set designers want to use. They officially deny paying anything for placement. [slashdot.org]
(I have heard that they give away freebies, though. Supposedly that's how the Macintosh Plus got into the Scotty scene in Star Trek IV)
[Citation] (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry, my cat brushed the keyboard as I was hitting submit. The actual link is:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-03-08-apple-marketing_N.htm [usatoday.com]
Remember Leno? (Score:5, Informative)
Didn't they try this with Jay Leno for Windows 95?
Ah yes, here we go [youtube.com].
I guess it was more at launch, then after launch.
"Hay guys, I hear Windows 95 is fast enough to handle all of OJ's alibis at once!"
Should be as good as M*A*S*H crew hawking PS2 (Score:1, Informative)
Remember Alan Alda and Loretta Swit pushing MS's latest technology back in the day? The good ideas never die...
Am I a minority for actually enjoying vista? (Score:2, Informative)
My Desktop OS History:
1985-1987 - CP/M
87-96 Various versions of DOS
93-present Linux, FreeBSD
96-98 Win95
98-2000 Win98
2000-2002 Win2000
2002-2008 WinXP
2008-present Vista SP1
Note the linux years there. I was running slackware before many knew linux existed. With that said, am I a minority for actually having a positive Vista experience? Yes, I have a powerful machine with lots of RAM, but so far I've found that I'm quicker to navigate and more productive in Vista than I ever was in XP. I run the 64 bit version and have had very few problems. I think many of the things they have done are a great improvement over previous versions of windows.
Does that make me evil?
Holy crap (Score:5, Informative)
I have a hard time believing that, so nice troll.
But in case you really didn't know...
This man neigh defined the 90's, at least for whitebread America, well him and the Simpsons. You do know who Homer Simpson is right? Because they are about equal on the 'people you should know list'.
You haven't seen him on tv lately (presuming you own one) because he doesn't need money after all the millions he made so he just does standup because he likes it better...he's not washed up by any means, he left the game at the top.
I do recommend renting the seasons of seinfield, if only for the cultural experience and the humor which examines everyday human anxieties.
There hasn't been a live-action comedy that can compete since the show left the air in my opinion, although Scrubs comes close.
Re:Don't Care (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Now wait a minute (Score:5, Informative)
IIRC, the word on the tribute shows and fan sites has always been that damn near everything in the apartment was there because Seinfeld had one just like it at home.
The boxes of cereal in his cabinets were the brands he ate. The fruits Kramer mooched from his fridge were the fruits he'd have at home. He was known for supporting products, characters, and shows on his show that he actually used, admired, or watched. He's a huge Superman fan IRL, for example.
I'm not sure why I remember this, because I think the show was funny (and still watch the occasional syndicated airing on the CW) but I was never a diehard fan. I might not be recalling correctly, but it'd be an odd thing to remember for no reason.
Re:Don't Care (Score:3, Informative)
Just an FYI, mac users are pretty similar to PC users. Most of us just don't care.
They should care -- they pay for that
I think you are conflating two different usages of the phrase "they pay for that". One usage means "They are giving money, with the intent that this money be used for such and such a purpose". Another usage means "They are giving money, and it just so happened that the manner in which the money was used is such and such". Most people who are buying Macs are probably not handing over a thousand bucks, in exchange for having Macs used in product placement. Rather, they are spending over a thousand bucks to buy a Mac.
Once you separate these two usages, it should be easier to understand why just because someone pays for a Mac, they don't necessarily care how Apple spends their profits.
Remembering Friends (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Who are these people...? (Score:3, Informative)
Ah, another complaint about UAC from someone who doesn't seem to have been within ten feet of a Vista box.
I find I don't get UAC prompts any more often than I get the equivalent on OSX or Linux boxes. Most Vista sessions I don't get prompted for admin privileges at all.
Perhaps if you're getting them more than twice a session you've got a virus and the damned thing is just doing its job!
Re:Out of touch much? (Score:1, Informative)
I do wonder if they picked Seinfeld or had him thrust on them. Or decided after researching the client and target to death. (Was Leno asked first?)
But regardless I'd love to see their initial concepts for how to make this pig fly. What'll probably air will be simply competant and not compelling. Like, 'Vista is the latest personal computing technology from the biggest name in computers - get it' -- it won't hurt apple sales but it may dampen pre-installed Linux demand. But I'll be entertained if Vista manages to be just as damaging for Seinfeld and Crispn Porter as it has for Microsoft. It kinda seems to have black-hole potential.
Re:Out of touch much? (Score:4, Informative)
You're right, he was in a movie which cost $150 million to produce, but which grossed about $125 million.
No blocks were ever at risk of being busted.
Re:Don't Care (Score:3, Informative)
One of my favorite Mac placements has always been in the Russian action/horror movie Night Watch, where the iMacs all had carefully placed yellow post-it notes covering the telltale "Apple" logo on the back of the monitor.
It always makes me chuckle because who would really stick a post-it on the back of their monitor? They already used so many digital effects in the movie it seems like it would have just been less tacky to digitally remove the Apple logo for that one quick scene.
Re:I have a novel idea... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, I just saw that and frankly the whole "Mojave" thing looked staged. People sounded far too negative before they were shown Vista and were ridiculously positive after they had been shown it. I just don't buy it. It stank of marketing.
Personally, after having used Vista for around a year now, I find it a typical Windows release. It's main strength is that there are tonnes of great software available for it, but it's generally filled with little annoyances that make my day more annoying than it has to be.
And to counter the "you only hate it because it's cool" argument; My pet peeves include;
You may now dismiss my opinion because I'm ignorant/incompetent/doin it rong. Thank you.
Re:Service Pack? uhhhh.... (Score:1, Informative)
I don't agree that "the" reason for the driver model change was DRM. The audio drive model in Vista, for example, is leaps and bounds better than XP's, if taken proper advantage of. And the new features it offers have nothing to do with DRM (e.g. exclusive mode, app specific volume control, etc).
In what way, is Vista a "step backward" from XP? Barring, perhaps, a slight performance loss on equivalent hardware... Media Center and Aero aren't "free" resource-wise. I'm sure NT 4 would be blazing on a quad core too - does that mean XP was a step backward from it?
Compelling reasons to switch from XP... (for the average home user)
1) Aero / Desktop Window Manager technology
2) A more modern looking UI (RE #1 and #2 - hey - if Apple can score points for aesthetics over XP, then so can Vista)
3) DirectX 10 and beyond
4) Vista Media Center (significant improvement over even XP Media Center Edition, and nothing comparable on OSX)
5) Free DVD decoder
6) Windows Photo Gallery
7) Windows Search
You appear to be suggesting that MS should NEVER make a major update to Windows, unless it is 100% backward compatible. Did you have the same argument when Apple went from PowerPC to Intel? The fact is, Apple users are accustomed to throwing out their whole machine for a new one every once in a while (release of OSX, switch to Intel) so they don't complain as much. When you're as closed as Apple is, you can get away with that sort of thing.
And "66% of the over $1000 computer market" ??? Wow man, that must have HURT to type; it's lack of sincerity so stinging. That's like saying Ferrari has a whopping 80% of the over $250,000 automobile market (WOW - BFD). I'm sure you'd agree that Apple's hardware, while being absolutely VERY nice too look at, is certainly not worth the premium they put on it. I wouldn't mind having that nice looking Apple hardware myself, but the markup - YIKES. It's just a PC under its pretty covers after all. Apple's hardware reminds me of Bose in this way. Attractive products, same-ol' performance without significant innovation, but man... they look nice, and they can sure hook in the suckers out there.
I'll high five you on one point - User Account Control is the bane of my existence and I shut it off the first time a new Vista install boots up (but then again, I'm also not the type of user that it's intended to "help").
Re:Don't Care (Score:3, Informative)
They don't make a 13.3" Macbook Pro. I want 4GB of RAM in a laptop, not the 2.5GB limit of the regular Macbook.
Current models of the regular macbook do support 4GB of ram. They even offer it as an option when you order.
Re:Who are these people...? (Score:4, Informative)
You want to be able to listen to mp3s? Type "sudo bla bla bla". You want to be able to watch divxes? Type "sudo yakity yakity yak". Want to be able to sync your music collection with your iPod? You gotta type sudo.
I myself have also been using Ubuntu since Breezy Badger (5.10) and I find with each release that comes out, less and less command line work is required to get things to a point where I'm happy.
To be brutally honest, the only things that require the command line now are little things I've done to make my life easier as a sysadmin, for Mp3s/Divxs/xvids etc. Enabling the Multiverse in sources is all that is required. Which is not enabled by default as in some countries the packages aren't legal.
Skip back to windows world for a moment, user A gets a divx, it won't play, that get told it's a codec issue and some moron links them to a "Partner Software" encrusted codec pack which rights off their machine. Skip back to Ubuntu for a moment, user A tries to play a divx, someone suggests enabling the multiverse in sources (System -> Administration -> Sources) and the next time they open it in totem, it pops and says it needs this codec, would you like to install it? You install it and then the video plays... What could be harder??
Re:Service Pack? uhhhh.... (Score:3, Informative)
On more than 20 different platforms. This isn't going to surprise you: some of them work well and most of them don't.
No fair using VLC - they don't honor your DRM system. They're open. Try again with Windows Media Center as delivered, and/or with patches. For bonus points post a link to a screen cap with media center displaying TV.
Re:Service Pack? uhhhh.... (Score:5, Informative)
Creative.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/03/29/046201&from=rss [slashdot.org]
Re:Service Pack? uhhhh.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:[Citation] (Score:5, Informative)
I don't understand, how is this supporting what you said, and how did you get double 5 informatives? Is this a joke you're playing to point out how eager Apple fans are to mod up anything that's positive on Apple (whether or not it's true and without reading the supposed evidence)? If so, you've succeeded quite admirably.
From your article, which says nothing about Apple officially denying paying for product placements:
Re:A big "if" (Score:4, Informative)
Just utterly, completely impractical.
It would essentially make the computer non-functional for the home user, which means they wouldnt buy computers, etc etc.
You're right.
I guess that's why nobody buys computers from Apple...