Microsoft Corp has launched a $300 million advertising campaign for Windows starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld and former CEO Bill Gates.

Microsoft had for months touted an upcoming ad campaign that would strike back at Apple’s Mac vs. PC spots and would help set the record straight about Windows Vista.

What we get in Commercial #1 is Seinfeld and Gates at Shoe Circus.

PC World’s Tim Moynihan says:

But here’s why I liked it: Microsoft isn’t telling you to do anything, they sure as hell aren’t trying to be “cool,” and in the span of one minute and thirty seconds, they have created a piece that is as meaningful as what most are touting as meaningless.

Rather than “respond,” it seems Microsoft and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the ad agency that developed the campaign, are opting to take the high road. There is no anti-Apple mudslinging. There are no inflated claims about what Microsoft’s products can do. The commercial isn’t suggesting that purchasing a certain brand of consumer goods makes you cooler; in fact, the unabashedly geeky exchange between Seinfeld and Gates in a discount shoe store — over churros — underscores the fact that they’re not trying to be cool at all.

I think the ad fails for the same reason Tim thinks it succeeds - the spot says nothing about the product. And it fails to be “cool”. Please explain to me how being “uncool” sells products.

Although it did make me want to shop at Shoe Circus. Is there one around here?

Here’s Commercial #2 - it has them moving in with a family.

This one, while getting better reception, is even more tiresome for me. I feel like I’m watching a sitcom, and I hate sitcoms. The only thing missing here is a laugh track.

Microsoft’s Chris Flores posted on the Windows Vista blog:

“Will seeing Bill and Jerry enjoy each other’s company make people run out and buy a new laptop? Or correct misperceptions some non-users might have about Windows Vista? Certainly not…When you set out to create advertising, the thing that keeps you up at night is not ‘Will some people not get it or like it?’ Rather it’s ‘Will anyone pay any attention and notice?’ I think we can safely check that box.”

I guess. But if nobody is going to buy a Windows product, what’s the point of trying to get attention? Seems wasted. Anyway, what kind of attention are you getting with Gates and a dated comedian like Seinfeld? I was bored to tears by these commercials. Does Gates really look like he’s enjoying Seinfeld’s company?

I agree with Preston Gralla.

As sitcoms, perhaps they would work. I’m a bad judge of television. Maybe Gates and Seinfeld should get a show.