I doubt Al Gore would be available for a Microsoft commercial seeing as how he is on Apple's board of directors.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2003/mar/19gore.html

>I do not know many people who do not love Oprah

Weird, I don't know of anyone who can stand her.

Al Gore is about as green as the sky. He uses more electricity in a month than most of us use annually, and yet he's considered "green"?! Try hypocritical! He has no credibility until he "drinks his own Kool-Aid."

freakin bono shopping with oprah,is there anything less rock n'roll than that!I mean could you imagine Lemmy shopping with Oprah? or how about the boys from Buck Cherry or Silvertide.....

On the next Oprah........Watch as Slipknot and Warrior Soul goes a a once in a lifetime shopping trip to Tiffny's with Oprah where they share some of their favorite things with each other!!!!!.......what happened to being a rebel,I hate Oprah

James Bond? Rambo? Last time I checked those were characters played by any of a number of celebrities and Sylvester Stalone. If characters are allowed then I vote for Mr. Canoehead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_on_the_Floor) for all categories. "Your witty but accurate criticisms bounce off my DRM infestation like raisins off an Oldsmobile!"

I think its not smart of Microsoft to personal react by running commercials. The focus of the commercials from Apple are on sales of systems not the OS. Microsoft should give price cuts to the larger vendors for making anti Apple commercials and or hire the actors for the vendors. The reality is Microsoft is not a well liked company so its going to be a tough sale and somewhat confuse those who buy systems.

The reason the Apple ads hit home is that, for the most part, they are true. Microsoft has been shipping incredibly crappy products for decades, and suddenly some company takes a few points of market share away from them and they're running around in circles looking for the perfect celebrity to fix their image instead of fixing their products.

I develop products for Windows; I'm stuck to the platform as long as most people use it. I would love to see more OS choices; Macs have their own issues, and I'm not much enamored with them either. But at least if there was real choice and real competition, both products would be forced to improve.

security: Chuck Norris.

enough said, I don't want Tom's to be round house kicked and erased from the Internet.

"The reason the Apple ads hit home is that, for the most part, they are true. " Sorry? I thought that said they were true. Oh wait, it did. Apple is the world's premier FUD monger. They excel at it, and all tech companies should take a page from their playbook.

I don't think MS has any interest in trying to get the 2 points back from Apple. They are concerned that the developer base, such as yourself, will continue to operate in "XP is easier" mode, and when Windows 7 comes along, being built on exactly the same kernel as Vista, they will be in for another round of nighmarish crap in the underinformaed media, the underinformed bloggers, and the underinformed commenters, which unfortunately trickles its way down to Joe and Sally Public. Hence, an ad campaign to push adoption of Vista, as Vista is the future of MS operating systems. Not an ad campaign to counter Apple (though Apple can certainly take some of the "blame" for the FUD surrounding Vista).

And for the record, I support XP and Vista machines, and have minimal complaints. And I use a Mac to do it.

"Apple is the world's premier FUD monger" that is the most ridiculous statement I have read today. You obviously dont know much history. FUD and Vaporware are about the only 2 things MS ever did originally... did well..... did first..... and did for a long long time.... and still attempts to do. Apples commercials dont push FUD but rather point out the obvious truths about Vista. And the reason MS has taken so long to come out with a reaction is because they couldnt argue the truth apple has been advertising.

I agree that the 2 points of market share probably dont bother MS to much.. but the trend that those 2 point represent must scare the pants off of them.

I seriously doubt you will see a comparison of OSX to vista in the new ad campaign... since it really isnt any comparison. OSX is a mature OS that MS attempted to emulate with vista... which is really just a glorified beta pushed out the door.

Heres an idea. Maybe FUD has nothing to do with it ..... you cant honestly tell me that IT departments are downgrading to XP just because they saw a commercial on TV. Maybe vista is just the piece of garbage that most people think it is.

10) Paris Hilton might not be the best choice for an operating system that is famous for getting so many viruses, if you know what I mean. I'm not even sure if Microsoft can make a claim to simplicity if this is a reaction against Mac. But I guess you could try some random, photogenic K-5th grade kid using it in a school setting.

9) I agree with this nomination. Again though, I'm just not sure if it's a point Microsoft should be making. Especially with Vista.

8) I'd personally rather see Jimmy Buffet than Warren Buffet. It might not scream "Wall Street Success," but that's the point. It'll certainly distance Microsoft from the "business suit guy" image by appealing to a more celebrity style of success, built largely on the idea of relaxing at the beach.

7) I'm not even sure this is necessary, but if you wanted to play up the emotion card and you're dead set on using Oprah, you could have a sort of micro-interview of Bill Gates and focus on his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's charity work.

6) Well, the problem with looks is that Apple's visual appeal is also embodied in the computer it's running on, not just the OS. To be honest, I don't even think there's much very attractive about the Aero interface, so I'm having a hard time coming up with a stylish celebrity persona to match with it.

5) I'm pretty sure Al Gore wouldn't be up for it. Might go with Willie Nelson, again to distance the company from the "boring corporate" image and add that green cred.

4) No. Just... no. How about Richard Dean Anderson for versatility?

3) If we're going for characters instead of actual people, how about Robocop? Security, high-tech, crimefighting, superheroics, etc. The franchise also has that anti-corporate message, though in Microsoft's case that might backfire. Don't want folks to make the connection between MS and OCP. Also, the movies have a high gratuitous violence quotient, but then again so does the latest Bond movie.
Failing Murphy, how about R. Lee Ermey?

2) I have no problems with Jay.

1) I really don't know who could fill this role.

If Al Gore even got considered for a commercial, i would have to go emo.


Chuck Norris for 08'! And for microsoft commmercials!

oh and i laught at people thinking microsoft stole from apple and that mac OSX owns, you are so behind in the times and/or totally ignorant of computers.

Robert Downey Jr.

These are great suggestions if you live in the U.S. As for the rest of the world they don't make much sense.

Re:WheelsOfConfusion

The problem with Jay is that he owns hundreds if not thousands of cars. Not exactly "green" He owns many that probably don't get over 10mpg.

Re: MotorCity

Good point. Here are your options. U2 or David Hairyman.

I think we're headed towards a consensus that Mr. Norris would be an ideal candidate for Vista marketing.

Isn't it a M$ policy to at least project a profit of $4 billion from a product before they throw too much money out the window on ad campaigns though?

Chuck Norris can't be cheap. I mean, he's a primo Texas Ranger for crying out loud. The man has responsibilities. There are still a ton of baddies in Texas' open back country that are in need of a whoopin for sure. How he finds time to be in reruns in the early a.m. and then do infomercials for exercise equipment in the late morning is beyond me. M$ might have to ask for a loan if they want to hire him.

Seinfeld is the perfect celebrity spokesperson for Vista. He made a career out of a TV show about nothing.

How about Amy Winehouse for a MaScot? "Try to make me go to DRMsta but I say NO, NO, NO! Take away XP and add a Jerry Seinfeld plea, but I say NO, NO, NO! Linux doesn't cost a dime, and it's almost ready for prime-time. Try to make me go to DRMsta but I say NO, NO, NO!!!

How about Simon Cowell?

There's nobody meaner on national tv that say's exactly what he thinks. ALOT of people watch American Idol just to see what he has to say... prime time slot to air the commercial.

Then for a jazzier feel get Randy Jackson in on the deal.

Then for an intoxicated feel get Paula... roflmao!!!

Number 1 rated show when it's on and PLENTY of commercial time.

But personally I think Seinfeld will do just fine and I wouldn't be surprised if Bill plays the PC guy and Seinfeld plays the Mac guy.

I think it will be quite funny. Seinfeld was worth 1 million an epsiode [30 min show!!!] when that show went off the air. Gates knows what he's doing.

The impression I got was that these celebrities would be doing individual commercials in a campaign where each one highlighted a specific feature about Vista.

And anyway, Jay owns an original, operational Baker Electric (original batteries, even) and several steamer-powered cars. That should get him brownie points even if his other car is a McLaren/Lotus/Corvette.

I think they need to hire Rainier Fruit Company. Then have some workers in an apple tree pulling an I-Mac out of the tree, then saying “bad apple” and throwing it down. At which time a co-worker in a hat is sitting in a chair currently playing mp3's, surfing the web and updating a excel spreadsheet, with the number of bad apples vs. good apples, all the while using Vista's sidebar and other features.

Then have the picture pan out and show a whole apple orchard with the same thing at every tree with all these {bad apples} lying on the ground around the trees. Jerry Seinfeld then lowers his hat at one of the Vista computers slowing to say "One bad apple spoils the bunch", then as the screen pulls out, fade out to black with the vista logo and pump in Bill Gates saying “Widows Vista a better view on computing, now with service pack 1”

I think Arnold Schwartenegger and Mr. T should just take the Mac guy aside and pound the crap out of him

stallone as the microsoft guy would br awesome. He could play rocky in one commercial and rambo in another..... rocky on a computer, what a great site