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Bill Gates: Steve Jobs “Saved” Apple

J.R. Bookwalter — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:40:19 -0600

It might be difficult for many Apple faithful to remember the dark days before Steve Jobs’ triumphant return to the throne, especially given the absolute hot streak the company has been on in recent years. But one of the people who remember it well is someone who was instrumental in helping the company get back on its feet at the time: former Microsoft chief Bill Gates.

CNBC recently hosted a Town Hall Chat with Gates and Warren Buffet, and one of the juiciest moments of the talk came when audience member David Matthews of Columbia Executive Business School posed the question, “If you could just comment and tell us what your thoughts are on the job Steve Jobs has done as the CEO of Apple?”

The query received a round of laughter from the audience and a big grin from Gates, who promptly went on to answer the question by praising his former competitor as only he could:

“Well, he’s done a fantastic job,” Gates proclaimed. “Apple is in a bit of a different business where they make hardware and software together. But when Steve was coming back to Apple… Apple was in very tough shape. In fact, most likely it wasn't going to survive. And he brought in a team… that’s made Apple back into being an incredible force in doing good things.

“And it's great to have competitors like that. We write software for Apple, Microsoft does. They compete with Apple,” Gates concluded. “But he, of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with, he showed more inspiration and he saved the company.”

Puppet Walt - Bill Gates Planning To Destroy Apple

Danny Estrada — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:21:12 -0500

Apparently Steve Jobs has decided to randomly throw a Macworld Conference in Boston, even though the Boston Expo ceased to exist years ago. Regardless, Steve and company felt it was important to share some information at the defunct conference. A message that will surely destroy the future of Apple. Here is the news directly for the most important source in technology.

Well, we were wrong, and not only us, but Walt Mossberg. In order to make sure that he wasn't an senial drunk, God knows we don't want a mouth full of Ben Gay, we found some proof that this did in fact happen some 12 years ago. Bill makes his appearance 31 minutes into the keynote.

Oh great and powerful Puppet Walt Mossberg, IN YOUR FACE!

Great Moments in Keynote History: The Macintosh Software Dating Game - Starring Bill Gates

Roberto Baldwin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:37:34 -0600

In the fall of 1983, Steve Jobs was a young millionaire who just shared the greatest commercial in the world. But forget all that. Instead check out this video of the Macintosh Software Dating Game. Unfortunately, the video has been cut to only highlight Bill Gates' answers. Still, it's good natured nerd fun. Enjoy!

No Seinfeld for You

Susie Ochs — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:24:14 -0500

So long, and thanks for all the churros. Yes, after a 90-second TV spot and a 4-and-a-half-minute opus of zuh???, it seems that Microsoft is done making commercials with Jerry Seinfeld, at least for the time being.

Now, instead of the Bill-and-Jerry's-Nonsensical-Blathering style of WTF commercials, we'll see the Redmond Giant attempt to take back the phrase "I'm a PC," spoken so many times by John Hodgman in Apple's "Get a Mac" ad campaign. In fact, the first spot, which will debut tonight during the season premiere of "The Office," will even have a Hodgman lookalike saying, "Hello, I'm a PC, and I've been made into a stereotype."

The new ads will also feature celebrities like Eva Longoria, Deepak Chopra, and Pharrell Williams, along with everyday PC users and 60-odd Microsoft employees. (Maybe some familiar faces from this video? We can only pray.)

If you think this sounds like a rehash of the "Get a Mac" commercials, you're exactly right. Microsoft's general manager for brand marketing, David Webster, says of Apple's campaign, "They've made a caricature out of the PC. You always want to tell you own story." This new approach is designed to let Microsoft "take back that narrative."

Um, hello? Where have they been for the last two years? Those "Get a Mac" ads started airing in the U.S. in May 2006. And while it wouldn't be fair to expect Microsoft to immediately respond to barbs from a competitor whose market share is handily dwarfed by its own, this late follow-up seems odd too. A lookalike version of something Apple has done successfully for years? It's the advertising equivalent of the Zune! Or Vista itself!

Also, Microsoft's approach of pointing out that millions and millions of people use Windows PCs for a lot of different and cool things sounds suspiciously like HP's "The Computer Is Personal Again" campaign, which featured waist-to-shoulders shots of celebrities describing what they do with their HP machines -- they had Shaun White, Serena Williams, Pharrell, even Jay-Z.

Microsoft's ads are the brainchild of ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, veteran of both successful and cringe-worthy ads that attempt to build pop-culture buzz -- they did that Subservient Chicken site for Burger King, for example.

Today, Microsoft claims that it was the plan ALL ALONG to only have Jerry in the first couple of commercials, even though he was reportedly paid $10 million (which MS won't confirm, naturally).

If their aim was really to get people buzzing about Microsoft, mission accomplished, although the buzz wasn't all positive, to put it mildly. "Microsoft provided the same quality user experience in the commercials that they did in Vista," joked ITworld's James Gaskin. "The campaign is not aimed at real techies," Chris Matyszczyk from CNET explained. "It's solely there to help you find some positive disposition toward the Microsoft brand."

"They're asking us to be patient," theorized LA Times writer Maria Russo, "to laugh with them at their rustiness and general failure to be with it." (Ha...ha?) Seems like sort of a negative premise to begin a $300 million ad campaign, but one thing's for sure: After changing tack from the "ads about nothing," these new commercials are going to have all kinds of attention paid to them, positive or negative. And isn't that largely the point?

Anyway, if the lack of new Seinfeld-ian computer commercials leaves an empty place inside your heart, don't forget that Apple had him first.

Bill and Jerry's Excellent Adventure

Florence — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:46:56 -0500

Get ready for another entertaining episode of “Bill and Jerry’s Excellent Adventures.” This time, the two decide to leave their gloriously wealthy lives behind for a taste of what it’s like to live a normal life (one that doesn’t involved owning a moon house that hovers over Seattle).

The new advertisement starts out with Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates eating dinner with their “new family.” Hilarity ensues as soon as Seinfeld spits out another one of his witty one-liners (“I got so many cars, I get stuck in my own traffic”) and Gates attempts his hand at it, too:

“Are there any monsters in this story?”

To which Gates replies, “Yes, but it’s okay, there’s a firewall.”

Laugh out loud. The new Microsoft commercials are definitely amusing, but we’re really wondering what the whole point is behind all these advertisements? The new commercial and the one before didn’t really reveal what it was that Microsoft was advertising. A new operating system? No, that can’t be it. Gadgets? No. Maybe it’s Gates’ new career as a comedian. We could see it happening, right? He needs something to do with all that free time…

Microsoft Attempts to Resurrect Popular Seinfeld Sitcom

Florence Ion — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:02:27 -0500

In an effort to coerce the public into believing that Windows Vista really wasn’t a failure, Microsoft released a series of ads featuring the illustrious, and hilarious, Jerry Seinfeld with hopes that the commercials would restore the faith of the non-believers (who may have moved on to better things—like the Church of Apple).

The 90-second clip makes no mention of Vista’s features, and the segment resembles a scene from a sitcom rather than a commercial advertisement. In the clip, Seinfeld discovers Bill Gates trying on leather shoes at a discount shoe store. Seinfeld joins the former-CEO for some shoe-shopping fun, engaging Gates in a conversation about how to break in leather shoes. Riveting stuff.

One would think that there would be a hidden, subliminal message (watch out for that “delicious cake” metaphor at the end of the clip—Vista is indigestible, despite what they say), but the advertisement seems to be a serious attempt from Microsoft to draw in more faithfuls and appeal to an edgier crowd (similar to how Apple hired Justin Long for their television commercials). I suppose it would be fair to say to Microsoft, Good Luck.

At least the commercials are funny. If this whole software/hardware thing doesn’t work out for Gates, he could always try comedy. Now, that I would pay to see.