I think the ad campaign in and of itself was a pretty good idea, but it was really poorly executed. If you read the ad copy, everything about it just felt forced. The old Bartles and Jaymes commercials were plain-folks ads like this one was supposed to be, and the two guys in there were complete fiction, but it didn’t leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth.

Most of the people in Apple’s ads look and sound like morons. Those who do come across as intelligent or semi-intelligent sound like zealots. But then again, so do the people in a lot of pickup truck commercials. (“I’d rather walk than ride in something other than a Ford.”) So maybe those campaigns really work.

But the person in the Microsoft ad didn’t sound like a zealot. She sounded just plain brainwashed. “The money I saved by buying a laptop that runs Windows XP paid for my copy of Windows XP Professional which has so many extra mobile features that I’m not going to tell you about. Then I spent the rest of the money I saved on Microsoft(R) LobotomyTM, and you should too.”

Slashdot had a HUGE thread about this. The picture they used for the ad (the original was GONE from the MS site when I checked, but still cached in google) was also found in some online royalty-free stock photography.

Everything about the ad was a lie. Then again, this a company that has had its PR hacks get dead people to endorse them, so this is pretty benign in comparison.

My PC got me indicted.

I was the CEO of a high-flying corporation. Then the scandals started flying. The accounting errors showed up. The stock tanked. Some spooks showed up and hauled away my PC. Next thing I knew, I was under arrest.

I asked on what grounds. They said they found incriminating evidence in Word documents on my office PC.

So I bought a Mac. And now I’m flying high again. I’m using Mac OS X to run a dotcom out of my prison cell. I’m writing my tell-all book on a Powerbook G4. I’m adding even more to the earnings I’ve already stashed in my offshore accounts.

And since I’m on a Mac, those spooks won’t see anything I don’t see.

I switched to cover my butt. You should to.

/Dave T.

Microsoft Knowledge Base Article – Q237361
HOW TO: Minimize Metadata in Microsoft Word 2000 Documents
(also contains links to Word97 & Word2002 articles)

Or she could have used a program called Metadata Assistant.