Geek Chic

Have you seen the new Microsoft ads?  The first one of the nearly $300 million campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld aired last night (I caught it somewhere in one of the Daily Show’s commercial breaks).

One word: LAME.

Jerry helps Bill Gates buy a pair of shoes.  They mention Microsoft one time.  That’s all that happens.  The whole thing seems like they’re trying to be funny, but it was decidedly not.  No matter how hard Jerry tries, he can’t make the ultimate nerd, Bill Gates, seem anything other than embarrassingly quirky and introverted.

According to an internal memo from Microsoft VP Bill Veghte:

The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows – a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity.

So far the conversation my girlfriend and I have had on the subject was, ‘My god that sucked.’  But we talked about it right?  I guess their plan is working.

This whole thing is part of Microsoft’s new strategy (backed by their pseudo-science ‘experiment’ The Mojave Project) to fix Vista not with innovations and patches, but with an ad campaign:

‘Vista: It’s really not as bad it you think it is.’

I don’t think that’s their actual copy, but that’s the idea.  Win the hearts and minds of millions by convincing them that the best you have to offer is not nearly as bad as they thought it was.

It’s kind of like the platform the Republicans are running on.

My response to all of this?  Get a Mac.

As a caveat to this morning’s post — I’m really getting sick people making the case that Palin has more relevant experience to be Commander in Chief than Obama does.  Like being mayor of a small town is more relevant than being in the Senate.  Or even his state Senate.

Calling the fact that she’s been in Alaska all her life her ‘Foreign Relations Experience’ — because Alaska is next to Canada and Russia — is unbelievably laughable.

My friend Beth just sent me this.  Wait for the part when she asks Tucker to name one decision Palin actually made in office:

It’s nice to see the media being this tough on the Republicans for a change.

I’m really trying to keep my cool after watching Sarah Palin’s speech last night.  And the aftermath during which everyone seemed to think she really knocked one out of the park.

My favorite parts of her speech included:

• The standing ovation she got when she talked about how her opponent was wrong to have detainees at Guantanamo read their rights.  Boo constitution!  Yay police state!
• Her continual references to how Obama will raise taxes.  Neglecting to mention that these taxes would be those of the richest 5% of Americans.
• Her repeated references to how her opponent doesn’t want offshore drilling (incorrect!).
• The premise that offshore drilling alone will lead to energy independence.  As if the only reason why we keep importing oil from the Middle East is because we don’t want to waste our own vast reserves.  As if we have vast reserves.  As if it’s not all going to run out in our lifetimes.
• The repeated cut-aways to her pregnant daughter and ‘special needs child’
• The complete lack of any content.

The only thing that made me feel any better last night was watching the Daily Show.  John Stewart was on fire last night.  I really wish CNN would run stories like this.  Anderson Cooper is a smart guy too, right?  Why is it I feel like the only news source I can trus these days is Comedy Central?  <sigh>

Anyway, here’s Jonny:

Finally: apologies.  I try to keep this blog away from personal politics.  But I see a real danger in Sarah Palin — the fact that she’s being positioned as an untouchable martyr by the right makes her the perfect attack dog.  I really hope the Dems grow some teeth.  I can’t bear the thought of another 4 years of Reganomics.

I’m sure you’ve heard by now.  Google released a new web browser.  Chrome.

My first reaction to this is one of dismay.  Another freaking web browser?  What do I need that for?  I’m still having to check for bugs in IE6 — a browser that should’ve died years ago.

My second is one of anger at Google.  I like Firefox.  I think Mozilla has a good heart in addition to having a great browser.  If Chrome is going to steal market share, it’s most likely going to steal from Firefox — not IE.  Most of the people who use IE are either enterprise (and can’t download another browser) or not tech-savvy (don’t know how to download another browser).  If they haven’t downloaded a browser besides IE6 (like Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc — they have plenty of choices and they’ve had plenty of time), it’s unlikely they’d download Chrome.

So great.  Google steals from FF’s market share.  And Google paid up on their Mozilla contract till 2011 to keep their bases covered, but if Chrome catches on, I bet you Google will kill that contract.  Leaving Mozilla broke with about half of it’s market share poached.

Great.

What’s even better is Google’s terms of service with Chrome.  Check this out:

By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services.

What?  I know I’m no lawyer, but what that says to me is if ANYONE displays a website in Chrome (ANY website), then Google then has the right to distribute that website, in part or in whole, worldwide.  What?  How can they claim to have that right?  If you’re looking at this site in Chrome now, does that mean Google thinks it’s their right to adapt, modify, publish, display, ‘publicly perform’, etc?

My favorite little logical twist is that technically, if you ‘submit’ your credit card # via Chrome, since you’ve agreed to their terms of service, they then have a right to ‘distribute’ it.  Now that’s a business model.  Stealing credit card numbers on a massive scale and then moving to Switzerland.

AND the real kicker is this: Chrome is distributed under the BSD license — which is a particularly open open-source contract.  You could logically say that if you submit your credit card number via Chrome that then EVERYONE owns it.  Resulting in something less like Switzerland and more like the end of Fight Club.

But really, what the BSD license means is that, if you don’t like Google’s terms for Chrome you can download the code in its entirety, take out their logo, recompile it under your own terms and use it however you want.

So, kids.  It’s time to get those compilers chugging.  Who wants to to follow Google’s rules when they can so easily walk right around them.

Google looks more and more like Microsoft every day.  Throw a few class actions lawsuits at them and the two would be virtually indistinguishable.

Soo… hopefully you got a chance to peruse the Times article this morning about some of the recent developments in the McCain camp’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate.  I did. Hilarious.

I’m sure by now we all know that her 17 year old unmarried daughter is preggers (you probably caught that yesterday when CNN dropped its coverage of Hurricaine Gustav and began a full court press on Bristol.  Seems like a bit of an unfair match to me, but what the hell.)  And that Palin’s involved in a lawsuit over the wrongful dismissal of a public safety official who refused to fire her sister’s ex-husband.

But more fun facts came out today!  Like the fact that she has a DUI on her record (although that didn’t stop Bush from getting elected) and that she was once a member of Alaska’s Independence Party — one of whose purposes was to drive Alaskans to vote for secession from the Union ( although once again, Bush’s home state of Texas threatens that all the time).

I have to say the best part of it (imho) is the fact that the McCain people did not even ARRIVE in Alaska to BEGIN their vetting process until last Thursday.  As you know, McCain announced her as his running mate on Friday. So they had less than a day to find all of the dirt on Palin.

Since you can’t find all the dirt there is on a person in less than 24 hours, she now gets to be vetted in real time.  By everyone, including the Democrats, CNN, NYT, AP… you get the idea.

What a delicious mess.

Perhaps the Republicans should do a little bit of catch up on SP by taking the time to read her blog, PalinDrome (actually a clever work of fiction, but then there’s already a lot of that in McCain’s campaign so I’m not sure anyone would notice the difference.  Take, for example, their preemptive edits of her Wikipedia page).

All ranting asside, you should check out PalinDrome if you get a chance.  It’s really funny.

Thanks for the link, VSL.  You’re my cocaine.