Windows 7 was Steve's Idea (Jobs, not Rosenbaum): I'm Stewing on "I'm a PC" Ads for Window's 7 - Steve Rosenbaum - MediaBizBloggers

So, okay - first off, full disclosure: I do use an Apple computer. So maybe I've just got some Microsoft issues - but I don't think so.

First, the good news. The "I'm a PC" ads - yes, I do watch them. Freeze them. Rewind them. So the agency has done its job. They've got recall and they're memorable.

The question is - does "hate" count as a useful response?

I've been trying to figure out why I'm ok with thinking "I'm a Mac" but not "I'm a PC?"

Hmm... let's see, because "I'm a Mac" means I'm young, hip, smart, cool, with it, cutting edge, culturally on the ball, and have good hair.

And "I'm a PC" means, well - the opposite of all that?

Actually, no, I don't think that's it.

I'm ok with being a nerd, geeky, a father, a computer guy, all that stuff that "I'm a PC" might suggest.

Heck, I like John Hodgman. He's funny.

That's not what's wrong with the Window's 7 ads.

What's wrong is that EVERY person in them is self-centered, arrogant, with a hugely bloated sense of self worth. Basically, an ego-maniac.

Seriously.

For each of these geeky Windows users to say, "Windows 7 was MY idea" is what's wrong with both Windows and Microsoft.

Kids, we're living in a collaborative, cloud, Web 2.0 world. No one owns a piece of software, or even a feature. It's about being on the team, not about hogging the ball.

But Microsoft doesn't want to hear that. They want to shrink-wrap the world. To keep everyone tethered to the OS that runs on the box that is created by the monolithic PC uber-God.

So, if the ads said: "I'm a Windows user, and I'm part of the team that bug tested, product managed, developed, and helped improve Vista to create Windows 7," well, that would be honest. Not very catchy, but honest.

What Microsoft seems to be trying to do is replace all this long-hair hippy dippy collaboration with the mythical 'I control the universe' software creator. It's as if each character is THE REAL BILL GATES. Hey, I'm Bill Gates, No I'm Bill Gates, no It's ME.

Note to ad agency folks - Gates has left the building.

If you dig deeper, the ads are all about "7 Second Demos" - features like cleaning up your desktop with Snap, or Shake, or connecting media sources with "HomeGroup."

I'm watching these ads as I view my home photos on my flat screen, listen to my music on my living-room receiver, and print from my wireless laptop.

The problem with the commercials, and the 'ideas,' is that none of these folks invented Windows 7, Apple did.

You can just hear Steve Jobs saying, "Windows 7 was MY idea!" and he'd pretty much be right.

Steven Rosenbaum is the CEO and Co-Founder of Magnify.net - a fast-growing video publishing platform that powers more than 50,000 web sites, media companies, and content entrepreneurs to aggregate and curate web video from a wide variety of web sources. Currently Magnify.net publishes over 50,000 channels of Curated-Consumer Video, and is working closely with a wide variety of media makers, communities, and publishers in evolving their content offerings to include content created by, sorted and reviewed by community members. Rosenbaum is a serial entrepreneur, Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker, and well known innovator in the field of user-generated media production. Rosenbaum Directed and Executive Produced the critically acclaimed 7 Days In September, and his MTV Series Unfiltered is widely regarding as the first commercial use of Consumer Generated Video in US mass media. Steve can be contacted at steve@magnify.net Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify

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