So, Microsoft recently put out a series of commercials for IE8, featuring Dean Cain and directed by none other than Bobcat Goldthwaite.

One of the ads, the OMGIGP ad (advertising a new feature that's been available in other browsers for over four years) was deemed so offensive by viewers that Microsoft pulled it. (I'm not sure what exactly it means to pull a web ad, when said video is still available on youtube, but whatever.)

I don't think the OMGIGP ad is particularly great, but a couple of the others really are. They're just clever, funny, well-done ads. Check 'em out:















Now, I doubt it will come as a surprise that I'm no fan of Microsoft, but credit where credit is due: these are really good ads. That's particularly commendable after the tepid, forgettable crap they've been churning out. Remember, this is a large, fairly conservative company, with a large, fairly conservative user base, commissioning ads directed by, again, The Bobcat. Love 'em or hate 'em, it's a ballsy move.

So, anyway:

Monday, July 6, 2009: Microsoft Corp. has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn't fixed yet.

The vulnerability disclosed Monday affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software.

It can allow hackers to remotely take control of victims' machines. The victims don't need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that's been hacked. ...

Ah, Microsoft. Sometimes, I almost feel sorry for you.

You may remember a few months back, when I waxed all poetical about Google Chrome:

At the moment, it just looks like another web browser, although one that's fast with a clean design. Mark my words, though: over the next few years those tabs are going to melt away into individual windows, and Chrome (and other similar web browsers) will meld more and more transparently into your operating system until they become invisible, and it becomes very difficult indeed to figure out where your desktop ends and where the internet begins. Your operating system will still matter, but most non-technical folks will probably have a pretty difficult time explaining, or caring, exactly why... and really, that's how it should be.

Well, yesterday:

So today, we're announcing a new project that's a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

...

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

Now, to be honest, this prediction wasn't that impressive: others were saying similar things, and this is sort of the inevitable direction in which things are going.

And yet.

And yet...



Boo-yah, bitches.