Here is a pretty positive take on the latest Microsoft ad starring Gates and Seinfeld...

Quoted: The second installment of Microsoft's Seinfeld campaign launched Thursday night during the reality TV series Big Brother. Like the first commercial in the $300 million campaign staring the well-known comedian Jerry Seinfeld, the spot didn't discuss Windows.

Quoted: While some are still confused, others are giving Gates two thumbs up. Dave Racine of MindSpike Design loved the new spots. He called them offbeat and irreverently fresh as Gates and Seinfeld are obviously "connecting" with real people.

Quoted: "Finally, a commercial that actually entertains me -- and keeps me engaged for longer than a blip. The weirdness about it is what is compelling, along with the talent of Seinfeld and the unexpectedly good acting of Gates," said McVey, president of S3. "Happy to see someone doing something different and effective in the TV ad-spot world."

Quoted: The commercials give Microsoft and Bill Gates humor and some personality, according to Jason Mudd of Axia. The past public perception was of Microsoft as a cutthroat company seeking to destroy or buy out any competition, he noted, but business executives are talking positively about the commercial, and that's what Microsoft wants.

This is probably true to some extent. Amazing what happends when you don't stay focused and entice the consumer.

Qutoed: Microsoft's brand power has been in sharp decline over the past four years, an indication the company is losing credibility and mindshare with U.S. business users, according to a recent study by market research firm CoreBrand.

Quoted: According to the CoreBrand Power 100 2007 study , which polled about 12,000 U.S. business decision-makers, Microsoft dropped from number 12 in the ranking of the most powerful U.S. company brands in 2004 to number 59 last year. In 1996, the company ranked number 1 in brand power among 1,200 top companies in about 50 industries, said James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand.

Quoted: Gregory could only speculate as to why Microsoft's reputation has been declining because his firm does not ask people that specific question. He said the "underwhelming" response to Windows Vista might be one reason, and Apple's clever "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertising campaign -- which paints Windows in an unfavorable light -- may be another.

Pretty cool. I've been expecting... hoping, something like this would come out of MS Research.

Quoted: It’s not often that I see software that really changes my world... Yesterday was one of those days. Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay, researchers at Microsoft, fired up their machines and showed me something that I can’t tell you about until February 27th. I’m sure you’ll read about his work in the New York Times or TechCrunch, among other places. It’s too inspiring to stay a secret for long.

Quoted: While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change. While listening to Wong I noticed a tear running down my face. It’s been a long while since Microsoft did something that had an emotional impact on me like that.

Quoted: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday that the Windows application platform is to be fitted with "Fluent UI" ribbon capabilities now offered in Office 2007.

This is always welcome news...

Quoted: Company officials touted rising sales in each of Microsoft's business divisions, a slate of important upcoming business-software launches and the growing contribution from sales in non-U.S. markets.

Quoted: The software maker's quarterly earnings jumped 79 percent to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share in the second quarter a year earlier. Quarterly revenue climbed 31 percent to $16.37 billion from $12.5 billion.

Vista and UAC: Apple prompts the user to enter credentials when installing new apps just like Vista does. Why is Vista the bad guy in this? You don't hear any one mention Apple's security prompts.

Any way you look at it, for users, security is a lose-lose proposition. The more you ratchet things down, the more hoops users need to jump through.

Quoted: Hansen also said that Microsoft traded general OS usability to add some of Vista's security features, such as UAC (User Account Control), and is "feeling pressure from Apple" to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly OS.

Interesting take on the Google v. Microsoft competition. Google (and Apple) are the flavor of the day (well, the last couple years). Question is, as they increase in size and mature, will the growth rate continue and will investors and partners continue to line up.

Quoted: Still, some think investors are getting overly Google-fied. To justify its current stock price, Google needs to increase its revenue by 50% a year for the next five years, says David Trainer of business valuation firm New Constructs. Few, if any, companies of this size can do that, he says. "Investors are playing a game of musical chairs," he says. "The music has to stop."

I can relate to this... (as a home buyer ;-)

Quoted: "Microsoft is like a frustrated home buyer in a hot market that is willing to pay whatever it takes not to get shut out again"...

Quoted: But buying one of the largest online advertising firms will help Microsoft (NasdaqGS:MSFT - News) compete for a bigger share of the online ad market against such rivals as Yahoo (NasdaqGS:YHOO - News) and Google. (See related story, this page.)