When the first Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld television commercial was released about three weeks ago, there were mostly negative reviews of it. After all, the spot was odd, didn't mention Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) products at all, and really did not have any connection to what Microsoft was all about. Most likely, this was by design. This was Microsoft's attempt to fend off those cute (but now, annoying) Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) ads that have a "hip and cool" actor portraying the Mac PC while a geeky, nerdy actor portrays the Windows PC. And this was Microsoft's comeback? That was the question many asked.

The second commercial in the series was much better -- but it seemed more like a sitcom mini-episode than anything. The editing and writing was admirable, but still -- the connection with Microsoft's products, vision and former leader and founder was small and light at best. Where was Microsoft going with this? Was the company trying to re-invent Seinfeld's own award-winning sitcom that aired on NBC until 1998? Who knows? Throughout both commercials, though, Microsoft was generating a buzz. Although much of the best-covered buzz was negative.

Although there are reports that Microsoft is "dumping Seinfeld," perhaps he was just a way to generate initial buzz about Microsoft's campaign to position Windows Vista and other Microsoft products as helpful lifestyle tools. Although the company says that a move away from the Seinfeld-Gates shtick was a planned move, maybe it was and maybe it wasn't. Regardless, Microsoft does have an enormous challenge to really get consumers convinced that a Windows PC can be just as cool as an Apple PC. Maybe a rotation of stand-up comics throughout its spots could do the trick.

When Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was seen as a monopolist in the 1990s, governments all over the world hit it with antitrust lawsuits. The world's largest software company saw its kingdom under attack even as it continued selling operating system software (and later, internet browsers) to all the world's PC manufacturers.

Microsoft is still the king when it comes to software these days, but an old nemesis, Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is shaping up to become the next monopolist in the PC technology arena.

Apple's iPod/iTunes ecosystem could be called a monopoly. It commands the lion's share of the digital music player and downloading market and customers just can't stop buying the hardware and software. Does that make Apple a monopolist? After all, by some measures, Apple's market share is now larger than Wall Street darling Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Does Apple's 11% share of the PC market make it a monopolist? Does this smaller market share even suggest that? On the surface, no. But Apple's influence extends way beyond that hardware market share figure. Its control of entire market segments would suggest Apple may resemble what Microsoft looked like 10 years ago.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be building its fourth data center in Des Moines, Iowa at a cost of $500 million, the software maker said yesterday. The reasons give for Iowa as the site for such a large project were tax breaks as well as low energy costs. The data center will be located on a 42-acre plot of land just outside Des Moines. Fifty to 75 workers are expected at the new data center, with an average salary of $70,000 annually.

Microsoft must think adding large data centers will help its online efforts compete against Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Perhaps the company is right -- because right now, no company can touch Google's online search market. However, there are more Microsoft Hotmail and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Mail users than Google Gmail users. Google's market share lead doesn't extend into all its online product offerings, but don't think for a second that the Mountain View-based company doesn't want to steal as many users away from Microsoft's Hotmail as possible -- plus grab customers of other Microsoft online services.

The new data center will take a year to 18 months to compete, although company officials were mum on how many servers would reside there, as the company is still designing the data center. It did say that its data center servers would be contained in shipping containers instead of the standard server rack to allow more transport and setup flexibility. The state of Iowa is expected to give combined tax breaks to Ole' Softie of about $3 million per year. Not to be outdone, though, Google is building a $600 million data center just 122 miles west of Des Moines. At last, two of the largest forces in computing will be neighbors soon.

A week from today, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) will no longer allow computer manufacturers to sell Windows XP.

That's right, "Ole Softie" is basically stating that new PCs must come with a flavor of Windows Vista. Although Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) will let customers keep a pre-installed version of Windows XP for a fee, the general consensus is that if you want a new PC with Windows XP on it from the factory, you better order it this week.

Windows XP will still be available from those generic "beige box" system builders until January of next year, so all is not lost. But from major computer manufacturers, it's gone next week.

Windows Vista has gotten a ton of bad press in the last year though hundreds of millions of the system have shipped already thanks to it coming pre-loaded on desktop and laptop PCs from all the leading PC makers. Still, there are some "keep it simple stupid" customers that have written off Windows Vista as being a slothy hog of an operating system and only want Windows XP on that daily-driver PC that may be a few years old, but works perfectly and is very stable.

Moral of the story -- if you've been waiting to order that new laptop with pre-installed Windows XP get that order in now or get ready to use Windows Vista.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and check out other Battle of the Brands posts.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been around more than 30 years now and continues to make money hand over first every quarter. Its growth has slowed to levels representative of a mature company, but the power the computer software maker has over the flow of the world's information is very formidable. Then you have Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), a company just a decade old but with power that rivals Microsoft in many ways. In a sense, Microsoft provides the river, and Google provides the current.

That's probably not what Microsoft executives had in mind, but that's reality. The two companies are uniquely different cultures: Microsoft is a standard, dyed-in-the-wool, buttoned-down corporation and Google operates in an organized chaos type of way, much like a start-up software company. The difference is that Google's revenue and growth is slowly reaching where Microsoft's is, and it's only taken a fraction of the time.

Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Tellme Networks launched a new service this week geared at mobile phone users who would like to purchase movie tickets from their handsets -- using only their voices. Partnering with movie web site Fandango, Tellme announced that the new service would allow movie information, playing times, driving directions and even ticket purchases to be accessed by pressing only a single button on a cellphone and then using voice commands. This is the first really useful customer product that has come out of the Tellme acquisition, and it looks to be a decent one -- but it's curious that a Microsoft product will work first on BlackBerry devices -- one of its heaviest mobile competitors.

From a customer adoption perspective, this sounds fantastic. The mobile carriers in the U.S. have no clue how hard they've made the standard cellphone to use. Packing so many functions into a standard phone these days makes them a jack of all trades but master of none. Try going to a regular web site on your phone's web browser, if you can find out how to even get to the web browser, for example.

As said previously, the Tellme/Fandango product will initially be available on BlackBerry handsets and devices and will utilize GPS technology inside these handsets to determine where customers are calling from in order to provide the customized, voice-guided movie information and ticket-purchasing experience. This appears to be a perfect solution to give cellphone subscribers a foolproof and easy way to access services without having to use complex cellphone menus, browsers and other tools. The partnership said the voice-movie service would become available in GPS-enabled cars soon as well.

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has really never been down for the count as a company, although it's been on hiatus a couple of times in its 30 plus year history. Never before has the company seen such product and financial success, though, than in the 2001-current period. Under current CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs, the company is a force in the entertainment business along with ramping up its fortunes in the PC business where it started. We won't even mention the hardware business (iPod, iPhone).

But the one elusive crown that Jobs would probably love to see shift to his company is the operating system used by PC customers. Now that current Macintosh computers can run Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Vista (or XP) operating system, is Jobs slyly trying to wrestle the operating system of choice crown from his longtime competitor? After all, a Macintosh customer can switch between a full Mac OS (operating system) on his or her PC and Microsoft's Windows with a keyboard press. Use one OS for work-related things and another for -- everything else. Guess which is which? And don't think that's just what Jobs envisions when he's made every single Mac computer being sold capable of running Microsoft's Windows. Perhaps he's trying to win a long war with Microsoft on the basis of Apple's cooler-than-cool hardware rather than software?

Blogging is content that gets niche (and profitable) audiences to the doorstep of business's sites. It's no surprise that large companies have blogging staffs to communicate with customers these days. It's also great to see unfiltered voices step beyond the chokehold of marketing and PR departments to give a true voice to companies. Trust me, customers can tell the difference between a self-serving blog and a genuine one.

Software giant Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) just lost its main blogger who covered its flagship software product -- Windows Vista. Nick White said this week that "I want to share with you the bittersweet news that I am moving on to a role outside Microsoft" in order to join blog-centric company BuzzCorps. White will be replaced by Windows communications director Christopher Flores. Note to Flores: be honest with your audience and don't become a simple mouthpiece for Windows Vista, Share in the joys and disappointments both. Become a Microsoft outsider.

Does this mean that Microsoft still doesn't understand how to retain someone in a Web 2.0 role? Hardly, but the company is, by all measures, late to the game in a changing web world -- on multiple fronts. It's even poised to spend the largest amount ever for an acquisition if buying Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) ever comes to pass. Until then, its needs a central "all things Vista" representative -- something that can't be an easy task to accomplish.

Was the hiring of New Zealander Chris Liddell a strange choice for Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) CFO post back in 2005? By all accounts, it was. Liddell's background in the paper industry seemed odd as a preparation for leading the finances of the world's largest software company. But, Liddell has proven quite the dealmaker since taking over his post from former CFO John Connors.

He's engineered more than 50 deals since acquiring his post and he's managed to loosen the purse strings from a notoriously stingy company. Microsoft, after all, had over $30 billion in cash at one time and just didn't seem to ever spend it. It even tried to start buying back up to $30 billion in its own shares back in 2004 -- but too many shareholders wanted to hold onto their Microsoft holdings. But, was it Liddell's idea to use about all of Microsoft's cash hoard in offering a money/share split for the recent $44 billion bid for Yahoo!?

The company just this weekend Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) told Microsoft that its bid was just too low. For a company with consistently lowered profits in the last fiscal year, Yahoo! sure has a big head on its shoulders. Should Liddell's idea to have the software giant actually -- gasp -- issue debt be a wise move if its play for Yahoo! moves forward? At the rate Microsoft generates free cash flow, it's not a bad idea.

Say what you will about Old Softie, but the company commands hefty, growing sales every quarter. Liddell's quiet aggressiveness in using acquisitions to drive growth instead of waiting for organic growth is commendable, and it's required. Competitor Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) won't slow down, and Microsoft needs a financially savvy CFO like Liddell to get the company into quick-react mode against all the web-based competition that has now arrived.

[The author holds a long position in MSFT]

Is Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) becoming desperate when it wants to study consumer brain patterns to find out why its competitors are so successful? Microsoft Research wants to expand its presence in 'brain-computer interfaces' for its coming push into natural computer interfaces that will someday replace keyboards and mice. Of course, Ole' Softie has been talking about speech recognition for what seems like an eternity. So far, it has barely taken off in the consumer marketplace from what I have seen. Does anyone you now interact with their PC using mostly voice commands?

Microsoft competitor Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) made the computer mouse popular nearly three decades ago to really jump-start user interaction with PCs, and added 'multi-touch' to 2007's iPhone to again invent another way of computer interaction. What else is coming down the road? Whatever it is, Microsoft wants to be there first this time. The world's largest software maker seems to be honing in on reading a customer's mind to enable PC interaction. Science fiction? So far, yes -- but possibly not for long.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), whose internet search engine finds results to customer queries in what seems like perfect fashion, isn't staying back from this field either. Although Google is keeping mum on its ambitions to connect the human mind with a computer system or interface, it continues honing its artificial intelligence systems that power those instant search results millions of times an hour around the world. Google, though, is famous for keeping things under wraps until a release date is imminent. I guess we'll have to wait and see which is first, if any.

[The author holds a long position in MSFT]

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be rolling out new tools and services soon to encourage more internet advertisers and producers to create better online ad campaigns, the software giant said this week. Naturally, the new tools will work with Microsoft's adCenter and Live Search environments. With competitor Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) collecting the lion's share of online advertising revenue, will these newer tools make a dent in that empire?

Perhaps a little. Nothing new here -- Google and Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) tools are designed to work with their own search engines and related properties as part of an advertising customer recruitment and retention strategy. But, from looking at these tools, I'd hardly call them revolutionary.

One of the newer tools, which is being described as an "adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007," allows search ad customers to research the effectiveness of ad keywords by reach and targeting efficacy. If this just imports adCenter data into Excel, then this is a non-product. If the product imports adCenter data into Excel and performs a huge massaging of data to give specific suggestions to the Excel-using adCenter customer, then this is a good thing.

But it will take more than that for Microsoft to burst through the 10.3% market share stat it gleaned in September, compared to 57% for Google.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 12-4-07]

"I think we're in for a stellar year for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)," says Wayne Mulligan in The Tycoon Report. Here, he explains why it's time to "back up the truck."

"Microsoft is a company that holds the top spot in almost every single market it plays in, has had a track record going back over two decades for stellar business and financial performance, and yet its stock has languished for the last five years.

"Microsoft Windows and Office have a 90% market share in their respective markets. The company is on track to do over $50 billion in sales this year. MSFT maintains a 30% profit margin (approximately) and a 40% return on equity.

"With Windows on 90% of the world's computers, it's fairly easy for Microsoft to push new products out the door at very little cost . . . that's huge, and is what contributes to its healthy revenues and bottom lines.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will begin selling newer versions of its Zune digital media player as of today at national retailers like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT). The world's largest software company will, again, try to compete head-to-head with Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPods, current the planet's most popular line of digital media players.

In addition to replacing the original Zune player with a newer, sleeker unit, Microsoft's releasing the slimmer Zune player in 4GB and 8GB capacities to compete more directly with Apple's most popular iPod product, the iPod nano. After five years, is the world tiring of the iPod and seeking another, equally capable device with more features and an online media store to boot? Many would answer "yes" to that question, and that's the market Microsoft wants to recruit to this new line of Zune devices.

Windows Live services and applications were honorably discharged from "beta" status this week as Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) gave the entire world full access to www.live.com, along with releasing email addresses at the live.com domain name. Get yours today!

In addition to officially launching Windows Live, the world's largest software maker is preparing an online advertising blitz that will reach "billions" over the next few months, according to the company. In terms of actual impressions to customers, the company expects about 10 billion of them through the end of the year (roughly). That's quite a push, yes?

Windows Live is Microsoft's attempt to offer a complete suite of online tools from email to maps to social networking to instant messaging -- and all available from a single "dashboard" where all products are cross-promoted and fully integrated. Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been doing this too in the last year, part of its iGoogle initiative.

This is being seen as Microsoft's largest effort yet to recruit and keep eyeballs to its cross-linked array of consumer web offerings so it can glean more advertising revenues from those eyeballs a la Google AdWords. The software maker is well behind its rival, in seeing revenue from advertising, but it is making progress here. Time will tell if it is enough progress.

DISCLOSURE: I own MSFT shares as of 11-8-07.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced this week that it sacked its chief information officer, Stuart Scott, over violations of the company's policies. Although it's unclear to the media exactly what policies were violated, Scott's abrupt departure suggests an infringement of pretty large proportions.

Although a Microsoft representative referenced a "violation of company policies" along with an internal investigation, the world's largest software maker announced that Scott had been terminated as as last Friday. Now, this is no middle manager -- Scott was responsible for the entire global information technology infrastructure for the world's largest software maker. Call it a high-profile executive departure, even though Scott was not a large name in executive circles.

After 17 years at General Electric (NYSE: GE), Scott came to Microsoft in 2005, so he had really not been there that long. The question now is to find out if Scott really did something that warranted his dismissal, or if the direction he wanted to take the company's global infrastructure was at odds with company policy, whatever that may be.

After almost two decades at General Electric, it's hard to think that such a seasoned executive would violate any policy in such a short time with Microsoft. Is there a piece of the story that is not being told here? We're sure to find out if dirt starts flying soon in the blogosphere.