I recently saw the debut of Microsoft’s new $300 millions ad campaign to counter those “I’m a Mac ads”, and I have to say, I’m confused. I’d always thought that Bill would make a great pitchman, like what Dave Thomas did for Wendy’s. Although, Bill had a reputation, over the years, of being a tyrant, his public image seems to be that of a lovable nerd.

So, here’s ad # 1

 

After watching it, I thought it felt disjointed. Perhaps it’ll make more sense as part of a series. Although, that’s never something you’d want to say for a debut to anything. But what I noticed was Bills quick, short lines. I fired up Excel and plopped in the transcript.

Bill had 1.9 words per line. That’s autism territory.

Come on ad people, let Bill talk.

 

Spkr	Line	Count		JS	BG
JS	Shoe Circus, quality shoes at discount prices. Why pay more? Bill Gates?	12	# of lines	16	10
BG	Jerry Seinfeld?	2	# of words	155	19
JS	Churro?	1	# words / line	9.7	1.9
BG	I'm good.	2
BG	The left one's a little tight	6
XSG	They'll stretch	2
JS	You sure they’ll stretch?	4
JS	Is that your toe?	4
BG	No	1
JS	What is it?	3
BG	Leather.	1
JS	These are Conquistadors, they run very tight. You get the other one. You know what I do? I wear them in the shower. Ever wear clothes in the shower, Bill?	30
BG	Never	1
JS	You're dressed, and you're clean. Open the door, go about your business.	12
JS	He's a 10	3
XSG	10	1
JS	See how that feels	4
BG	Better	1
JS	That's a 10	3
XW	Is the The Conquistador?	4
JS	Guess what, Bill. You're a 10.	6
XM	They run very tight	4
XSG	Are you a Shoe Circus Clown Club member?	8
BG	Platinum	1
JS	What do you get with that card?	7
BG	Big-top points	2
JS	Aahh	1
JS	You know, I imagine, over the years, you mind-meld your magnum Jupiter brain with those other Saturn-ring brains of Microsoft.	22
BG	I have.	2
JS	Just wondering, are they ever going to come out with something that'll make our computers moist and chewy like cakes so that we can eat them while we're working? If it's yes, give me a signal. Adjust your shorts.	39
JS	Oh, I knew it.	4

Me - Xbox 360 - Halo 3 = Sad!

... or this could be like my drug pusher getting arrested. A chance to finally getting off the stuff!

... It's so cold... so cold...

 

The most perplexing problem I had with the new computer build is that as soon as an instance of Prime95 is running and CPU utilization rate hits 100%, my mouse started jumping all over the place by itself. I don't know why. But a quick test shows that a PS/2 mouse has this problem, while a USB mouse doesn't. Strange. This happens with Windows XP as well as Vista. Not sure if this is a problem with the Quad core Kentsfield, or the motherboard. But, this piece of $10 accessory fixes my problem.

The other problem is that the temperature is running at 70C, that's 15C hotter under load than Jeff Atwood's configuration. Although, I notice that my motherboard also pumps in 1.26v at this load, while his only 1.21v. Oh well, I'm going to have to live with it, I guess.

Early on, I had plan to also overclock this new computer. Mostly because someone else had done the hardwork for me. But seeing how I'm running hotter now, and that Jeff's overclocking is only taking the memory Vista score from 5.0 to 5.3, I'm not so sure that the extra benefit is worth the risk now.

Also, although the package does say "USB to PS/2 Converter", it's really an adapter that turns PS/2 devices to USB. Took me awhile to realize that at the store.

From the real beginning...

Yay...

And never go online without SP2...

Then, it's safe to go get the latest MS updates... Holy crap, I've got 81 updates coming (mostly security related)

And now, the torture test. The 4 versions of Prime95, one on each core. The average temperature of 65C is a bit higher than Jeff's of 55C. But prior to installing the fan on the Scythe heat sink, it was 89C! Damn! That fan's pretty important. Also, begs the question if Scythe is the best heat like out there, like Jeff said

More torture. Not the Abu Ghraib kind, but still pretty bad

I blame Scott Hanselman & Jeff Atwood for making me do this!