Last night Microsoft aired its first of the widely reported Jerry Seinfeld ads, meant to restore awareness of Windows and improve Vista's poor reputation. The one minute, thirty-second segment conspicuously avoids any direct descriptions of Windows or attacks against rivals such as Apple; instead, it focuses on a chance meeting between Seinfeld and former Microsoft chief Bill Gates at a shoe store with a comedic conversation reminiscent of Seinfeld's own routines and TV show.

The only mention of Windows appears near the end of the segment, when Seinfeld asks if Microsoft is working on something to make computers "moist and chewy" and the Windows logo promptly appears.

The ad marks the effective start of Microsoft's claimed "edgy" ad campaign, which would see Seinfeld alone paid $10 million for multiple spots and the total campaign's online and offline promotions costing as much as $300 million. Company officials have acknowledged that the TV effort in particular is designed to counter Apple ads which use a similar, two-man comedy routine format that has been partly credited for helping the Mac maker's reputation [macnn]