Microsoft Ad Campaign Crashing Nation's Televisions
Guy Macon
|
| Microsoft Ad Campaign Crashing Nation's Televisions
|
| October 27, 2008
|
| WASHINGTON?According to an FCC report released Monday, a new $300
| million Microsoft ad campaign is responsible for causing televisions
| all across the country to unexpectedly crash.
|
| Users have reported a number of failures resulting from the
| defective commercials, ranging from inability to change channels to
| "couldn't finish Heroes."
|
| The Microsoft ads, which began airing earlier this week, are being
| blamed for generating critical system errors in more than 70 million
| televisions. In addition, thousands of frustrated Americans said
| that the ads have caused their TVs to become unresponsive, their
| screens to turn blue, and a small box with the message "terminal
| application error" to suddenly appear.
|
| "I was in the middle of watching Monday Night Football when, all of
| a sudden, that stupid ad comes on and my TV freezes up," said
| Scottsdale, AZ resident Michael Chaplin, adding that he never wanted
| to see the commercial in the first place. "The next thing I know,
| all these numbers and symbols show up and I get an error message
| saying 'invalid file format' or something. Now my TV is ruined."
|
| The new ad campaign, which features footage of everyday Americans
| using PCs, was launched as an upgrade to the poorly performing Jerry
| Seinfeld and Bill Gates commercials, which suffered unspecified
| failures in two-thirds of U.S. households. Microsoft pulled the
| defective ads in mid-September, but the move came too late, as
| countless televisions had already been infected with viruses and
| spyware.
|
| So far over a half million television users have complained about
| the new ads. Some, such as Louisville, KY native Andrew Ryland, said
| they were instructed by tech support to press and hold the power,
| mute, and number seven buttons on their remotes in an attempt to
| shut down their television sets.
|
| When that failed, many television owners said they were left with no
| other option but to manually restart their devices.
|
| "I tried to push the power button, but nothing happened," said
| Andover, CT resident David Lax, who claimed that his television has
| never had any compatibility issues with commercials in the past.
| "Luckily I called my buddy Todd, who's pretty good with televisions,
| and he told me that you just have to unplug it and plug it back in."
|
| Although the commercials crashed nearly every available brand of
| plasma and LCD television, as well as afflicting older cathode-ray
| models, Microsoft spokesperson Sarah Machen insisted that the
| problem was not her company's fault, and that it likely resulted
| from low memory, a fragmented disk, or perhaps an outdated video
| card. A press release issued by the software giant also advised
| televisions users to avoid quickly switching back and forth between
| programs to prevent any future crashes.
|
| "Our engineers have repeatedly tested this commercial to work out
| all the bugs, and we proudly stand behind this advertisement,"
| Machen said. "We've heard numerous complaints about a virus, so we
| urge all users to remember that there are untrustworthy cable
| channels out there that they should never visit."
|
| Chicago resident Rick Yoder, 33, said he brought the 36-inch Sony
| Trinitron he purchased in 1999 into a licensed Microsoft dealer and
| paid well over $1,000 to add a graphic accelerator card and new
| motherboard that his television lacked.
|
| "I took my TV into the store and they added a bunch of cards and
| stuff so I can watch it again," Yoder said. "But the shows run
| really slow. Now it takes me an hour and a half to get through an
| episode of Scrubs. And sometimes this hourglass thing comes on the
| screen right at a good part and, by the time it finally goes away,
| the show is over."
|
| In some cases, the frequent crashes have caused more than just
| temporary hassles, with some Americans losing months of important
| shows they had saved on their TiVos.
|
| "I was watching Cold Case and it said 'show not found,'" Tim
| Honnermann of Oakland said. "But I was watching the show. How is
| that even possible?"
|
| Recent frustrations with Microsoft have not been limited to its
| television ads, however. Earlier this week, a billboard promoting
| the company's latest Windows platform angered hundreds in Detroit
| when it fell onto three cars, instantly killing all passengers.
|
Source:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/microsoft_ad_campaign_crashing
--
Guy Macon
<http://www.GuyMacon.com/>
Ed Prochak
Cute. 8^)