Following the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld video ads, and the I'm a PC commercials, Microsoft has provided ample proof that it does have a sense of humor and, at the same time, that it is not timid about making fun of itself.

Bill and Jerry are back, and the dynamic duo's second Microsoft ad is already bringing as much divided opinion as its much-analyzed predecessor. The spot, which first appeared on YouTube Thursday night, shows Seinfeld and Gates staying with "average family" in an effort to reconnect with the common American. As far as connections to Microsoft, it inches a little closer to direct talk about the company -- but still stays eccentric enough to leave many scratching their heads.

If you liked the first Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ad for Microsoft, you’ll probably love the second. If you didn’t, there’s hope: A more Windows-centric one will air in a matter of days, according to Microsoft officials.

It's only fitting that Jerry Seinfeld's first Microsoft ad is -- well, about nothing. The 90-second spot, which debuted during Thursday night's NFL game, shows Seinfeld and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates meeting in a shopping mall shoe store. Seinfeld casually saunters in, munching on a churro, and gets into a conversation with Gates about shoe size and finding the proper fit. Oh yeah, and also about the advantages of showering with your clothes on. The blogosphere's already buzzing with criticism and calls of failure for the heavily hyped ad.

Microsoft's absurdist TV ad starring the odd couple of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld is just the first volley in what promises to be a shock and awe campaign aiming to improve the public image of Windows Vista and position itself as a computing innovator.

Microsoft has lost one of its early employees one month after the original 11 members reunited to celebrate Bill Gates' retirement from his day-to-day role with the company he co-founded.

As far as Microsoft is concerned, Windows 7 is just the beginning. Not a new beginning for Windows, mind you, but the debut of a revolution in human - computer interaction. At Tech Ed 2008, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates indicated that he is betting big on natural user interfaces. “Now one of the big changes coming that I think is most underestimated is the change in interaction,” he stated. Not by coincidence, the Redmond company’s first public demonstration of Windows 7 involved almost exclusively the new touch computing technology built into the operating system. (more…)

Weekend fun for the OS junkies. A collection of some interesting quotes from the three influential figures in the history of Operating Systems. Some of the quotes are controversial and some of them are just shockingly funny. Personal favorite: Steve Jobs' quote about Bill Gates "He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."

Bill Gates just happened to mention that we’d see a new version of the OS “Sometime in the next year or so,” but it’s looking like that “or so” makes a world of difference, but Microsoft has clarified that the next version of Windows is not coming before January, 2010. “As is standard with the release of a new product, we will be releasing early builds of Windows 7 prior to its general availability as a means to gain tester feedback.”

Windows “Vienna” (formerly known as Blackcomb) is a codename for a future version of Microsoft Windows, originally announced in February 2000, but has since been subject to major delays and rescheduling. Microsoft now announced it will be released in 2009, and according to a magazine called “Smart Computing ...