Microsoft Seinfeld ads – a little late I know

Robert Kern — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:59:35 +0000

When the ads came out, I was in Honduras on a terribly slow Internet connection, in the middle of a cafe, and I just didn’t want to sit there and wait forever for the video to buffer and then have to deal with the embarrassment of being the annoying guy in the Internet cafe who makes too much noise. So I held off.

A while later I decided I wanted to watch them and see what all the fuss was about, but I couldn’t find them on the Microsoft website anymore (this was after the general blogosphere said the ads were a fail), so I decided to forget about it.

Today I stumbled upon the ads on the NZHerald website, and thankfully NZHerald has the videos in their archive so I watched them just now. I have to say, I chuckled a few times. I really enjoyed watching them (particularly the one where they are living with the family). I had read both positive, negative, and confused opinions of the Microsoft ads, and I think I understand all three feelings. I disagree that the ads were pointless, and in my opinion there should have been more – whether or not Microsoft says they had more planned. Just the two ads doesn’t feel complete. There had to be at least 2 more, to develop the story further. Or perhaps there should have been one in between the Shoe Store ad and the Living with a Family ad. To me, it seemed that Jerry Seinfeld just happened to see Bill Gates at the show store. Perhaps he had met him before, perhaps not (the characters I mean, not the real Seinfeld and Gates), but they certainly didnt live together. The second ad should have been leading up to them moving in with the family. Perhaps that could have been the missing piece that would have prevented all the confusion people felt.

For my part, im sorry that the ads have been pulled, and would have enjoyed seeing the rest of them. While watching the ads, I actually felt like maybe Microsoft isnt the nasty company it often seems to be. I hate the Microsoft ‘Im a PC’ ads, but it seems to fit nicely with my original view of Microsoft, and reinforces the idea that Microsoft just doesnt get it.

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Using Microsoft Visio 2007 for database diagrams

Robert Kern — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:14:08 +0000

Have you ever tried using Microsoft Visio for creating database diagrams? Im using it at the moment for a large web application project and I’ve got to say, I hope there’s a better solution out there. I understand that Visio is design for lots of different uses and not just database diagrams, but it really is difficult to get a useful database diagram out of the software.

One thing that frustrates me is that when i define relationships between particular fields in two different tables, the lines dont match with the fields… they only match with the tables. Maybe there is something I’m missing with that, but there is no obvious way to make the lines match up to the fields.

Also, adding notes to a table is very difficult. If I add a speech-bubble type object with a note and then want to move the table to somewhere else on the page, the speech bubble (even though it is supposedly connected to the table) doesn’t move with it.

I normally use a Mac for web development (and am even now, but am running VMware with Vista for various applications), so would prefer a Mac style diagram application. I’ll be on the lookout.

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PHP Web developer, Robert Kern » microsoft

Microsoft Seinfeld ads – a little late I know

Using Microsoft Visio 2007 for database diagrams