Microsoft's New IE9 Ad Is...Out There (VIDEO)

Has Microsoft finally gone off its rocker? Probably not, though its latest ad release makes you wonder.

The minute-long spot, titled "The Browser You Loved To Hate, pokes a bit of fun at the stigma that surrounds the company's Internet Explorer (IE) browser.

It begins with a question: "Did you ever tell your parents they had to stop using Internet Explorer?" It then declares, "You aren't alone."

The rest of the ad features a character named George who obsessively uninstalls Internet Explorer from every computer he encounters it on. At one point, the character screams, "The only thing it's good for at all is downloading other browsers." And then he's taken down by a library security guard.

That's a deep dig at yourself, Microsoft. But at least this time around, the company is attacking itself rather than its competitors. Back in February, Microsoft released its "Googlelighting" ad attacking Google Apps, the web giant's cloud-based collaboration and productivity software.

With "The Browser You Loved To Hate" video, it seems Microsoft simply wants to encourage non-IE users to try it out, in spite of whatever negative preconceptions they may have of the browser.

The ad ends with a recovered George (who still must overcome a strange relationship with his policewoman cat, Officer Cupcake) and a link to a website called, "The Browser You Loved to Hate." The site features positive reactions from around the web to Microsoft's newest version of Internet Explorer, IE9, released last March.

Director of Internet Explorer product marketing Roger Capriotti expressed Microsoft's intentions for the new spot in a March 15 post on the Windows Blog:

Come learn more about the browser you loved to hate and how it has changed since you last used it. See what others are saying about the IE9 comeback. You don't need to ditch your current browser, but there are probably a few sites you go to each day like Facebook that you can pin with IE9 and see what you think. You might just like what you find.

Do you think Microsoft's funny new ad works? Check out the video (above), and share your thoughts in the comments.

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Comments

[bella 201123]

02:41 AM on 03/21/2012

More and more browsers have been pushed out in recently years, so I give up ie and switch to other browsers, such as avant browser, firefox, slim...

I will back to ie when it add some useful features for me

[PenguinLinux]

11:03 AM on 03/20/2012

Not only is IE ill relevant, so is Windows.

[lurkinman]

11:53 AM on 03/20/2012

That's the thing.

They're going to roll-out this tinker-toy Metro interface, not stopping to realize that if someone is actually thinking about their computer's OS, it's not doing it's job.

[StinkyPete0279]

01:26 PM on 03/20/2012

It's cute that you actually believe that.

[lurkinman]

09:27 AM on 03/20/2012

MS is taking themselves far too seriously.

IE was hardly the browser we loved to hate. It was the browser we grew not to care about, when others created vastly better ones. That's too long of a slogan, I guess.

[six seven]

10:22 AM on 03/20/2012

"taking themselves far too seriously"???

Did you actually see the ad? It has a cat dressed up as a police officer...

[StinkyPete0279]

01:27 PM on 03/20/2012

Nail on the head. IE8 and 9 are alright, they've just been left so far behind in terms of plugins and what have you that there's not really any reason to bother.

[evilgoogleman]

07:03 AM on 03/20/2012

Firefox user for so many reasons. Microsoft tried to take over the internet and failed. Google is trying to take over the internet and it will fail.

[Rich Phitzwell]

11:58 AM on 03/20/2012

google is a major investor in ff, just saying

[evilgoogleman]

02:28 PM on 03/20/2012

Not an investor because FF is a nonprofit. FF gets a lot of it's operating funds from google because google is the default search engine of FF. I am hoping that changes in the future.

[elfsnchung]

04:10 AM on 03/20/2012

Don't know from what time I stopped use IE, it just happened suddenly.I now mainly use chrome firefox and Avant browser these three browsers. Compared with these ones, IE opens webpage really slow,and often has javascript error in some pages.
On the contrast, the three browser all has fast speed and less error,especially when I use Avant browser. it let me switch rendering engine so that I can easily avoid this kind of problems.
Even in Avant browser, I rarely use IE rendering engines. I prefer use chrome and forefox rendering engines.

[sonoranrant]

01:03 AM on 03/20/2012

I find IE very frustrating to work with. Chrome gives me the creeps. I use FF (now beta testing Aurora) routing through Cocoon.

[registradus]

12:32 AM on 03/20/2012

That guy is a really bad actor.

[Lahonda]

11:54 PM on 03/19/2012

IE 9 is a POS. Long live Chrome.

[StinkyPete0279]

01:28 PM on 03/20/2012

It's really not, even if Chrome is much better.

[Lahonda]

06:15 PM on 03/20/2012

Problem is that MS simply cannot bring themselves to collaborate openly. They are constantly behind the curve and as a software developer, we sure do suffer for it.

[MuchMadness]

10:13 PM on 03/19/2012

Who was that at 0:41? There's an opportunity for Reebok and Microsoft to do some cross-marketing. I can see it now, Terrible Terry Tate, Librarian Linebacker.

[Rob Huggins]

08:53 PM on 03/19/2012

I don't know about why common users hate IE, but I know those that have had to program for it hate the fact that they seemed to be the last ones to follow the industry's agreed upon standards. In the end, what users use trumps what works best, but that hasn't kept me from cursing Microsoft many times for IE6 in paticular. What is worse is that IE6 is still not dead even with IE9.

[StinkyPete0279]

01:29 PM on 03/20/2012

Hilariously, even Microsoft has been wishing IE6 dead for quite awhile.

http://www.ie6countdown.com/

[Ash G]

05:46 PM on 03/19/2012

I had a chance to "Unbox a new Lenovo Thinkpad" a couple of months ago. It came pre-installed with Windows 7. Also, all sorts of useless stuff was loaded on it, Corel Blah, Roxio Bleh, etc.

Once I booted it up and entered my credentials for the first time, lo and behold, "Introducing Google Chrome" popped up on the screen, followed by an instance of Chrome browser.

So I figured somehow Google have managed to muscle their way to PC manufaturers, thus taking more share in the browser market. This is not because they make a better browser, because they don't. But now I see the need for MSFT to defend what's theirs with silly ads. And yes, IE9 is great. You people should give it a try.

[d1957]

05:43 PM on 03/19/2012

I'd love to see the video but HP doesn't make videos available to iPad users so I couldn't see it. Get with it HP, this is the 21st century.

[Ed whowannaknow]

12:45 AM on 03/20/2012

awwwww poor apple cant do everything that even the cheapest oldest most rudimentry PC can do? Thats so sad to hear.

[Samuel Bun]

06:27 AM on 03/20/2012

HP was showing videos before the iphone, HP get's the videos from people who use flash, you could go to all the flash users and tell them to get with it. HP gives Apple as much help as it can, just go to the Tech tab.

[collegeAvenue]

05:28 PM on 03/19/2012

Chrome blows both IE and FF out of the water

[RealityMyFriend]

05:25 PM on 03/19/2012

Crappy browser I would never use. It is amazing how far behind IE has gotten in technical advances. Firefox and Safari are far advanced.

[Shakra]

05:07 PM on 03/19/2012

As to the headline - it's "bizarre," not "bizzarre."