The first ad is titled the “V Word”. The spot introduces PC with a big red button buzzer, trying to censor Mac every time he says the name Vista. “V Word” mocks Microsoft’s decision not to market the name Vista so much in its new campaign, but use the more generic term “Windows.”

The second ad in the set is called the “Bean Counter” and presents PC sitting at an accountant’s desk. Here he divides a cash budget for Vista into two piles. One huge pile is for advertising Vista and a tiny pile is for “fixing” Vista. Mac is intrigued as to why PC is spending so little on “actually fixing” Vista. PC pauses to think and then decides that that there isn’t any point in actually spending money on fixing Vista and finally throws all the cash in the advertising pile.

Now, though I found it funny, the reality is that advertising’s purpose is to change the perception of a product and Microsoft is doing a good job. In terms of fixing Vista, there’re a few points I’d like to make.

1. Microsoft did hear the complaints and made tons of changes and fixes with service pack 1. Other than being heavy and require more robust systems (Macs do too), I haven’t heard any complaints about Vista lately.

2. Most haters haven’t even tried Vista. People heard rumors of Vista being so bad that they haven’t given it a chance. The OS works perfectly fine; I’ve been using it since day 1, and granted, I ran into some issues at the beginning, but with the service pack release and as drivers caught up, I haven’t ran into any issues.

3. Most development budget will not go to Vista, but to Windows 7. Microsoft listens to all complaints and requests, plus invests into new technology, trends, and development, but will heavily invest into a new OS that could come out making a good impression from the start… It makes sense to damage control Vista through straight up advertising.

I previously blogged about Windows 7 buzz and how it was too early, prior to any clean-up work and damage control, so I think Microsoft is doing the right thing with dropping the Vista perception, not advertise it, give Windows back some credibility, and then introduce Windows 7 as the new solution.

Beyond the fact that this is damn amusing I actually think it’s pretty great that the prison endorses this unusual method of rehabilitation. The prisoners must know that well over 30 million people have watched their performances and this must give them some sense of pride.

Apparently they’ve been the subject of two documentaries now and they even open the prison on Saturday for two hours to allow guests to come watch their performances.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!