Microsoft has recently made the decision that its $300 million advertising campaign for Windows Vista was to steer clear of comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

Seinfeld, 54, has made an appearance in two of the company’s commercials, in which he was featured alongside Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates. Even though giving Jerry Seinfeld the boot seems like the expected outcome of the two advertisements, which had no direct connection to Windows whatsoever, failing to achieve their goal, Microsoft firmly denies it.

Spokesman Frank Shaw told the „LA Times” that the Seinfeld portion of the campaign was aimed at being just an introduction to the whole makeover for the operating system. This introduction is said to have cost the company $10 million.

”All along we said we were having a teaser campaign. We're getting ready to start the second phase. This was the plan all along," Frank Shaw added.

The second phase has already kicked off and will develop on two levels. The first one will directly attack Apple’s ”PC vs. Mac” line of products, by using a commercial featuring a man resembling John Hodgman, the PC guy in Apple’s ads. His first words in the ad are: ”Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.” The series presents regular PC users who are very happy with their Windows systems, in an attempt to clear the Personal Computer’s image, which has been tarnished by Apple Incorporated via their ads that showed the products as not being able to catch up to the trendy Mac.

The second level consists in featuring celebrities like rapper Pharrell Williams, actress Eva Longoria or writer Deepak Chopra in Microsoft’s advertisements. The company has high hopes that these household names will put Microsoft back in touch with their large audience, which they have lately neglected. Also, the ads are expected to help the company regain their status as the world’s largest software producer. The multimillion dollar campaign has just started, therefore Microsoft promises they still have a lot up their sleeve.