I agree with you in most respects, especially in that I think Gates could hold his own in a commercial. But to use a metaphor, Gates is already muddy from Microsofts long controversial history. This is part of the cleaning up stage, and I don't think it could've come sooner. With Gates stepping down as chairman and stepping up to one of the worlds largest charities, Gates is moving from evil OS imperialist to old retired humanitarian. People will always associate Gates with the poorly viewed decisions of Microsoft, but soon they'll be just more of a head shake and a kind of "remember when that Gates" kind of attitude. And while Microsoft will probrably move to the back of exciting innovating companies (with AT&T and IBM) Gates public image will wisen as he speaks out on humanitarian efforts.
I don't know if I personally would have chosen Sienfeld and directed the commercial in that fashion, but I think the concept was dead on.
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