Web browsers take on election-year hues

You know what season we're in when everything seems to have a political implication. Even Web browsers.

So it seemed when our Benjamin Romano posted an item in the Microsoft Pri0 blog about Google's new Chrome browser, which followed the previous week's release of a beta 2 of Windows Internet Explorer 8.

In the post, Ben talked about issues surrounding both browsers, as well as reactions to them.

The post elicited back-to-back comments from readers that summarized it all through the prism of politics.

Commenter John A. Bailo likened Google to the "Barack Obama of technology companies."

The press, he said, "gives it a free ride on every piece of shareware [it puts] on the plate."

Reader jt, on the other hand, said Microsoft "is like the current Republican campaign."

"When asked for a single example of innovation (or, say, decision of leadership from Palin)," jt wrote, "they start to fingerpoint and quote their market share, which has been given to them by a legal monopoly ... "

We can hardly wait for the votes to be counted.

A political bid

As long as we're in a political mode, it's worth noting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention last week in which she said her attempts to cut government costs included selling a corporate jet on eBay.

Turns out the plane was listed on the auction site but never sold, according to published reports.

Instead, the state moved the sale to a broker, and the jet eventually was sold to an Alaskan businessman for $2.1 million.

Given the story about eBay on our cover today, maybe she should have tried Amazon.com instead.

Dose of creativity

It was a good week for comments on the Microsoft Pri0 blog, including one on a post about the Windows commercial that first played Thursday during the NFL's inaugural game of the regular season

Initial reaction to the ad, which depicted Jerry Seinfeld encountering Bill Gates in a shoe store, was pretty negative, with most comments summarized by one word: huh?

Like the old "Seinfeld" sitcom, the ad seemed to be about nothing, But the spot, part of a campaign widely viewed as a response to Apple's popular Mac vs. Windows ads, is just one of a series, so maybe the "nothing" will turn into something.

Meanwhile, commentator John offered suggested scenarios of what the ads should show instead.

Among John's suggestions:

• The world richest man plays the world's second richest man in a game of bridge over the Internet. They sure aren't playing on a Mac.

• A world champion chess player plays against a computer to see who reigns supreme. The computer sure isn't a Mac.

• When Gordon Gecko tells Wall Street that greed is good, the computer on his desk was definitely not a Mac.

"All of these ideas," John said, "kick this shoe commercial to the curb. OWN the PC market place. Let them be the uptight righteous crowd. Own the PC crowd.... "

Mugging for an ad

The Seinfeld-Gates commercial did draw cackles with one reference to the Microsoft chairman's past.

In the 90-second spot, the store clerk asks Gates as he is buying shoes, "Are you a Shoe Circus Clown Club member?" Gates then holds up his membership card and says, "Platinum."

The camera comes in for a tight shot of the card. Mop of hair. Big glasses. Silly grin. It's his mug shot from an arrest on a traffic violation in Albuquerque, N.M., Microsoft's original home town

Download, a column of news bits, observations and miscellany, is gathered by The Seattle Times technology staff. We can be reached at 206-464-2265 or biztech@seattletimes.com.