Awaking from a deep public image slumber, Microsoft said it has canceled the disjointed $300M ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, and now says it will level its ad guns at Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads.

Microsoft decided not to focus on odd antics of Seinfeld and Gates this time around and instead will feature a company engineer who resembles the PC guy (aka John Hodgman) in Apple’s ads. According to those familiar with the new ad the “PC” guy says, “Hello, I’m a PC and I’ve been made into a stereotype.”

Heads across the Internet have found themselves being scratched 80% less since this story broke earlier today.

I saw it yesterday (from a distance, no sound) on TV and thought man this is a long ad, what message could take that long?

I think it “plays” long because there’s too much going on. I worked at an ad agency for almost 4 years, and I know how these things work. If you don’t have one very powerful creative type running things, you get an ad created by too many people. Too many cooks spoil the soup. Everybody wants their “bit” in the spot, and in the absence of a strong leader, they get it. This affliction is rampant in US advertising.

I watched it again and I see Woof’s points.

I can close my eyes and see what happened here: one ad agency creative had to have his churros, another had to have the ID card, another had to have the shoe stiffness joke, another had to have his “you’re a 10″ joke. It adds up.

I think on a very intellectual level, to Seinfeld show lovers (10+ years ago now), it works. But to the other 85% of the country it’s a too-long, unfunny, muddled message head scratcher. And next to the simple, quick, biting Get a Mac Apple ads, it’s a clear loser.

But here’s the most important thing about it: when compared to the Apple ads, the ad mirrors exactly the much larger corporate themes. Apple and its products are focused and simple, and Microsoft is a disaster, both in products, message and corporate direction.