Today’s flow of creative expression, riding a tide of billions of instantly accessible digital images and clips, is rapidly becoming so free and recycling so reflexive that it is hard to imagine it being slowed, much less stanched [by copyright law].
Microsoft's new "The Future of Technology" ad is getting rave reviews:
The software giant just posted an impressive new Windows 7 and Windows Live advert that makes the viewer change their perspective. The commercial follows the trend of several Windows 7 adverts released recently that focus on Microsoft’s Cloud services with Windows Live. I won’t spoil it for you as it has to be seen and experienced. The video can be watched below and the full transcript is available too.
The reviews generally don't mention this ad is using a technique popularized by a YouTube video created for the "AARP U@50" contest, in which it placed second.
Microsoft's ad is pushing the Cloud, but it is acting like it doesn't get the Commons. It wouldn't have hurt Microsoft to credit the content creators, at least in their YouTube credits.
Here is "Lost Generation", with 14 million views to date:
Both pieces use an aspirational narrator (the thumbnail for Microsoft's ad features a woman one can imagine recording Lost Generation), scrolling text, a punchline for the reversal, and share the same mood and tone.
The "Lost Generation" creator credits inspiration to a political video created by an Argentinean agency, Savaglio/TBWA, entitled "Truth":
Also predating the Windows 7 ad is "The Future of Publishing" created by Dorling Kindersley Books and produced by Khaki Films :