Your first paragraph (the second part) is your opinion and how you perceived the ads. Fine. Everyone has (and should have) an opinion and a perception. It's personal. But for a marketer, the opinions and perceptions of the mass is what counts. If the "herd" doesn't move (preferably run) in the same direction then either my cowboys don't know the destination (the aim of the campaign, which is not to be funny or be talked about or be hip - those are the products of the campaign) or if they do, they don't know how to drive the cattle (which is, communicating where to go). In many cases (campaigns), the cowboys fail at both.
Ad hoc I don't have any ideas for a good Microsoft campaign. Any suggestion of mine, out of the blue, is shooting bullets in the air. Yeah, but it would be a nice way to feed my ego. :-) Using "hard" (like Mac vs. PC ads) or "soft" approach (by not mentioning the product explicitly) for the execution of the ads is almost secondary.
PS - I have spent most of my life as a developer and entrepreneur with Microsoft products (by choice). And I'm a Seinfeld fan-boy. But, that is not relevant when we're discussing this campaign.