This was destination of a non-working hardlink from "misleading", so I decided to add something here. I would say, however, that Microsoft's advertising isn't (usually) misleading. It is often more or less accurate.
I take two examples here, both of these ads appeared in Finland - probably elsewhere, too.
One was a newspaper ad for Windows 98. Quite clever ad; It displayed a tube of pain drug, with text "Windows 98" on the side. So, Windows 98 relieves the headaches caused by previous versions of Windows, which was true because Win98 sucked less that Win95. Of course, the ad blatantly says old Windowses cause headache, but hey...
Another was a TV commercial, it was about Windows 2000 if my memory serves right. I never got what was the commercial's intended point. A tractor drove towards a rotten shed, collided to the wall and got stuck. Yeah, that describes Win2K pretty well, but I think that wasn't the point, right?
2001-11-28: Some people had noticed that Windows XP advertising continues this tradition of extremely subtle self-irony - WinXP ads have huge fields of bright green artificial grass... astroturf, anyone?
Update, 2001-03-17: Recently Microsoft stated that GPLed software is "against the American Way" or something similiar. However, I remember clearly that at one point Microsoft advertised "Microsoft at Work" things, and the advertisement, as one reporter in some local magazine pointed out, was "neo-Socialistic" in style. Pot. kettle. black. =)