We noticed this new-found hipness when we came across the endearing campaign. With some admirable self-awareness, Microsoft used its own bad reputation to argue that its hated Internet Explorer browser is on the verge of a comeback.

To be fair, there is something to this. It a funny campaign and the Macalope gives Microsoft credit for trying to do something different with Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8. But the former is still struggling to catch on, and the latter is a big wildcard that raises as many problems for users as it solves for Microsoft. While Microsoft might be trying to gain some cool, there’s little evidence it’s catching on.

(We still prefer Chrome, by the way.)

So, Internet Explorer is hip and cool but not so hip and cool as to be useful. Now the Macalope might be willing to believe.

But this image comeback isn’t limited to IE. Over the last few days we’ve seen Hotmail ads running on Boing Boing and Jezebel, two blogs that are hip for different reasons.