Microsoft Changes 'Laptop Hunters' Ad After Apple Complains

Advertising Age ^ | July 23, 2009 | By Rupal Parekh

[Locomotive Breath]

Greatest single phone call

If that's true, he needs to get out more.

[N3WBI3]

I was hearing the same thing about vista some time back... how did that work out?

[6SJ7]

Unfortunately, the 0bama campaign did indeed use Macs, quite effectively too. 0bama, however, is a Blackberry phone user...

Obama once heard someone say "Crackberry" and said "I want some too!".

[Sudetenland]

Yes, elitist always believe what they use is better. No where will you find that I have claimed that Wintel products are “better” than macs, only more sensible because they offer more performance for less money.

[Sudetenland]

Actually Vista is a pretty darn good OS; somewhat bloated and overly agressive in its effort to protect you from yourself, but pretty darn good.

A majority of the problems that occurred with Vista happened early on because of a late effort to increase its compatibility with legacy programs and equipment. Unlike Apple which has no problem with rendering their users' equipment obsolete when they release a new OS (the Power PC for example), Microsoft has attempted to avoid that.

Now you can argue whether or not that is a good idea, but unlike Apple, MS has to answer to a huge base of users with widely varied types of hardware.

Most of the complaints with Vista came from those who suddenly found their legacy printers and other equipment no longer supported. Of course that was blamed on MS even though in the vast majority of cases it was the fault of the manufacturer of that piece of equipment.

There had to be a Vista for their to be a Windows 7. Vista became the whipping boy for all of the complaints over obsolescence. Windows 7 takes away the clunkiness and provides a very smooth experience.

It will go a long way in smoothing the feathers Vista ruffled. Even the tech press (at least those who are not Kool-aid drinkers of the Apple cult) have given Win 7 very high marks.

Apple grew from about 7% of the PC market to about 10% during the Vista brouhaha, as people begin to experience Win 7, the percentages will return because most people are unwilling to pay extra for the Apple cachet. Which, of course, was the whole point of the adds which so offended Apple.

[Salo]

Apple’s being wussy about this: they slap MS around constantly in the “Imamac, imapc” ads, which I *love*.

[Mr. Blonde]

Unlike Apple which has no problem with rendering their users' equipment obsolete when they release a new OS (the Power PC for example), Microsoft has attempted to avoid that.

I'm confused, I thought one of the complaints about Vista was the fact that it would not run on older hardware. At least not well. Leopard ran faster on my PPC than Tiger. Maybe Apple should support PPC's longer, but surely you agree that at some point the line has to be drawn.

[Sudetenland]

Snow Leopard will not run on PPC (at least that is my understanding).

I'm confused, I thought one of the complaints about Vista was the fact that it would not run on older hardware.

Isn't that pretty much what I said? Vista was the whipping boy MS needed to make a break with much of the legacy equipment. Still, Win 7 will run on many computers that Vista wouldn't-couldn't because it has a smaller footprint(one guy on the Win 7 forums has it running on a laptop with only 500MB of memory and an old x86 cpu).

In most cases the failure has more to do with the lack of suitable drivers for that legacy equipment. Many vid cards would be capable of running the software if their manufacturers would provide updated drivers. AMD/ATI for example is unlikely to provide video drivers for older video cards (like the X series) for the newer operating systems (I have a set of crossfired Radeon X1650's in one of my older computers that are fully capable of running Win 7-separately or jointly-but the driver support is not there).

Most legacy problems can be attributed to driver problems. It's understandable; why continue to support a 5 year old card when you can force people to buy a newer one?

It is that broad flexibility and wide selection of suitable hardware that allows Windows to so dominate the market. Apple marginalized itself when it chose to remain a closed system (you must buy your computer from Apple) though that has changed, with questionable legality, with the advent of "hackintosh" computers.

[Mr. Blonde]

Snow Leopard won’t run on PPC which is what I said as well. But what I was saying about Vista was not about driver issues but the real power of the computer wasn’t enough for it. Even several computers with “Vista Ready” stickers couldn’t run it well. On the other hand when I had a PPC and upgraded from Tiger to Leopard, which was around the same time Vista came out, my old computer ran better. I fully expect that even the oldest Intel Macs will run faster with Snow Leopard.

And as you said, how long do you support legacy hardware before you just require an upgrade? Like many people sticking with XP (albeit for different reasons) a PPC running Leopard will run as long as you want it too. I don’t know how long they will continue issuing security updates or how long software makers will support it, but if someone is happy with their setup now it will last as long as the computer does.

[IncPen]

Apple, the computer of Liberals. The company even reacts to truth like Liberals. Apple can't stand the heat so they whine. Hee hee.

Sudetenland - Freeper Since Jan 8, 2007

IncPen - Freeper Since Dec 3, 1997

------------------

I've been using Macs since 1983, and PCs since before then.

Macs are superior in every way.

And I'm anything but a liberal. Hee hee.

[Sudetenland]

Sudetenland - Freeper Since Jan 8, 2007

IncPen - Freeper Since Dec 3, 1997

Yawn...that old canard again? As if the length of time you have been a member of FR is some indicator of being a superior Conservative.

You jokers make me laugh with that really shallow comment. Using that "logic," I've owned firearms since I was 11 so I guess that makes me a stronger supporter of gun rights than anyone who bought their first gun 3 years ago...truly laughable.

I've been using Macs since 1983, and PCs since before then.

Macs are superior in every way.

Kind of like saying I drive a car with an automatic transmission and that makes me a superior driver to someone who drives a stick, or I take name brand prescriptions and they are superior to generic medicines.

Macs don't have nearly the breadth of software available for them as do PC's. Mac's don't offer nearly as many choices in hardware for the consumer as PC's do.

Most people understand these facts which is why the Windows user base is 90%+.

[Sudetenland]

This says it all: The Mac Experience

[Swordmaker]

Very funny and also false in every instance. Most of what he was claiming was refering to was not in OS X at all. Only when he was talking about the Dock did he refer to OS X.

[longtermmemmory]

Mac is fighting the PERCEPTION they are more expensive.

the fact of the matter is they are more expensive with few exceptions when compared to the pc box choices.

This is like the situation where chrysler and mitsubishi built IDENTICAL cars and still the mitsubishi outsold the chrysler based on perception.

[Swordmaker]

Apple’s being wussy about this: they slap MS around constantly in the “Imamac, imapc” ads, which I *love*.

Keep in mind that the sole source for this is Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft. As has been pointed out by multiple pundits, the veracity of his claim is questionable. These pundits have raised such questions and problematic scenario issues as:

• Why would an attorney in Apple's legal department call the Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft to voice such a complaint?
• How easy is it for an unknown legal wonk at Apple to be able to get the COO of Microsoft on the line?
• Why would Apple not follow normal procedure in such offenses which is for the legal department of one company to send a "Cease and Desist" letter to the legal department of the other company?
• Why would a lawyer make a phone call that does not have a paper trail, or establish a legal time line for the ads to be withdrawn or altered?
• Apple, having been burned in the past, makes certain that there is always a proper paper or electronic mail trail for legal issues, especially where Federal issues are involved.
• If a telephone call was made, it normally would have been lawyer to lawyer in the legal departments of both companies, as a courtesy call suggesting FTC trouble might be in the offing if the ads were continued. Why call the COO?
• This "call" would be much more believable had Kevin Turner said that Tim Cook, COO of Apple, had called him on a friendly, COO to COO basis to inform him of Apple's concerns about the "Laptop Hunter" ads' inaccurate prices.
• Kevin Turner has been known to exaggerate things before.

No reporter has been able to corroborate any of this off the cuff claim of Turner's... and, of course, Apple is, as usual, its normal, totally uncommunicative self.

[Sudetenland]

Yep. No matter how you shke it, bake it, slice it, or dice it, Macs are more expensive. Thay's why MS was able to make the advertisements; all they had to do is make the person an offer. The person in the add made their own decision...and observation about Macs, their capabilities and their cost.

Since MS began running those ads, Apple has been grumbling. They cut their price...$100.00 and then began screaming "Bloody Murder!" Which one would expect from the cult of Apple whiners.

They feel perfectly comfortable making those marginally honest nasty little "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ads about which MS said NOTHING even though they skirted the boundry between truth and lies, but let MS run one little series of ads telling the real story about the bloated price of Macs and whine, whine, whine.

My absolute favorite though is they tout the fact that Macs can now run Windows programs as though that is some great feat. If Macs are such great computers, why would you need to run Windows programs?

My computer ran Windows programs from the start. :D

[N3WBI3]

“somewhat bloated and overly agressive in its effort to protect you from yourself, but pretty darn good.”

Somewhat bloated... bwhahahaha Vista pretty nuch needs two gigs to be usable. Thats insane..

“Unlike Apple which has no problem with rendering their users’ equipment obsolete when they release a new OS (the Power PC for example)”

So you’re saying vista will run on my p150 cool... oh wait the requirements of it obsoleted that processor. And the P-Series is *still* supported just not sold (until the next release I think).

“Most of the complaints with Vista came from those who suddenly found their legacy printers and other equipment no longer supported. Of course that was blamed on MS even though in the vast majority of cases it was the fault of the manufacturer of that piece of equipment.”

Spin Spin Spine... MS locked vendors out not to the same extent Apple does but it was MS’s piss poor planning of vista (they started to panic as the years went one) that lead to its reputation.

[Sudetenland]

Why is it "insane?" Memory is very cheap-as long as you are not buying it from Apple. Powerful CPU's are cheap-as long as you are not buying an Apple. Huge hard drives are cheap-as long as you don't buy yours from Apple.

Hmmmm...it seems we have a common thread here...powerful computers are cheap-if you don't buy them from Apple.

My computers have been over 2 gigabytes for over 7 years now.

[N3WBI3]

“Why is it “insane?””

Because the base memory requirements of Windows Vista are more than some enterprise servers. That is a symptom of piss poor development methodology... optimize code? why do that memory is cheap? I see it with developers day in and day out and its nothing but a headache because memory use seldom goes up in a linear fashion.

“powerful computers are cheap-if you don't buy them from Apple.”

Actually the thread is you need a powerful computer to run Vista but most apples get by fine on 1G memory for the OS and apps.

“My computers have been over 2 gigabytes for over 7 years now.”

Chances are you do more than check your mail and browse the web.. if not that kind of memory means you're the last person to complain about wasting money.

As to expensive apple memory?

Apple:
—
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=FF1F93F9A5CA7304

4 GB 55$

Dell
—
http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=73F155B2A5CA7304

2 GB 35$

==

Contrary to popular belief you can change your own memory under a MAC warranty so long as its a supported brand (see above). Same is true with hard drives, CPU's and any other hardware.

[al_c]

The phone in Rove’s hand doesn’t look like an iPhone to me.

I’m just sayin’ ....