Apple to Microsoft: Stop with the ads (Apple look like losers while MSFT laughs)

Seattle Slimes ^ | July 15, 2009 | Sharon Chan

[max americana]

Apple to Microsoft: Stop with the ads

Posted by Sharon Pian Chan Seattle Times

Microsoft said it received a call from Apple saying Microsoft needs to stop running the laptop-hunter TV ads that harp on Apple for expensive computers. Why? Because Apple has lowered its prices.

That's according to Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner, who said he took a call from an Apple attorney. two weeks ago. He initially thought it was a practical joke, then said he found out Apple had cut prices on its computers.

"It was the greatest single phone call that I’ve ever taken in the history of business," Turner said in a presentation at the Microsoft Worldwide Partners Conference in New Orleans. "I did cartwheels down the hallway."

I have a call in to Apple.

The television ads feature people shopping for a laptop and comparing prices on PCs and Macs. According to Microsoft, PCs have gained market share since the ads began running.

The ads were a response to Apple's relentless "I'm a Mac" ads teasing Microsoft mostly aboutproblems with Windows Vista. Click here to read about the Microsoft laptop hunter ads and check out the ad below:

[Swordmaker]

The sole reason for loss of MAC sales is a cessation of grants to artists who wouldn’t but a computer otherwise.

My hats off to you, sir! Original humor on a Mac thread instead of tired old reruns. Thanks!

[Woodman]

That's funny, I have five different PC’s and none of them have ever asked me to prove I own Windows after I set them up initially.

[Pharmboy]

...and don’t forget that obnoxious 1984 ad with Big Brother.

[Woodman]

Hello Swordmaker, glad your back. Your right, I am sick and tired of hearing the same old, same old on all of these threads. I think what you use to compute on is a personal choice. I have used both systems for years, and I have a preference for Windows, I'll admit that. That doesn’t make me inferior, or stupid anymore than using a MAC makes someone snobby or superior.

In that vein, I will answer your two other posts to me.

First, with a windows laptop, you have more choices of manufactures, quality and pricing, for hardware upgrades and accessories. Second those choices enabled me to buy a good quality laptop with a fast processor, good video card, plenty of RAM and two hard drives running RAID. I may be wrong, but I don't think you could have done that in a MAC Book for under $1,000 like I did with the Dell Outlet.

Second, VM and Emulation are technically not the same, you are correct, but VM’s share resources with the host. I can also run multiple OS's in VM’s on my PC, as well as Dual Booting Linux and Windows.

FWIW I make a living off of computers, mainly PC's and am what most people would consider a power user. I love Apple H/W, but am not too fond of the software, but that's just me. Recently I needed some new hardware for my Home. I bought a midrange Tower and a Toshiba 15” Satellite for less than $700. With those additions, everyone but the dog has their own computers with network printing, scanning, and faxing. We also have mobility where needed, power where needed, media sharing and streaming etc. I am doing just fine without MAC’s but I do have several iTouch’s, a wii, and an xBox 360 on the network as well.

[antiRepublicrat]

none of them have ever asked me to prove I own Windows after I set them up initially

Then you haven't been doing your updates.

[antiRepublicrat]

First, with a windows laptop, you have more choices of manufactures, quality and pricing, for hardware upgrades and accessories.

And one of those choices is ... a Mac!

BTW, what's this MAC you refer to? Media Access Control? Mandatory Access Control? Message Authentication Code?

I can also run multiple OS's in VM’s on my PC, as well as Dual Booting Linux and Windows.

My Mac is currently set up to run Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista/7, Windows Server 2003/2008 and Ubuntu Linux in VMs. The three 2008 instances and the Windows 7 instance are set up on their own private network (the headless 2008 instance is the DC), while the rest just share the Mac's network connection. It also dual-boots to Windows XP, but I haven't used that for so long I'm thinking of wiping it (reclaiming the space for my main Mac partition will be easy, and does not require extra tools or reformatting).

[Swordmaker]

...and don’t forget that obnoxious 1984 ad with Big Brother.

Tell me, how can something that was aired exactly twice (and one of those was in a small one station market in Northern Wisconsin to meet the requirement for being included in the Clio awards) be considered obnoxious?

[RobRoy]

Let me be real clear here. I am a big fan of Apple. I also do not like Microsoft.

However, I CAN be pragmatic about this. My best friend uses ALL apple, partly because he is a graphic designer. He was mentioning that if you took a roughly $1,000 apple and compared it to a $500 PC, to upgrade the PC to match the Apple would actually cost MORE. I said that’s swell, but for my purposes, why would I upgrade.

IOW, BMW performs better than a Chevy, but if both are equally reliable (actually, the BMW is less reliable, but that is outside the scope of the analogy), and the Chevy gets me what I want, and parts and repair are MUCH cheaper, I’ll go with the chevy.

Computers became a “commodity” for me about six years ago. They are like toasters. If it works and meets my needs, and reliability is equal, it is all about price.

My wife LOVES her $420 “toaster”.

[Swordmaker]

However, I CAN be pragmatic about this. My best friend uses ALL apple, partly because he is a graphic designer. He was mentioning that if you took a roughly $1,000 apple and compared it to a $500 PC, to upgrade the PC to match the Apple would actually cost MORE. I said that’s swell, but for my purposes, why would I upgrade.

Some of us have decided against the "commodity" model for computers because we have elected to no longer put up with the compromises and irritations that we, year in and year out, have had to endure using Windows and other Microsoft products.

Windows computers ARE a commodity... because it make very little difference if your computer is built by Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, Dell, Compaq, Toshiba, eMachines, Acer, or any of a myriad of other name brand assemblers and even more box builders because in the end the OS you wind up with is the same... with the same compromises and irritations regardless of the hardware assembler/maker because the OS is flawed.

By electing to step out of the commodity mindset by buying an Apple computer system, we have chosen to leave those compromises and irritations behind. That alone is worth the extra price of admission.

My wife LOVES her $420 “toaster”.

Good for her.

However, I am not in love with my Mac computer. If I were, I would have had extreme emotional angst when I retired my venerable G5 PowerMac several months ago in favor of a shiny new Intel 24" iMac. Nor was I devastated when someone stole my workhorse 1999 G3 Lombard PowerBook after bashing in the lock on my car's trunk two years ago.

What I am, and all the other Mac users that PC users like to characterize as deluded cultists are, are people who enjoy the computing experience provided by the Apple OSX Mac system of hardware and software working in synergy to accomplish what WE want to get done without the compromises and irritations we learned to actively dislike when we used Microsoft's Windows OS. Once we experienced the cooperative interaction that the Apple Mac system provides, we found that computing—which had become just another chore and computers just "a tool", a commodity—was fun and exciting again, the Mac computer a joy to use, and certainly not a commodity interchangeable with all those Windows PCs.

There is a reason that Windows to Mac switchers spontaneously say "Once you switch to a Mac, you'll never go back." That is not an ad agency created mantra... It came from the switchers themselves.

If I must work with a tool, I want it to be the best tool I can afford, and one that I enjoy using... not one that makes me happy when I turn it off.

[Tribune7]

IOW, BMW performs better than a Chevy, but if both are equally reliable (actually, the BMW is less reliable, but that is outside the scope of the analogy), and the Chevy gets me what I want, and parts and repair are MUCH cheaper, I’ll go with the chevy.

That's a very reasonable way of looking at it. If you want something that is even cheaper than a PC -- and more reliable -- go with Ubuntu.

[Wooly]

If Microsoft had any sense they would redo the 1984 advertisement, but this time the worshiping audience would be full of Applebores and the person on the screen would be Steve Jobs.

[RinaseaofDs]

I’ve owned both, I own both.

I make compromises no matter which I own.

Difference between Apple and Windows - at least I’ve got some choices. Every time I turn around with Apple, I’m shelling out a couple hundred dollars.

[Crusher138]

I made up my list of “needs” before I shopped. I included software and 3 year protection. To compare apples to apples (ah-hem) I added a video camera to the Dell. I matched them spec for spec, software for software. and there was $100 in difference.

This was for the computer I need. BTW, I really like being able to work under XP and OS X at the same time and the only way to do that is with a Mac.

[MarineBrat]

Everyone here has reasons for sounding like they’ve made the better decision. It’s good that we have a choice. Here’s mine. The business that I’m in is database programming and large database front ends. I do not know of a single client of mine with a single MAC computer, and I’ve been doing this for twenty years. Whatever reason anyone else has for using one computer or another, that’s mine. No religion or big brother involved. I use computers to make money and that’s where the money is at.

[Crusher138]

The battery is estimated to last 5 years. I am sure that in five years I will be looking to replace more than the battery.

IF the battery dies before then, I take it to my local Apple Store and the friendly staff will swap it out for me, or send it off.

Most of my laptop computing is done while plugged it. Only when I am traveling (3 or 4 times a year) do I really depend on the battery, so it isn’t much of an issue for me.

[cabojoe]

Thank you for the rare trip through the reality distortion field inside an Apple user’s head. Your synergy zen ying/yang paragraph is a hoot, a real keeper.

[cabojoe]

I think it’s great that you have to run XP on your Mac...funny as hell.

[Crusher138]

I have been working with computers since 1984. I started with Radio Shack Color Computers in Dec 1984, became a Computer Marketing Manager at the advent of the IBM PC and the Radio Shack competitor, the Tandy 2000. I learned TRS-DOS, MS-DOS, and Unix. Apple was the competition we hated. They were overpriced toys that faggy graphic designers liked to play with (I apologize for my early 80’s lack of sensitivity).

I learned to program and wrote the software that ran a good sized imprinted sportswear company. I set up the first scheduling sharing system for a congressman's Washington district office. I forced an art department to abandon their Macs running Illustrator for PC’s using Corel Draw because the order tracking software I wrote didn't run on Macs.

Currently, between my home and business, I own six functioning computers: a Mac Pro, two IMacs, a Toshiba Laptop, a Dell Laptop, and a XP Pro custom assembled computer.

I can tell you, without reservation, that the Macs are far superior tools. They may have cost more, but I am much more productive on them. For instance...

My t-shirt printer requires software that will only run on a PC. This PC is used almost exclusively for graphic design and garment printing. Almost no web browsing. No email. I have anti-virus software on it just in case. This computer will start malfunctioning if it isn't rebooted once a day. Print jobs will “mis-spool”. Applications (Corel Draw) will crash. Periodically it just decides that it can't save to the network drive it was saving to an hour ago. Dealing with these problems wastes my time. I have no such problems with my Macs. Print jobs always print. Applications rarely crash (I think I crashed Illustrator once). Network resources (PC or Mac based) are easy to access and always available.

Yeah, they cost more. Better things usually do.

[McGruff]

Sounds like we need to add computers to the Fairness Doctrine. [/sarc]

[cabojoe]

Use whatever OS that floats your boat. You should try Win 7, it’s kick a$$.