Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shills Windows 7 on U.S. national TV in front of Apple Mac (with video)

Mac Daily News ^ | 10/24/2009

[Swordmaker]

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer appeared on NBC's Today Show on Thursday to shill his company's Vista service pack, er, "Windows 7" and spent the entire segment in front of an older model (note the latches above the screen) Apple MacBook Pro (courtesy of an NBC graphic designer — Mac user, no doubt — who must have a wicked sense of humor):


Direct link to video via Hulu here.



Of course, it's easy to run Windows 7 (or any other Windows version, Linux, etc.) and non-Mac applications on OS-unlimited Macs natively (via Apple's Boot Camp) and/or via fast virtualization (VMWare Fusion, Parallels Desktop for Mac) which is just another reason to Get a Mac. But, Ballmer T. Clown doesn't like that concept very much at all (a href="http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/9412/">Couldn’t you just buy a Mac and run Windows? Microsoft CEO Ballmer: ‘No, we prefer real PCs’) because he knows that when people get a Mac and really begin to use it, they never want to boot up Windows again if they can help it. Then they start to use iWork in place of Office and... suffice to say, it's bad for Microsoft's sales. Microsoft banks on ignorance; without it, they have nothing.

MacDailyNews Take: It must suck to work for Microsoft where important details routinely go left unchecked and, no matter where in the world you go, you're constantly surround by professionals who all use Apple Macs. Plus, every time you try to promote your inferior products, Apple's keep showing up in your TV appearances and even in your sloppy company's own ads that are, of course, also creating on Macs.

[steveo]

Care to elaborate on your experience with Macs that provides you with the knowledge to make such a determination?

Well I will. My daughter has a mac pro laptop we bought about a year ago. She 'wants' to use it for mixing music. Problem is her new software is not compatible with the newest OS... her choice is to downgrade to a previous version of the os or just "Learn to live with the panic notices" (quote today from on of their geniuses. Also had another swollen battery issue. Fourth time in a year-1/2 she's had to take it to the "genius bar" because something's wrong.

We have five other machines in the house... all Windows and one that is a six year old Dell. They all run 24/7 and we've never had an issue with any of them, never.

[Swordmaker]

This petty back and forth, playground crap from Apple is turning people off.

You don't see the irony? It's amusing... and there are other examples of this irony. For instance last spring Ballmer was making a presentation before a large group... and the computer that was driving the background big screen presentation was obviously a Mac.

I’ll never buy a Mac, and the primary reason is the elitist, hoiler-than-thou garbage that emanates from its stupid commercials and users with art or woman’s studies degrees still living with their parents.

And it never ceases to amaze me that Windows users cannot make a comment in a thread where Macs are discussed without devolving to ad hominem insults about Mac users. A recent survey found that 85% of Mac owners ALSO own a Windows PC (probably in the garage or closet) because they have switched. Conversely, 92% of Windows PC owners do NOT have a Mac.

Perhaps those Mac users know more than do you, with your uninformed negative opinions, about the relative merits of the two platforms because of a wider experience with both.

[WashStateGirl]

macs extremely suck. I personally don’t know anyone who owns one.

[gore_sux]

I thought you could get Windows for Macs? So what’s the problem?

[ChessExpert]

“A recent survey found that 85% of Mac owners ALSO own a Windows PC (probably in the garage or closet) because they have switched.”

That’s me, sort of. I switched to a Dell. My Mac is in the shop, for the third time this year.

[altair]

I’m beginning to think that these threads should be posted in the Religion forum.

Please, no. I was a frequent poster on alt.religion.emacs and there were too many people who did not get it. It was fun in that context - having people tell us we were going to hell if we did not accept Jesus Christ as our savior, but it's just not worth it here.

[Woebama]

Apple is doing well financially, beating earning estimates by big margins.

[tubebender]

If you know anyone in College you can get a deal on MS Word for mac. I think I paid $5.00 for mine...

[tubebender]

Whenever I see Ballmer I think of the CarFacts.com commercials...

[ChessExpert]

“There’s a new version of Sheepshaver out - will run classic.”

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried to run Sheepshaver earlier this year on my Dell running Vista, but without success. The experts at E-Maculation say they can do it, and I must not be following directions. I’ve tried several times. They just rolled out a new version of Sheepshaver this month. I don’t know if it will change anything for me.

Another emulation approach would be to emulate Mac Classic on the newer versions of OS X.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[djf]

I saw a vid where the dude was running around the stage, basically screaming his fool head off.

The only thing I kept thinking was this guy needs an Alfa Romeo, a 35 yo-ish blonde, and a case of Viagra!!

Jeesh! Whatta chump!!

[Swordmaker]

When Windows ran their "laptop" commercials it was brilliantly done and Apple had a fit about it.

That was back in July. Apple had no problem with Microsoft's ads because they were actually helping Mac sales. There was no fit. Apple's attorneys did send a letter to Microsoft when MS misrepresented the prices of the Mac seen in the commercial by $300. The proof that that is true is that Microsoft did indeed remove the offending misrepresentations. That was the sole change in the ads and that satisfied Apple's attorneys.

In addition, Microsoft's ads always compared the top of the line Macs against low end PCs. Why wouldn't they mention the $999 Macbook instead of the $1699 Macbook Bro which the add represented as a $1999 Macbook Pro? The lower priced Macbook was certainly more comparable to the PC that the buyers eventually walked out with.

[Trevieze]

I still use my Macintosh 5500. I have installed yellow dog on it. My wife needs a new remote computer this year and I'll probably get a Mac.

[McGruff]

Apple is doing well financially, beating earning estimates by big margins.

Monopolies are usually profitable. If you want to run Apples OS you have to buy a Mac. Same with ITunes. And probably IPhone.

[Moltke]

I don't care much either which way, but 'Mac Daily News' calling the MS CEO a 'shill' is just pathetic. What, they expect him to not promote his product? Beyond stupid.

[library user]

the online job sites only accept Word format. .txt files through any other platform that I’ve found other than Microsoft comes out messed up with random characters. Pay Microsoft 100’s of dollars for Word or Office if you want to apply for a job.

Your ignorance is breathtaking. You can download Open Office for free and save your word processing files as .doc(s) and they'll be totally compatible with Word.

BTW, a Word extension is not .txt, but .doc as mentioned above.

[library user]

Monopolies are usually profitable. If you want to run Apples OS you have to buy a Mac. Same with ITunes. And probably IPhone.

Foobar 2000 is the sh!t. Who needs iTunes when you have Foobar? I'm not positive, but Apple may install more unnecessary files on your PC than Symantec. And that's no easy feat.

[library user]

What, they expect him to not promote his product? Beyond stupid.

These Mac Daily News writers remind me of Obama's czars: just shut up and let us take over (we know what's best for you).

[Richard Kimball]

I don't understand the appeal of their ads featuring a clean cut white collar worker (PC) vs. a pothead vidiot slacker (Mac).

When Apple started the "Get a Mac" ads, part of their goal was to tweak MS. Jobs has always been angry that MS partnered with Apple to make Office, then used that info to create Windows.

The PC guy is a young Bill Gates, the Apple guy is a young Steve Jobs. Jobs did the commercials partially to annoy Gates. It worked very well.

[discostu]

I doubt they ever actually annoyed Gates. And any time he was tempted to be annoyed he just had to look at his bank balance.