I sat down to write a post that highlights the really innovative new Apple ad running over two ad units on the New York Times (see video below). The ad unit came out today, the same day as Microsoft released their new set of “I’m a PC” commercials, and shows once again that Apple is always one innovative step ahead of just about everyone else. A video of the ad is below.
Except…the ads aren’t quite as funny any more. And the post that I was going to write, about how much better Apple is at messaging than Microsoft (which is true), just kept writing itself differently. And so I scratched the original post and here I am (a topic for another time is how I never quite know what I’m going to write until I’ve written it).
Those Microsoft commercials aren’t particularly engaging, and they don’t make me want to go out and buy a copy of Vista. But what they do is show lots of fascinating people saying that they use PCs. They highlight the fact that many people may be somewhat offended by the idea that they can’t be interesting or cool if they don’t use a Mac.
Suddenly, Apple looks a little elitist. I mean, they were elitist before, but in a way that made you want to be a part of the club. Now, they just seem a little snobby.
If that’s what Microsoft and their pushing clients to the edge advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky were aiming for, it’s brilliant.
With Microsoft’s still dominant market share, all they have to do is fight Apple to a draw and they still win. And if Apple can’t continue to beat Microsoft over the head with their Mac v. PC ads, they’ll have to think up a new way to get people’s attention.
I still think the Seinfeld commercials were a flop, but I give them credit for this new set of commercials. We’ll see if Apple continues to run their ads, and how people respond to them. But Microsoft may have just made a really smart move.
That New York Times Apple ad is really cool though. I give them that.
It’s revealing that the new windows ads don’t actually *use* the w-word that much. They talk about PCs – but PCs don’t have to run windows. In fact, they often work best when they don’t.
mac ad looks really very cool….now microsoft needs to work very hard
why? what’s cool about it? oh, you mean the kool-aid you drank because mike said it was cool?
and why does microsoft need to work very hard? has apple’s share of the home computing market sky-rocketed past 25% yet? if msft had anything to worry about they’d be coming right out and saying, “buy windows”. but the fact that they haven’t shows to me that they are not concerned by the small increase in sales apple has enjoyed over the past few years.
the fact is Microsoft wants to stop the stereotyping that Mac ads are doing. Even if all the Macs on earth are converted to PCs it wouldn’t be a significant change in Microsoft’s bottom line..
Oh so if you say Mike says it, it makes it not cool?
C’mon it has nothing to do with “kool-aid”. They’re doing a great job at implementing their ad in an creative and engaging way. That’s how. Just because you’re mad at apple fans doesn’t mean it’s not a neat ad.
Even though I was going to point out they’ve done this sorta NYTimes thing before.
Just show windows running on a MBP.
“PCs don’t have to run windows. In fact, they often work best when they don’t”
Well, it may appear that way, because a PC which is not running Windows is most likely to be one which you are not sitting at. But that’s not a PC. That’s just a C.
People who like the new Microsoft ad applaud it for responding to Apple’s TV ads.
The point is that they’re not responding to Apple’s ads (which makes Microsoft look all the worse… a tacit admission of Vista’s faults).
Apple’s ads use two characters to present the pros of using Mac OS X versus the cons of using Vista. The Apple ads talk about “Vista” specifically, and the problems with that operating system.
Microsoft’s ads avoid dealing with the negative Vista issues delivered in Apple’s ads, and instead show a bunch of people who use PCs. Microsoft cannot respond to the allegations presented in Apple’s ads, so they try to divert people from these facts by displaying a group of people who use PCs running Vista as if to say “These people use Vista, so you should too… despite all of the problems with it that are public knowledge.”.
Also, we have to assume that the people in the Microsoft ad who say “I’m a PC” are actually using Vista, because the word “Vista” is never mentioned. But “PC” is a generic term that stands for “personal computer”, which basically covers all desktop and notebook computers. For all we know these people may be using Windows XP, or Linux, or even Mac OS X
I for one never liked those pc-vs-mac ads, the ones with Bill are much better! Really, I am not joking, your tastes might be different.
No, I think you’re pretty much correct. Even when I did laugh at them I never really saw them as being effective at putting forth a positive message about Macs, because of the characterization.
It’s universally agreed upon that Justin Long’s “Mac” was pretty unlikable: a know-it-all slacker, who thinks that he’s better than you, but does feel a little sad for you because you’re so hopelessly uncool. Even life-long Mac users would agree that they liked “PC” better.
Mike’s got it right: like “Mac”, the Mac vs. PC ads are snobby. The Microsoft ads, and we’ll have to see how the rest of the campaign goes, are pushing the idea that Microsoft is the every-man. That’s a pretty good message, and I think that more people will identify with the Microsoft ad than than with “Mac”.
Eventually, Microsoft is going to have to figure out how to use their commercials to actually sell products. In the meantime, if they can just slow the rate of Mac adoption by making people like Microsoft, that’s pretty good too.
“Universally agreed upon” by whom? Argument from ‘All men agree’ is rhetorical fallacy. For a better understanding of how the ‘Get a Mac’ ads function and why they are successful:
http://fishbowl..._mac_beep_beep/
But you do seem to be in the weak-minded demographic that Microsoft is targeting. Those willing to accept that the anthropomorphism of an inanimate object is in fact an attack on the sensitive self-esteem of bespectacled PC users.
I find it funny, that as both a Mac and PC user, I see this all the time. The full-time Mac users adopt Macintosh to complete elitism. Even when Mac suffers some horrible afflictions itself.
Make a real-time rendered hardshadowed day and night cycle without Direct X, please. Now if there were a way to say that to every male without sounding like Windows is made for nerds is the trick. I use Macintosh when I just want to boot up and check my social networks etcetra.
Crazy!
I think i saw these earlier on About.com Hardware section from over a months time with one horizontal and one vertical ad linked.
I discussed about it on Haarg
I agree: Mac ads used to be funny but it’s beating a dead horse at this point. Also, yesterday I was really annoyed at the Mac ad on the NYT site– you have to scroll far down to get content. They might as well redirect you to the Apple home page. Enough with the smugness already!
the UK mac vs pc ads were a lot funnier than their US counterparts, mainly down to the choice of using comedians instead, but yeah, the first set of ads were the only ones that were funny…the rest all kinda sucked.
“That New York Times Apple ad is really cool though. I give them that.” – Thank you Master Arrington…Seriously, who gives a fuck?? Macs are just better.
Windows is so much better than any Crapintosh and OSuX. Why? Because you’re not locked into one hardware vendor, one mouse button laptops or one way of doing things.
Choice and flexibility are king and you get a lot more choice in _everything_ when you use Windows. Games, Apps, Hardware.
So blow me.
“Windows is so much better than any Crapintosh and OSuX” — not.
http://en.wikip...nemeier_Hansson
Woah, you got a picture of one guy using a CrapBook and your point is….?
Oh, BTW Ruby on “Rails” kinda sucks just a little bit and it’s slow too.
“Choice and Flexibility” that has got to be the miss-statement of the century!! I have operated a business for 12 years and tried to go down the windows pathway but had nothing but frustration and downtime.
The reason we now have a mac only environment is because we don’t need an IT department, don’t have downtime issues and it simply works (out of the box) which leaves us to do the most important thing, service our clients.
Our decision to choose Mac over PC as our technology of choice has to do with the fact that at the end of the day the mac system earns us more money and does not give us headaches. Thats the choice and flexibility I need.
Very cool ad, although it didn’t came out today. I’ve seen it again, i think a week ago
The Mac ads were on NYT.com and About.com at least a week ago.
I also saw these last week on NYTimes and CNN.
…Read the national news much these days, Michael??
the mac ads are still funny – and they have the balls to actually discuss their own operating system. I haven’t heard a mention of Vista yet in Microsoft’s ads!
I think you’re missing the point of these ads. They want to get the idea into people’s consciousness that using a PC does not make you an uninteresting nerd like the Mac ads would have you believe.
The Mojave Project ads actually do talk about Vista. Look it up.
See I think windows users were looking to be offended. I never thought of Justin Long or Bill representing the computer users but the computers. Bill was meant to be a “PC” and Justin a “Mac”. Totally different perspective than “OMG, they are making fun of me!!”
Sydney has it right: the Microsoft ad’s arc is
1. establish that personal identity is the issue “I’ve been made into a stereotype”
2. establish the wound to the ego “I am not what most people would call hip”
3. establish specific, though spurious slurs, such as “I wear glasses” which if we accept that our identity is at stake and that Apple is holding us up to ridicule for our eyewear, creates insecurity and resentment, the tools of every half-assed manipulator.
4. offer irrelevant palliatives associated with Microsoft, “look how many championship rings I have”, “look how big the wedding ring on my finger is” desirable but unrelated to using a PC but which flatter the PC user by association
5. present Microsoft as the champion and protector of the newly inflamed resentments of its core base of low priced disposable computer buyers. Who, without a pre-existing sense of low self worth, could not be exploited in this way.
At 90% market share for MSFT, it’s such a monumental surprise that a lot of different people are using it?!? You really need ads to remind people of this?
It seems extremely unlikely that MSFT can move itself from the Powerbroker archetype that they have lodged in people’s imaginations for 2 decades, in part by bullying all and sundry in one way or another (and I say this as a long-time user of MSFT’s products). “MSFT as victim” seems hardly the right note to strike.
To borrow from the ‘08 campaign trial, “that’s not a an archetype we can believe in”.
Get more a more detailed discussion of the archetype branding involved here:
http://business...nding-on-a-dime
Funny, I mostly hear the Mac ads talking about Vista…
Well, the new ads aren’t really vista ads. I believe they’re about all of Windows (Vista – yes, but also Windows Live, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, Windows automotive, etc.). The Vista specific ads are the Mojave campaign.
I’d like to see Microsoft go back to its FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) campaign. In the early days of Mac v. Windoze, Gates pushed the idea that Macs, “Weren’t compatible”.
Now that Macs run MacOS, UNIX and (if you really have to have it) Windoze, why would anyone buy a PC? It’s Windoze that isn’t compatible – even with legacy Windoze software.
Apple has always had great ads… all the way back to the ‘1984′ ad. Microsoft has always been about intimidation, manipulation, deception and “business”. Its attempts to be “user-friendly” have all the subtlety of a politician kissing babies: You know they don’t really mean it. The difference between Apple and Windoze is the difference between Rolex and Rolux. The latter may be just an empty case.
I’ve contracted in the computer field for 30+ years. When an employer gives me a Windoze machine to use, I use it because it’s his dime and if he wants me to waste time fighting Windoze, it’s his problem, not mine.
But no one is paying me to solve computer problems at home, so I pick the system that gives me the greatest capabilities and the least trouble: Macintosh.
I’ve had friends switch to Macs. I’ve never known one to switch back. The latest is a friend who had just bought a Vista system. Within a week of getting the Mac (a mini!) he was looking for someone to take the Windoze machine off his hands. Quite a switch for someone who had been using Windoze for more than 15 years and had never even touched a Mac!
Once you go Mac, you’ll never go back!
You know, calling Windows “Windoze” doesn’t really reflect well on your arguments or your credibility. In fact, it makes me nod my head and think “This dork is a recipe against joining the Mac cult”.
Unfortunately I understand the frustration of former windows users and the need to call it Windoze. If you have ever done any amount of tech support for non-tech people “Windoze” is pretty much an apt term.
I myself have switched to using a mac laptop and, although there are things I enjoy on windows, I would really have a hard time going back. Mainly I don’t want to deal with the headaches of firewalls, popup blockers, anti-virus, and slow start-up screens. My productivity is simply better on a mac because I dont have to fight with the OS.
It is a quasi-cult, and there are mac hippies out there trying to convert the non-believers. However, for me I simply enjoy not having to deal with the headaches.
You know, I got my son (who is 6) a mac mini about a year ago. Since then, he has mostly used his mac, and sometimes has used his mother’s PC.
A couple weeks ago, he said that he wanted “a real computer” like mommy had. I asked him again today – would he like a mac or a pc? His answer – a PC (as long as he could have firefox).
I think that says a LOT. He is about the most unbiased user I think you could ever hope to find – and he HAS been using a mac, daily, for a year.
@Robin Wauters: You know, calling someone a “dork” doesn’t help your credibility in questioning someone’s credibility either.
@Tony: You know, to a 6 yr old, a mac mini does seem more like a gaming system than a full-sized computer. “…a mac or a pc? His answer – a PC (as long as he could have firefox).”, as if FireFox was a Windows-only thing. You’re right. That DOES say a lot.
Do you really think your six year old is endorsing an operating system or a platform, or just expressing a completely normal desire to use the same tools as the adults he sees as being the normative standard to which he should aspire, his parents.
Of course he wants Windows. OSuX is about the worst operating system one could hope to never use. It’s a child’s toy and he’s outgrown it.
Kids are unbiased all right. When my daughter was about 6 an adult friend of my wife asked her if she wanted to be a artist like her dad when she grew up (I was a graphic designer then).
Her answer: “No I want to be a real artist!”
If a kid’s only experience with Macs was a mac mini it doesn’t seem odd that he’d think Mom’s PC was a ‘real’ computer. The real test would be if he had been working with a MacPro for a year.
Why would anyone buy a mac, what can it do that a windows machine that costs half as much can’t do?
Honestly, I find all the form over function people to be simply wasting money. The whole point of the mac ads it to try and portray macs as cool and better, but the reality is they are more expensive and often lack the features of windows based PC’s.
I had a Mac. I went back, after spending way to much time searching for Mac software that just wasn’t there. I guess if all you’re into is Firefox, Photoshop and iTunes it’s fine. Me I need more, and i know how to rtfm so a PC works fine 4 me.
“…spending way to much time searching for Mac software that just wasn’t there.”
Examples?
Well it maybe true that you never go back, but sometimes you move on to something else. I started on windows back in 1997, within a year moved to Macintosh and then in 2007 switched to linux. I am through with Apple. Basically done with proprietary operating systems all together.
‘Hey Apple, please stop making fun of Us, please’…another pathetic move by MSFT!
*Apple will never respond/comment to this ad campaign!!!
Michael, I agree with you on this one. Apple has been doing a pretty good job of putting Windows users in the dork box for the past few years. The “I am a PC” video spots coupled with the “Windows vs Walls” ads that started running recently is making a good attempt to put Apple into an elitist walled garden position. It will be interesting to see the response.
Apple will come out with a new ad. {seesmic_video:{”url_thumbnail”:{”value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/M0MjrwZUN2_th1.jpg”}”title”:{”value”:”Apple will come out with a new ad. ”}”videoUri”:{”value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/0b8i8OmkOo”}}}
Wait until they show macbook pros running Windows and Office. They don’t care about HW, just SW licenses.
Oh come on…
Responding to those commercials will be easy…!
Sure, Microsoft is trying to change the narrative of the discussion by saying, ‘hey PCs are cool..’
…But that’s not really the point of the Mac commercials. Every single Mac commercial is either about how easy Macs are to use…or how awful PCs are or broken Vista is…
All Apple has to do is continue poking fun of Vista’s flaws… Microsoft doesn’t have an answer to that.
Why? Because Microsoft can’t make a fuss about misrepresenting Vista’s flaws since then they would be acknowledging that there is a problem with Vista. Microsoft is too proud, and the Mojave experiment was kind of a dud.
those ads are not new, watching them since last four or five weeks on different websites.
I was thoroughly bored by the new MS ads. Their whole conceit:
Cue regular person saying, “*I* am
…is played out beyond belief.
We already know that something like 90% of computer users everywhere are running Windows — so what exactly are the odds that you couldn’t find 20 or 30 (or 130 or 1300) nice-looking individuals to feature in a TV ad? Answer: Zero.
So we’re reminded that most of the world goes with a default choice. Wow — that’s compelling stuff. I suspect that Apple’s agency is already formulating a response that has some actual wit associated with it.
Really? You think that the Mac ads are witty? I think of them more like…hmm, well a complete pack of lies and utter bullshit.
Besides that, Microsoft doesn’t need witty ads to sell their stuff. No sane business owner wants to be locked into one hardware vendor. Apple will never break into the enterprise market, even if every home user on earth used an Apple computer (something that will _never_ happen because most people don’t really like OSuX and they also don’t want to be locked in).
Hmm… I should have read your other posts (like the one above) before wasting my time on starting a discussion with you.
Really? Why? Be more constructive with your feedback please.
Forget it. I just though you were typing childish non-openminded comments.
Not more constructive than my post.
I’ll join you and start typing “Winblows” instead, something I’ve seen many times more then your “OSuX” (first time I saw that actually).
I still don’t get this talk about being “locked in” to one hardware vedor (Apple). How am I’m less locked in if I by hardware from Dell or HP?
Apple *are* “breaking” into the enterprise market (we have quite a few at work and just bought 8 new), it’s happening right now and yes, people like OS X if they open their minds and don’t think a computer OS have to behave exactly like Windows. Again, the one’s who has switched and are happy by far outnumbers the ones who tried and didn’t like it.
Oops- I used “greater than”/”less than” characters, which this CMS didn’t like. Here’s what my post should have looked like:
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I was thoroughly bored by the new MS ads. Their whole conceit:
Cue regular person saying, “*I* am (insert faceless international corp. here)
…is played out beyond belief.
We already know that something like 90% of computer users everywhere are running Windows — so what exactly are the odds that you couldn’t find 20 or 30 (or 130 or 1300) nice-looking individuals to feature in a TV ad? Answer: Zero.
So we’re reminded that most of the world goes with a default choice. Wow — that’s compelling stuff. I suspect that Apple’s agency is already formulating a response that has some actual wit associated with it.
PS- I liked the Seinfeld commercials.
I’m a PC/Windows guy, but I had always LOVED the Mac ads. Partly because they were so spot-on. But you’re right – lately they have been more disappointing than funny.
spot on?
they just flamed windows on faults that didnt exist and made macs out to be perfect – if anything those ads further alienated me from wanting to ever own a Mac.
The current ads in circulation revolve around PC trying to convince itself that it’s king, that everyone uses it so it can ignore Apple, trying to lure students away from Macs with something they like, and being completed paranoid and afraid of Apple’s recent success.
Sound familiar?
So which of the windows ‘faults’ didn’t exist and the apple adds are simply ‘exaggerating’?
Would it be:
a – windows machines are sick all the time with viruses and spyware
b – pc’s use a dorky eyeball logitech camera to video chat
c – pc’s come loaded with virtually no ‘family friendly’ software like iphoto or imove and instead only come with word and excel spreedsheet
d – pc’s are a pain to setup, with driver installs, OS patches, wirless config programs, and macs are ready out of the box.
e – pc’s have serious security problems
f -pc’s come bloated with time-locked trial software you have to delete
etc..
The ad making fun of the Vista security popup was my favorite because it was so absolutely true.
From a – f all your points are generic rubbish that don’t hold any weight what so ever.
No-one is saying a PC is 100% perfect (unlike Mac claim) but any platform that has over 80% market share and is the core architecture in every large organisation on the world just doesn’t have the problems you outline.
Its not perfect, but the faults are no where near as extreme as Mac would like to make you think.
One example: An 80 year old uncle wanted an upgrade on his 10 year old PC – he upgraded to Vista and has had zero problems after i set him up and talked him through a few things like photos and email. He isn’t technical at all, but he understands Vista for what he wants to use it for, totally undermining point c in your arguement.
Asshat, umm I mean ascot… you’re wrong.
See, Windows users get this little thing called “choice”. We get to choose where we want to buy our PC from. Heck, we can build one ourselves. If you buy a shitty Compaq or HP that has a bunch of crapware on it, that’s your own fault.
Do you really think Macs are not vulnerable? Really?? Bzzzt. Try again. The Mac was the first to fall in the recent hacking contest where the hacker sent the Mac user to a particular webpage and rooted his machine in seconds.
No, because it’s not only Apple’s lower market share that is the reason for this. In Mac OS X you have to enter the administrator password when doing things close to the system *even if you are logged in as an administrator*. Windows is simply less secure in this way.
A new compuer every year? I don’t know what stuff you do with your computer if you need to upgrade it every year. A new processor every year? A new motherboard?
Yeah, you can upgrade the Mac Pro, and the Mac laptops are just the same as laptops from other manufacturers.
Hi I am a Mac.
I am much better than a PC and here is why:
1. I don’t get viruses because I have less than 15% market share and no one cares about infecting the bottom of the pack.
2. Who needs a PC when you can run Windows on boot camp? After 25 years of trying to get programmers to write software for everyday users we gave up. We will just use Windows.
3. The Mac OS is perfect**
** this statement does not include the 400 security fixes for the Mac OS or security breaches to I-Tunes and critical flaws in quick time over the past year. After all, the quick time issue happened on Windows machines.
4. I never have to pay for an upgrade!! Since the Mac is a closed system I can not upgrade any of my parts. Instead I get a new computer every year!!!! On top of that I get to pay a premium just to say “I am a Mac”. Life is good!! My son did not need a college fund anyways…
5 We have Steve Jobs. He is the omnipotent being which has brought peace and justice to empire which is Apple. I would give up my first born just to touch him!!!
6 Twenty five years ago we stole most of the ideas for the modern computer from Xerox… The best part is that a few years later we convinced the world that Bill stole these ideas from us… you guys are soooo gullible.
Its good to be a Mac…good day all…. I am off to the pasture to graze with the rest of the sheep.
“6 Twenty five years ago we stole most of the ideas for the modern computer from Xerox… The best part is that a few years later we convinced the world that Bill stole these ideas from us… you guys are soooo gullible.”
At least Apple launched a working version of a GUI to the public and it was still a lot different than that “concept” Xerox had.
Haha, a Martin don’t you have anything to say about points 1 – 4?
Here we go. Apple has lost its cuteness and is on its best way to get a monster-appeal. In five to six years we may be able to buy a book about the raise and fall of a brand called apple. again
microsoft is singing hip hop, dangerououossssssss
because most of the people is “still alive” and that “identity” is “eminem”
Not so fast.
Michael, I really like your views on many things, but you’re way off here. I am part of an extremely large tech support organization and while I have used (and mainly provide support to Windows computers), the fact is – Windows has become such a total failed mess for consumers, it borders on fraudulent. I make my entire living off of Microsoft products. I’m no fanboy, but I must admit Mac OSX has become so stable, and Vista and even XP such a bloated mountain of code, I see all the “other” people who are not in the commercials. They are not happy. They are constantly frustrated by errors, slowdowns, spyware, etc.
The future is, of course, cloud computing. Instant on, boot to browser, and cloud storage will all make these ads just a distant memory. It has to: people are just getting ripped off. I will benefit financially if these Microsoft ads work, but I really hope they don’t. People deserve a much better computer experience.
Oh please – so you would rather have your ‘extremely large tech support organization ‘ completly networked on Macs rather MS PCs then yeah? You think the issues have no are big, try doing it on a Mac and then you’ll know what issues are.
Saying you’d rather neither Apple or MS doesnt really work either – the issues will never go away whether it be browser support or drivers support. Whether that browser is powered by MS, Apple or Google, the same cross platform problems will always be there.
Actually networking macs is relatively easy. Windows fileshares are a serious pain. I work in an environment where the Samba mounts are continuously buggy and and while all the windows users are complaining that their mounts are down I’m SSH mounted without any problems. Ditto for print shares. Mac print services are far easier to configure than windows printer shares (that usually have to be discovered from the windows cmd line for god’s sake). Aside from the fact that Bonjour is simply amazing for network devices, theres also apple talk, bluetooth, HP Jetdirect, LPD, IP printing, window printshare discovery, etc, etc, that all come on the mac.
@ascot If you can’t get fileshares to work on a Windows platform, you should consider a change of career, like really.
@asshat – lol, if you can’t configure Windows filesharing then you deserve to use OSuX. Have fun playing with your shiny toy.
i use windows vista in an acer aspire laptop and have no problems with it.. works fine for me.. my co-workers has a macbook and it does crash sometimes, it’s a lot slower even with same amount of ram and equivalent processor… my boss has a macbook pro and had to change his HD twice in less than a year.
At my work it’s quite the opposite. All the Windows Vista machines run slower than the Macs. If a Mac is crashing (Kernel Panic) it’s almost always some kind of hardware problem (usually bad RAM). And to think that internal hard drive failures has anything to do with the platform (Mac OS X and Apple in this case) is just a sign of ignorance.
Uh I can’t hear those anti-elitist rednecks anymore that complain about oh-so-elitist intellectuals. Be it in politics or in IT. What are we aiming for? The bottom, becoming as dumb as possible? Guess what was at the beginning of the Na*i-Reich: A suffering economy and anti-intellectual tendencies. Exactly like today, with Wallstreet, Bush, McCain/Palin & co. Do we want history to repeat?
Meh. I still like dem Apple ads.
I also liked MS’ Seinfeld-Gates ads and think that the new “I’m A PC” ads are totally sterile and boring.
Your opinion != the consensual truth.
(although everybody is entitled to their own opinion of course).
When I watch the new “I’m A PC” ads, I don’t think, “hmm, a lot of cool people actually use PCs; Windows ain’t so bad after all”. I do think, “Yup. A lot of uninformed people use Windows; they’ll probably switch to Macs in the next couple years”. MS needs to convey WHY people are using “PCs” and WHY they should continue to.
Honestly, it as if they released a commercial with a whole bunch of people saying, “I use Internet Explorer”. I already know that most people use IE… it’s because they’re (usually) too dumb to know that there are better (for most users) alternatives.
I am a well informed person, and I still choose to use PCs.
Apple’s ads do not move me one way or another — they are entertaining, and that is just about it.
In my experience, Apple has bad service for all the “cool” things they offer.
Dell offers exceptional service, at least, in my experience. My small company has been buying from Dell for over five years and with the exception of one case, we have always been pleased with the support and service Dell provides.
As for MS Vista — Yes, it is a shame for a company with such resources to deliver such a low performing system. It is even more shame they offer Vista “for free” (included in price) and make people make $149 to downgrade to XP.
It appears Vista was a necessary evil for MS to continue to charge for XP.
Facts:
Dell 75% customer satisfaction rating
Apple 85% customer satisfaction rating
Personal experience is fine, and Microsoft is advertising like a late night miracle colon cleanse with the testimonials. But products that can be sold in the light of day focus on features and benefits that can be established by more than anecdote.
Facts:
Dell will come to your house or business and replace your laptop LCD.
Apple won’t. Ever. Instead, they’ll ship your computer out for 3 weeks.
Oh and (one more thing) 99% of statistics and polls are complete bullshit.
Dell only sends a stranger to your house if you are under warranty or an expensive service contract. You pay $540 extra for the LCD protection plan, and you may still have to send it back to Dell
.
In addition to thousands of dealers nationwide who will come to your house if you want, Apple has hundreds of Apple retail stores where you can take classes, get questions answered face to face, as well as receive needed maintenance.
How oft we sigh when statistics are used to prove statistics lie…
You’re wrong. Go to Dell.com right now and start placing an order for any laptop in the “home” section. Without paying _anything_ extra, you get 1 year of in-home service.
And how much does Apple charge for that kind of service?
And please tell me how Apple’s “thousands of dealers nationwide who will come to your house” are not strangers. Mmmhmm.
Fact:
Every single person I have recommended a switch to the Mac (8 until now I think) has been happy about the result of doing so. Last time it was my girlfriend who ditched her HP laptop. I also know of several others who has has switched and they say if they and known how it would be they’d switch sooner.
Can you please explain why they all feel this way if going for a PC with Windows is a better choice?
Another fact is that Macs break less seldom. I don’t have any sources to link to, but I’ve read an independent investigation where they cam to this conclusion.
I do however agree that Apple should have better (longer) warranty for their products.
Okay. Great! I’m sorry, but I can’t explain the feelings or motivations of 8 people that I don’t know much about, but I can guess that:
- they’re not power users.
- they’re not using their computers in any type of business capacity.
- they don’t play a lot of video games.
- they’re not using their computer for much more than web and email or maybe homework.
Am I right?
- they’re not power users.
They might not be “power users” (whatever your definition of that is) but they use their computers to what most people use their computers for: writing essays (my girlfriend is a microbiologist), browsing the web, e-mail, watching movies, listening to music etc. etc.
The eight persons “feelings and motivations” were that they wanted a new computer that gave them less hassle than their previous one. As simple as that.
- they’re not using their computers in any type of business capacity.
What do you mean by “business capacity”? Maybe none of the eight switchers I talked about use their machines in a business in that sense, but at work we sure do! I’m one of the IT guys where I work and we have maybe 60% Dell PC’s with Windows Vista and 40% Macs of totally around 350 users. The Macs are used for the “creative” stuff (catalogue production, art direction, retouch, layout etc.) and the Windows machines mainly for the Microsoft Office stuff. It sure is a business capacity and the Macs are a huge part of it! The Macs and Windows machines run perfectly fine side by side. What makes you think Macs won’t cut it in a business environment?
At work I find that the Mac users are more efficient and actually make use of “bling bling” such as having scroll-wheel button mapped to the application switcher for quick switch between apps, they use Exposé and press Command H to hide the frontmost application etc.
The GUI in the Mac is overall more accessible. How lucid does the application switcher in Window look when you have several applications and windows open at the same time?
The Windows users just minimize, minimize, minimize and look around for what they want in their cluttered task bar all the time.
Anyway, what I question the most is that people don’t think Mac OS X is a good substitute for a Windows Vista or XP. The people who say this are usually the ones who think it’s not possible to right-click on a Mac, i.e. they’re ignorant.
Mac OS X is Unix and it’s at least equal in its “power user” capabilities as Windows!
- they don’t play a lot of video games.
No, it’s true they don’t. And many people don’t care about this, they just want to have a good computer, not a gaming system. I care about games and that is one of the things that I can agree is better on the Windows side. Still there are a lot of enjoyable games on the Mac—we sometimes play on the Mac Pro’s in the retouch department after work—and people always think it’s a blast. But it’s true, you still get more gaming power for your money if you build your own PC, absolutely true. And there’s a lot more titles available on Windows. But you know what…? I have Windows on my MacBook Pro too!
WindowsRulesMacsDrool,
I forgot one question; how much experience do you have from Macs? Can you back up your “Windows rules and Mac drool” claims with reasons? Or are you one of those who think it’s not possible to right-click on a Mac?
Nope, I’m a software developer so I bought a mac-mini a while back and then I sold it after 6 months because I hated the UI so much. For productivity, I found that it really lags behind Windows.
The “dock” is a horrible mess compared to the Windows task bar. You can’t easily see what’s running without looking for _tiny_ little triangles underneath the icons. Expose is nice, but the same functionality was easy to add to Windows with a program called TopDesk.
In general, I hated the Finder compared to Windows Explorer. You can’t cut and paste files. You can drag them to move them, but you can’t highlight a bunch of files, cut them and then go somewhere else, create a folder and paste them into the folder. You have to go create the folder, go back to the original files, start dragging them and then switch to the new folder. Too convoluted for me thanks.
For instance, when you save a new file from a program, you can’t create a new folder in the finder’s dialog box. You have to go out to the finder program, create the new folder and then go back into the program to save your new file in that folder.
The keyboard shortcuts on the Mac also suck completely. The delete key doesn’t delete files and many times you need a three key shortcut to do something that would be a two key shortcut in Windows.
I also hate the fact that the menu bar is always up top. I like having the menu attached to each window especially since I have dual monitors.
Anyway, Macs can’t cut it in a business environment. Why? Because of shitty Xcode and lack of real enterprise programming environment. No sane business developer is going to build enterprise class software in Objective-C. No thanks, I’ll take .Net and all of the third party tools that are available for it. Since many businesses rely on in-house programming, this pretty much rules out the Mac unless it’s a Unix shop and there are a lot less of those than you think.
“For productivity, I found that it really lags behind Windows.”
Eh… I think it’s completely the opposite.
“The “dock” is a horrible mess compared to the Windows task bar.”
Same thing here. I think it’s completely the opposite. It’s not seldom that I have around 20 apps running at the same time. How would this look in the Task Bar in Windows? More like a mess, that’s for sure. And in the application switcher then? It will take much longer to find what one want since also windows for applications are listed. On the Mac you switch between open applications (not windows) which makes things quicker to find when having a lot of applications and windows open. You know witch app you want and it’s easy to spot it in the switcher since only the familiar icons for applications are shown.
It’s the first time I ever hear someone complain that it’s difficult to see which apps are running in the Dock. In the latest version of Mac OS X there are white “light dots” under (or beside if the Dock is positioned on the left or right side), not a problem to see even if the Dock is at its smallest.
I also find it strange that one can’t cut and paste in Mac OS X, but just as you had a third party solution for Exposé on Windows there’s software that takes care of this on the Mac. Plus most people I know just have to Finder windows open so you navigate to separate places and move stuff between the two windows. What’s so awkward with this? Plus I always miss Finder’s column view when on a Windows machine. This view makes it really quick to navigate and get an overview of where you are in the hierarchy.
“For instance, when you save a new file from a program, you can’t create a new folder in the finder’s dialog box. You have to go out to the finder program, create the new folder and then go back into the program to save your new file in that folder.”
This is simply not true. There’s a “New Folder” button in all “Save” dialog boxes. In the dialog box there’s an arrow to “extend” the dialog that gives you the option to create a new folder etc.
“The keyboard shortcuts on the Mac also suck completely. The delete key doesn’t delete files and many times you need a three key shortcut to do something that would be a two key shortcut in Windows.”
So having to hold down control every time you want to do a short cut is convenient you think? The Command key in the Mac is much better positioned, closer to the letters which you usually want when pressing keyboard short cuts. You delete files with command backspace on the Mac. Is that so awkward? You have to press return after the delete key in Windows to confirm it, so it’s quite similar in a way.
On the Mac the keyboard commands are more streamlined between applications, more “global”.
Like pressing command , which brings up the preferences for the active app.
Can you please give an example of a keyboard command that are so difficult to do on the Mac?
I would way that a two key command on windows equals a three key command on the Mac because of the awkward position of the ctrl key for this purpose.
“I also hate the fact that the menu bar is always up top. I like having the menu attached to each window especially since I have dual monitors.”
Always having the menu bar on top is great. I can see you’re having a point if you have an app on each screen and you want to see the menus for both apps at the same time, but in the long run its great to have a menu at the top that you can’t “miss” by going past it with the mouse. You just “fling” the cursor up there and click.
Besides, having a menu bar in each window uses screen estate that can be used for better things on a second monitor, plus it adds to Windows’s already muddled look.
“Anyway, Macs can’t cut it in a business environment. Why? Because of shitty Xcode and lack of real enterprise programming environment. No sane business developer is going to build enterprise class software in Objective-C. No thanks, I’ll take .Net and all of the third party tools that are available for it. Since many businesses rely on in-house programming, this pretty much rules out the Mac unless it’s a Unix shop and there are a lot less of those than you think.”
I’m not a programmer, but I can’t believe Xcode is that bad. I know programmers many that are happy about it, especially the latest versions. I talked to one guy and he said “I think it’s a matter of habit. And you can program other languages than Objective-C in Xcode and also else than C# in .NET environments. .NET in itself is tiresome in all kinds of ways and the source for a lot of bugs… so… in the end it’s all about what your used to.”
In the end, that makes me tired is when people think a Mac (Mac OS X) is not in the same class as a Windows machine. It is. There are both advantages and disadvantages with both platforms, but I assert that for the most people a Mac is a better choice. Especial since it’s just to run Windows on the Mac if needed.
Oh, this is taking too much time… I’ll stop now.
The “dock” is indeed a horrible mess compared to the Windows task bar. Why would I want to mix non-running program icons with icons for programs that are already running as the dock does? As usual Windows gives you more power and flexibility by providing you with a way to organize everything hierarchically while also making it easier for you to spot what’s running. Try out the “Group similar taskbar buttons” setting sometime and you will see…(it defaults to ON) if you have 20 apps running, you will see 20 distinct buttons, one per app, which is far superior to the way that the dock works. With the dock, since they mix non-running program icons with running program icons, you cannot quickly see what’s running.
Okay, with that one reason sufficiently covered, let’s move onto reason number two (out of ohhh… sooo many): It doesn’t quite share the screen space very well. If I make the dock a fixed size, it takes up too much or too little space, so the only real way to use it is in the mode where it humps up wherever you put your mouse. However, that “humping” routine gets annoying whenever your mouse goes near the thing.
Especially since, you know in OSX, you can only resize a Window by the bottom right corner _because Steve said so_. So, what happens here is, instead of two features working together to form cohesion, you get two anti-features working together to give you confusion.
The “new folder” button in the save dialogs is new to me, I haven’t touched a mac since that mini I had some time ago. That’s great if they added it, which shows me that they’re learning. Maybe someday they’ll let people cut and paste files.
Pretty much at every turn, Apple has proven to me that their software is all hype and no power or flexibility. It’s pretty looking, but it’s got no brains. Okay, I could talk all day about how unproductive I think the Mac OS is… we’ll obviously never agree. Also, I’d like to talk to your friend about his ill informed opinion of .Net sometime. Instead, let’s just jump ahead to the main reason that Apple is bad for both home and business consumers.
Apple is an orwellian police state. Apple wants so badly to control your experience that they simply don’t (and can’t) give the market what it really needs. Nevermind the fact that you are absolutely locked into one hardware vendor, you can’t even use their hardware the way that you want to. Apple treats their software developers worse than their customers too. Just look at the recent iPhone AppStore debacle where they let you spend months working on a program only to reject it at the last minute just because it competes with one of their cash cows.
I’ll say it again because it bears repeating: This is beyond a doubt, the main reason that businesses don’t use Apple. Microsoft may be a bastard to it’s partners and competitors, but mostly not to it’s customers.
I’ll take Microsoft over Apple any day of the week and I’m willing to bet you that the market continues to subscribe to that opinion as well. As the wise monk said.. “We’ll see.”
Argh, you didn’t get rid of me just yet!
You seem to think that if something doesn’t work exactly like in Windows it’s bad.
You obviously haven’t given Mac OS X enough time since you have missed the “New Folder” button in the save dialogs; a button that has been there since Mac OS first came out back in 1984.
You can’t even find this and you expect me to take your opinions on GUI behavior seriously?
How can it be hard to see what’s running in the Dock? I’ve never even thought of this being an issue. Plus if you don’t want to see non-running apps, simply remove them from the Dock and use Spotlight to launch your apps instead (which is by far the quickest). Anyway, I don’t use the Dock very much for switching applications, it’s quicker to just use the application switcher which is great to have mapped to the mice’s scroll-wheel. Super quick and convenient way to get that app you want up front without having to travel to the Dock. One feature in the Dock I use sometimes is to have a folder which contents easily can be browsed directly from there without having to switch to the Finder, how do you do this in Windows?
By the way, I have a perfect example of stupid Windows behavior that you seldom see on a Mac. Two times last week Windows users at work couldn’t see certain items what was uploaded to a folder by the Mac users. Even when they had logged out and back in again they couldn’t see it. Why? Because you have to press the refresh button to make sure what you see is up to date! It’s 2008 now and things like that shouldn’t be an issue.
Another example is the in WIndows apps much more frequent use of “Yes”, “No” and “Cancel” in dialog boxes instead of using verbs that actually tell you what the buttons do when you click on them.
I also don’t see any issues in being being able to resize windows only in the lower right corner. I mean, how often do you resize windows? Do you really have to be able to do it from all edges? In fact, in Windows when you quickly want to move a window it has happened to me that I clicked “to high” and instead got it to resize instead of movie… Why does it behave like this? Because Steve/Bill says so?
“Okay, I could talk all day about how unproductive I think the Mac OS is… we’ll obviously never agree.”
And I can do the same about Windows. And you are talking about distinctive icons… it’s “clear icons” is that’s not exactly what i think about when I’m in Windows. You mean like the huge amount of “try-and-guess-what-it-does, you-probably-can’t” icons in the lower right “notification area” of the Task Bar?
If it wasn’t for the by the Iconfactory (guess what computers they prefer?) created icons for both Windows XP and Vista I wonder what the icons would look like. That fact that few developers seem to care and still have their ugly Windows 95 icons going strong gives a very mixed look of the icons in Windows.
I also don’t understand this talk about the lack of upgradability on Macs. How often do you think people upgrade their machines (I’m not talking about you now)? If you don’t du upgrades every now and than, in a couple of years you will have a bottle necks in the motherboard so you won’t benefit much from buying new stuff unless you buy a new motherboard….and then you need new memory modules etc. etc. So, it’s better to buy a new computer! That’s what most of my PC friends do, I never see them upgrade more than I do on my Macs, they just talk about that they can.
I agree on Apple blocking the iPhone apps, but if you want it’s not that difficult to crack your phone to get whatever you want in there. I do think you are exaggerating the “Apple is an orwellian police state” talk.
What about the open source projects Apple are involved in? http://www.appl...com/opensource/
What about supporting the use of your beloved WIndows easily via Boot Camp? http://www.appl...s/bootcamp.html
Software wise I get more options if I run a Mac. And there are more than enough hardware options for most people. Most users aren’t like you that like to fiddle with the hardware every now and then. They also don’t care about your “busyness enterprise” talk.
I also wonder what makes you think is Microsoft less of an orwellian police state than Apple?
“Nevermind the fact that you are absolutely locked into one hardware vendor, you can’t even use their hardware the way that you want to.”
How is Apple different compared to any other computer manufacturer like, let’s say Dell?
Buy the way, TopDesk doesn’t look very good from the laggy videos on the TopDesk website. Seems slow. I also wonder if windows contents are updated while in thumbnail view? Like say, if a movie is playing, would it continue to do so when using TopDesk?
If you want to be even more productive with your Mac (I’ve haven’t seen seen something similar on Windows so far), check out Quicksilver: http://docs.bla..._is_quicksilver
More stuff that’s great on a Mac:
-As a system administrator it’s great to have time saving tools like Apple Remote Desktop that supports drag and drop of things between the remote computer and your local one.
-Time Machine is a great backup feature that people actually use.
-Spotlight in leopard is really snappy and great for application launching and finding stuff quickly
-The built-in Bluetooth supports that makes it super easy to transfer files between the Mac and your mobile phone.
-Great overview of network connections with live status update.
-FireWire disk mode to make one Mac act as a hard drive to be connected to another Mac via FireWire
-Drag and drop installations of a lot of software
-MagSafe so you can stumble over the power cord to your laptop without it falling to the floor
-Automatic defragmentation of files under 20 MB
-More streamlined unified software—both when it comes too looks and also how it works—and over all better looking icons. More developers that care about how their software looks, not only how it works.
-More beautiful font rendering. Small fonts on Windows looks like an ink-jet printer with a slightly misaligned nozzle printed them.
-A more peaceful desktop. There’s no stupid balloons popping up telling you this and that all the time.
-In the Finder, one click to eject external devices such as USB memory sticks.
etc. etc.
Apple can definitely do a lot of more things better. But I don’t think they’re near as nasty as you say.
Besides, I think you will see quite some improvements in the “business environments” area in the coming Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Oh, actually I remember what the problem was with the Save or Save As dialog was… it does indeed have a New Folder button, however if I make a mistake and type the wrong folder name, I can’t rename the folder or delete it.
In a much more powerful and flexible system such as Windows I can actually rename or delete the folder right from the same dialog. I don’t have to open another window to find the folder and rename…
What’s your answer to that? Don’t make mistakes?
About the dock, you misunderstood what I mean about seeing what’s running. I don’t care about switching between apps, that’s a single keystroke. In Windows, I can glance at the taskbar to see if a program is already running. Did I start burning that DVD already? One quick glance tells me yes or no.
Pretty much, I can do anything you can do better
In Windows you can make a folder browsable from the taskbar. You just drag any folder onto the taskbar and it shows up as a menu item. When you click the item, all the folders items pop up.
Also, it’s commonly regarded that resizing from any window edge is better. Arguing the opposite is a practice in futility. Every other popular desktop window manager (Gnome, KDE, xfce) implement it this way. Steve Jobs is basically just being stubborn about this one, just like the one button mouse that took forever to be replaced by the lame multi-touch system. An actual second mouse button is so much better.
Oh and nice typical response about not being able to upgrade any of your own hardware or even pick a different hardware vendor. You basically twist the argument around to seem like having choice is a bad thing. You really don’t see the detriment in having _no choice whatsoever_?? Haha, good one!
“How is Apple different compared to any other computer manufacturer like, let’s say Dell?”
Dell doesn’t go around forbidding people to run Windows on competing hardware. Personally, I wish Microsoft would forbid Windows from being run on Apple hardware, then we’d see how well your favorite operating system is doing in reality.
“What makes you think is Microsoft less of an orwellian police state than Apple?”
What makes you think they aren’t? Microsoft doesn’t lock you into anything as forcefully as Apple does. You’re free to buy XBox games from any store (not just one crAppStore) and you’re free to put their software on any hardware. They’re also a lot more flexible in terms of the capabilities that they provide to developers.
Apple is _known_ for treating their developers like children. If you feel like you’re about to try and deny it, maybe do a Google search about that one.
Oh yeah and every feature that you listed that makes the mac “great” can be had on Windows since the thing that makes Windows great is that you can put it on any hardware and there is a lot more software available for it. Correction, there is one feature that you listed, MagSafe, that we probably don’t get without running Windows on Apple’s crummy hardware. Isn’t that the one that caused all sorts of fires and stuff? Hmm, don’t think I want that feature, thanks
Aha, I see what you mean with renaming the folder directly in the dialog box. I agree it would be better, at least a button to “reveal in Finder” to quickly go the selected item in the Finder. But guess what? There’s software that takes care of that! http://www.stcl...DefaultFolderX/
Also it’s very seldom this incident takes place. By the way, a think that’s good with the Mac save/open dialogs it that you can drag a folder or document from the Finder onto the dialog and the dialog will navigate to that place. A real time saver that more then compensates for the lack of renaming option since it’s used much more frequently. 
Still I don’t find this being a big issue. Getting rid of all the anying pop-ups in Windows wastes more time in total than going to the Finder and change the folder name.
There are soo much more software for that Mac than moste tunnel visioned Windows users like yourself think: http://www.macupdate.com/
A single keystroke to switch between apps in Windows? What do you think it’s on the Mac? Same thing of course! One look in the Task bar to see if one started to burn a DVD? What do you think it’s on the Mac? Same thing of course!
I don’t know what version os Mac OS X you tried, but it must have be quite different from what I tried…
Two cool things I just came to think of:
1. The two finger scrolling on the Mac laptops is really awesome and on the MacBook Pro one can go back/forward in a browser by “swiping” to fingers a real time saver while you spend time focusing on finding the right spot on your window to resize it. I was just running Linux (Ubuntu) and I must say I find it quite hard to resize a window there. The “active areas” for that are very small. I’m quicker on the Mac, that’s for sure. It’s always in the same place. Anyway, it’s not a big thing I think. Again it feels like “just because it’s not the same behavior as in Windows it sucks”.
2. In Mac OS X Leopard you can scroll a window that’s in a background just by hovering the mouse cursor over it and scroll.
Iphone and Mac OS X is not the same thing software wise. It’s not like a Mac user get all software from Apple. I know many happy Mac OS X programmers (some are here: http://cocoaheads.org), so again, it’s not as bad as you say.
About the options talk; I don’t need options if they aren’t good. That’s the problem with all the amount of options you think are so good on the Windows side. It becomes too complex many times, and software/driver issues is borin and consumes time.
There *are* alot of options on the Mac too. What exatly is it you want? Choose between different motherboards? Where is the option for FireWire 800 on “PC” laptops for example? USB 2 for external hard drives? Bah.
We have quite a few MagSafe adapters at work. None has caught fire or had any trouble.
You say all power adapters from other tmanufacturers than Apple are flawless?
I’m quite sure it’s not only the ability to run Windows that’s the reason for Apple’s current success. Mac OS X *is* a good operating system in many ways (I just came to think of the Windows Registry….shrudder….) and it *is* smooth and productive to work in. I have a quite up-to-date view of this since I run both Mac OS X, Windows XP/Vista and Linux (Ubuntu) on a regular basis.
When did you last try a Mac (for more than 30 seconds)?
(need to sleep, might type more tomorrow or so…. or maybe not)
That’s funny, I use a save dialog or even an open dialog to rename things all the time. It’s a real time saver.
“There are soo much more software for that Mac than moste tunnel visioned Windows users like yourself think…”
Yeah, but compared to the sheer number of options available for Windows? I don’t think “much more” means what you think it means.
Care to reply to this? “In Windows, I can glance at the taskbar to see if a program is already running. Did I start burning that DVD already? One quick glance tells me yes or no.”
How about actually replying to some of my actual points?
About the resizing, you’re wrong. It’s so much more useful to be able to resize by all window edges when you need to. I use the feature often. There is absolutely no reason for it to be any other way. You have already lost on that one, so just give up. It’s not because it doesn’t work “like Windows”. It’s because it’s less flexible. There’s a difference.
“About the options talk; I don’t need options if they aren’t good”
Haha, sour grapes, right?
How’s this for options? I got a $500 Acer with 3GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive and a video card with 256MB of DDR2 video RAM that also has HDMI output. It comes with Vista Home Premium that has Media Center on it. Can you even get a Mac with an HDMI video output built-in? Oh yeah and then I added this “wii” style media center remote to the mix. Basically, I can wave my hand around in the air to move the mouse cursor and click things. Yep, I can sit back on my couch and watch Hulu.com or any other video site, as well as normal TV (with the addition of a tuner card), without ugly wires running out to the couch.
Check this remote out, it’s pretty awesome (Windows only, of course!):
Gyration GYR3101US –
http://www.amaz...6Z6M7KFHJT9J84P
You have my permission to be jealous
You’re probably just going to claim more sour grapes though.
“Care to reply to this? “In Windows, I can glance at the taskbar to see if a program is already running. Did I start burning that DVD already? One quick glance tells me yes or no.””
I did:
“One look in the Task bar to see if one started to burn a DVD? What do you think it’s on the Mac? Same thing of course!”
Of course you can see in the Dock if you stared to burn a DVD. With the apps I’ve been using for this purpose there has ben status in the Dock showing this.
I haven’t dug into the Media Center area just yet, but I’ve been using a DVI to HDMI cable for my MacBook Pro and it’s been working fine those times. By the way, DVI has been standard on the Apple laptops for quite some time now and I still see VGA connectors on the new Dell machines people have at work. And where are the FireWire 800 ports so I get better transfer speed when working with external harddrives that support it? Maybe you can answer me on that?
It absolutely sounds cool with your Media Center PC. I wouldn’t say I’m jealous since I haven’t got any experience from Media Center-ish things to compare it with yet.
I still don’t think the lack of resize windows from all edges in Mac OS X is an issue. What do you do that require window resizing so often?
It not like you think “oooh nooo, now I have to travel all the way to the bottom right corner of the window to resize it” when you work on a Mac. If you do that you are too accustomed to Windows and should take a brake from it and look at the other things that are great on the Mac. Such as Quicksilver that I mentioned.
That you often bring up an open/save dialog to do file managing also seem like a habit.
It’s not something I hear people complain about that they can’t do. Just switch to the Finder. It’s quickly done since you see it as an icon in the app switcher, and not a mess of windows.
Anyway, I guess you should install Default Folder next time you try a Mac.
In all I just think you are too harsh and narrow minded on Mac OS X if you can’t see any benefits at all over Windows.
Finally, you who have so many options in the WIndows world. Can you give me some examples of Windows applications you think have a good GUI and feature set. Like an FTP program or anything. (by the way, there are an insane amount of FTP clients on the Mac, I think there might even be more than for Windows…)
If I have missed to answer any of your questions, I’m sorry, but you dodge many of my questions/claims too so I guess it evens out!
I just installed Mac OS X on my hackintosh Dell. For the first 10 minutes I felt like retching.
There is enough material here for me to literally have a daily blog about how bad the Mac OS is. We’ll cover a new anti-feature every day.
Don’t worry though! I’ll come back to this thread and let you know when some of my articles are available!
BTW, I’m not having a negative experience because my wifi isn’t working. Not a big deal. The problem is mostly things like “where the f*** did that window go?” and “why is there a save button and a continue button on the same dialog?”. Yuck!
I’d love to see how it looks when you use a computer… Especially a Mac.
“Where did f*** did that window go?” and “why is there a save button and a continue button on the same dialog”?
What are you talking about? Vanishing windows is not a feature I’ve seen in any version of Mac OS X, unless you close them. Was that what you did? The close button are on the other side, you know…
Where’s that dialog? At least there’s verbs on the buttons instead of the much more often seen “yes” and “no” options that’s in Windows.
Please do tell me when you start that blog. I’ll be happy to post a comment and continue the discussion…
Oh, I forgot to paste this: http://www.appl...enterprise.html
Just another post before sleep:
“I never liked Apple.
Ever.
I’ve used Windows since 3.1 and was blindly fanboyish towards them.
But when I bought an iPhone and actually saw the quality and attention to detail that Apple puts into their products, it made me go out an buy a brand new MacBook Pro for school.
It’s been about 3 months now and since I have transferred any important files from my Windows PC, I no longer use it. In fact, I actually packed it up and stuck it out in the garage today.
The point to this post is that he is claiming that Apple is going to eventually fail with the iPhone. But from my experience, the iPhone is what made me an avid Apple fan.
I doubt that I’m the only one who has done this.”
I guess that guy never lost his windows on his Mac…
http://forums.a...;threadid=91380
P.S. It’s the same with my girlfriends a 1,5 year old HP laptop. Now when she’s got a MacBook the HP is not used anymore and she doesn’t miss it (I’ve just started using it a little, it now runs Ubuntu).
Related comic
http://www.geek...tigmatized.html
Bashing a competitor rather than selling your benefits and features is an underhand move. Apple are trading off Microsofts perceived flaws rather than giving a single reason to switch (not upgrade) to a Mac.
They’re treating their customer base like idiots who can be influenced by a company purely saying ‘we’re not as bad as them, but we won’t back that statement up with any facts’. Quite insulting as a consumer if you ask me.
They are treating the Windows customer base as idiots… they are the ones targeted by those ads.
I’m a PC user. I’m not a Mac user. I have no plan on ever being a long term Mac user. Its just not my cup of tea. I have used them in the past, so I’m not being ignorant towards them, I just don’t find them appealing for me.
I personally find the Microsoft ads to be really pathetic, make no sense, and a huge waste of time and money. Microsoft may be trying to `build up` to some sort of climax with the whole $300 million budget on these commercials, but, its giving me the sense that theres some seriously dark humour going on.
I will intentionally go to the Mac site JUST to watch the PC vs Mac ads because I usually find them hilarious. It is somewhat beating a dead horse with some of whats going on, but, I still find them funny and enjoyable. Again, I don’t care for Mac, I don’t use a Mac, I don’t want a Mac.
Mac sucks basically more than windows…they take FOSS code and make it a totalitarian one…Creepy Apple….I guess “Say no to iPhone” Campaign is on the way
Thanks Bady
Nice to see nerds have a catfight about Apple and MS advertisments.
The ads are OK, but they don’t have the humor that gets people talking.
I’ve been a PC user for a long time. Three years ago I bought an iMac, the last version before they switched to the Intel chip. The Intel switch happened three months after I bought it and I remember the feeling of getting so screwed. I have never purchased a PC then within a year had a new hardware release that made mine obsolete overnight.
I then dedicated time to learning the MAC, Apple store classes etc. My first project was to scan 500 photos, put them together into a video slide show. The process on the MAC was OH so painful. I took the project to the Apple store and they explained the slideshow to video/DVD process just takes time.
I went to my PC, used the free Microsoft Photostory download and in 25 minutes I had a video burned to CD, project done.
Ripping and burning CD’s on our iMac was also very slow, nearly double the time to perform the same tasks on our PC
After my wife complaining, the MAC went to the closet for two-years until we finally sold it a few months back.
I think the PC gets beat up so much because the barrier to entry to get one is so low, some ad leaders sell a PC for as low as $299. This leaves a non-savvy user buying a system with hardware barely capable of running the O/S correctly, not to mention they bought it for little Jonny who just wants to steal music and download porn. So yeah, Windows is destined to fail in this circumstance thus resulting in millions of unhappy families screaming that the PC sucks because of spyware, viruses etc. Microsoft should do commercials showing little Jonny doing his thing and how the system can get screwed (no pun intented) in a hurry.
The MAC on the other hand has a higher barrier to entry, resulting in a more savvy user, one likely to purchase music legally via iTunes thus in general leading to less problems.
I haven’t tried a MAC again since the Intel switch, but I’m not willing to plunk down $1,200 again only to get burned 3 months later. I’ll keep buying the iPod because I’m willing to part with $399 every year for the cool new model, but $1,200 is a little harder to part with once or twice a year.
First of all, “MAC” is really spelled “Mac” (short for “Macintosh” not “Media Access Control” like the MAC address of your ethernet port). And “Windoze” is really spelled “Windows”. I generally don’t even consider opinions presented by people who spell Mac “Mac” and Windows “Windoze”.
The whole Mac vs. PC thing runs way deeper than just “Leopard rocks and Vista sucks” or “90% of the world uses PCs so they must be the best” — it runs through the very core of the philosophies that drive the companies (Apple and Microsoft).
So… Why has Apple been successful as of late (and able to justify their Mac vs. PC ads and cause Microsoft to launch a counter-attack)? Three words:
INNOVATION. VISION. DEDICATION.
Ever since Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 he has brought true meaning to those words, and has inspired his hardware and software teams to create truly compelling solutions to today’s computing needs. A consistently stable and reliable operating system that is both very easy to use right away and at the core very powerful as a user’s needs advance. A digital media and information ecosystem consisting of a central hub (Mac/iTunes) and companion devices (iPhone, iPod, AppleTV, and even Time Capsule). Jobs has obviously had the long-term success of Apple at the core of his decision-making process, and brought in and inspired the best designers and engineers in the computing industry to help follow through and make Apple the best it can be, and make the best products (resulting in many copy-cats that are trying to ride Apple’s coat tails of success).
On the other hand, Microsoft has never NEEDED to innovate or produce anything better than lowest-common-denominator grade software because of their virtual monopoly and anti-competitive business practices — buying up the competition and either putting their logo on the box or just shutting down the product. They needed a graphical OS to compete with the Mac in the mid-’90s, so they basically stole the Mac’s interface, slapped it on top of a jumbled pile of code of an operating system and called it “Windows”. How F***ING INNOVATIVE!!! Windows has only been as stable or as innovative or as “easy” to use as it has HAD to be. It gained market dominance by being almost the only choice for home or business computers by tying the hands of PC hardware manufacturers with restrictive monopolistic contracts. Business users went along with this ’cause the software they needed to run was written for Windows PCs, and Microsoft created a vertical solution for them — from desktop Windows PC to Windows servers — and created “training” programs for the Microsoft “Certified Professionals” to get ahead in the IT industry by knowing the bare minimum needed to get by and promoting Microsoft’s standards whenever possible so they could ensure future job security. These IT “professionals” didn’t care about any other possibly better, possibly cheaper solutions ’cause “nobody ever got fired for buying Microsoft products,” and they made a point to promote Microsoft’s wares and slander anything else ’cause they knew Microsoft would “take care of them” in the job market.
We are truly at the tipping point where Microsoft better innovate itself out of the corner it has painted itself into or they will TRULY be irrelevant in the not-so-distant future. I really hope they can do this, ’cause I think they have the power (and money) to hire the brightest people who can see past the profit margins (GREEDY Ballmer!) and bring some amazing and truly market-changing technologies to fruition and ensure HEALTHY competition (which drives further innovation) to the computing market.
2 cents.
Yea!
It’s exactly what I said before
http://www.tech...comment-2466552
Yea!
It’s exactly what I said before
http://www.tech...comment-2466552
I have the sneaking suspicion that this is all a marketing ploy to get free press. Remember Coke vs. Pepsi? It seems naive to think that their PR agencies aren’t both working together to create this internet controversy and brand loyalty.
Though, I think Michael is starting the first wave of “Not funny anymore.” It will be interested to see what mac makes next.
Off the bat, I love my Mac Book Pro. I am generally happy I switched. I was a Microsoft .Net/VB/C#/ASP programmer since 2001. I finally transitioned in 2007 when my Dell HD gave up the ghost after speaking at a conference in SF.
For no reason other than necessity I have been pushing my machines to their limits. First it was the Macbook, then a MBP. Now I’m eyeing up a Mac Pro. I seriously doubt its ability to handle my everyday use: Firefox + 200 tabs, running a webserver/database, encoding videos, listening to music, editing graphics, editing code, downloading, remotely managing other web/db servers all at the same time.
My point though is I have switched the my family from PC/Dell/HP’s to Apple Macbooks, iMacs, and Mac Mini’s. The UI is good and generally intuitive. However, when I “switched” family I’ve come to regret touting Apple to my family. I used to speak highly of them… but due to experiences I’m more likely to pause and consider true alternatives.
When you hear about their marketing or products they seem to be the be all, end all for your computing needs. Unfortunately, my two sisters have had their Macbook’s become unable to boot. I’ve purchased Applecare to be able to have their machines repaired Apple. What has happened in both situations is that they are given a different/perhaps refurbished HD. The original hard drive is never given back all old information is gone.
Now it is mainly my fault, for suggesting a setup without implementing a strict backup plan (Time Machine + ext USB HD). However, once you start experiencing these sorts of “normal” computer issues owning Apple loses its luster. The experience becomes like owning any other piece of hardware — albeit sexy — you still need to treat it like a machine. They look great, and they most definitely give you something to “feel/act” snobby about, but in the end Apple is still a software/hardware business… nothing more, no magic, no mystery, just really good at marketing to us things we think are special or unique. Their target marketing and pitches are precise and crafty; we love it.
Ultimately, the further you push your machine to its limits you will begin to see parallels between things that are common to PC’s and Apple. Such equivalents like Apple’s own BSOD. Or system slow down over time. Annoying issues with how the system works. The list goes on.
I love my Apple, but it really is a fancy aluminum clad machine that functions decently, looks good, and IS JUST A COMPUTER.
Also a .NET developer and love VC studio. (one of the few things I miss from windows – although I’m trying to love Xcode).
Apples come with top-notch hardware. Most PC’s come with 3.2G processors and 512K of RAM and an integrated video card. For the non-tech user you’re getting a better setup by buying a mac. Macs have improved over time. Now that they are OEMing the chips from Intel and getting away from the silly PPC architecture they’re power will be just as good as any decent PC. I could see why your complaining about your old macbook but those days have gone.
As for backups, time machine is ready to go. I use Mozy. Getting into a good backup habit is good practice.
This isn’t an election. One doesn’t have to ‘outmessage’ the other. Especially since one company has over 90% of the world market.
The reason more and more people are using macs is not because of the ‘elitist’ dude and the office nerd in the ads. The reason is that people take Apple products in their hands and go “WOW!”.
Running a campaign to remind people that they are cool too is pretty sad, isn’t it?
and running a campaign to tell people that they are nerds is not ?
All they have is WOW… Maybe 4 decades from now a company with 300,000 computers would switch to MAC and say, WOW, that was stupid expense.
So when can we expect Mac vs PC – The later years. TV needs more sitcoms.
I feel it too. The campaign is working. What’s happening to me?
Michael,
Now I feel better!! When I first wrote you about the ads on the New York Times and you didn’t respond, I figured that I was behind the times. A week later and you finally point it out. (Granted you did ad some interesting editorial that my email did not contain.)
All that Apple is concerned about is the ads converting.
All you technologists need to remember that you make up only a small fraction of the computer using global population. You are a minority, you are the Ron Paul backers, it’s very admirable and all but the truth is MSFT kicks Apple’s ass in the only opinion gauge that matters – sales. I think the global appeal and popularity is conveyed well in the MSFT campaign. For the regular user, Windows is a great product. MACs may in your opinion’s be superior, but superior in a way that makes no difference to the average user.
“MAC” is really spelled “Mac”. It is not an acronym, it’s more like a nickname.
So… PC sales include all of the “terminal” type of machines you see in retail — cash registers, etc. too, right? So I wonder how we go about getting a REAL number for market share based on HOME computer sales… Figure that out and get back to me.
I will go out on a (not so shaky) limb and say that, unless Microsoft can REALLY start innovating (instead of stealing, monopolizing, etc.), they will be passed in sales by Apple or Linux (or a combination) in the not-too-distant future.
Maybe you don’t realize that the “kids” going into college are choosing Macs about 50% vs. Windows PCs. These are the future computer buyers, and they are buying Apple’s computers and LIKING them. They may graduate and go to work for a company that has standardized on Windows, but they will always know, from their own experience, how much better, more stable, easier to use that their Macs they still use at home are.
Any complaint about the actual hardware of the computer (any computer) is just that, a problem with the hardware — it can be fixed or replaced. The hardware is just the skin. The “soul” of a computer is its operating system and software, and this is where Apple will continue to kick MSFT’s ass, unless MSFT can seriously come up with something NEW from the ground up (not just another pretty interface). Apple did it going from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X — it was a long journey, but most users (and developers) would admit that it was well worth it.
“they will be passed in sales by Apple or Linux”
Bwaahahahaha! Good one!
Oh and you think that HOME computer users matter? Try again. It’s all about business and businesses will NEVER choose Apple. Why? Because nobody wants to be locked into ONE hardware vendor, especially Apple since they are such pricks about things like what goes into their crAppStore.
Linux is okay for servers, but most businesses will continue to use Microsoft servers because a) they’re so much easier to get up and running and b) easier to develop programs for (C#, .Net and Visual Studio or anything remotely equivalent are unavailable on Linux) and I can guaran-fucking-tee you that this trend will continue working it’s way into the home market.
Apple won’t see more than 10% market share ever, so maybe it’s time to stop all that wishful thinking.
Actually marketshare is a funny thing. 67% of retail computer purchases over $1000 in the U.S. are Macs. So in the opinion gauge that _really_ counts (profitable sales) Apple is way ahead. Apple’s lowest priced system is $1099, Dell’s is $279 and Dell immediately forces you to opt out of a $200+ service contract or the price by default goes up to ~$539, because nobody can make money selling $279 computers. Dell had $61 billion in revenue $3 billion in profit, 4.6% margin in 2007. Apple $24 billion in revenue, $3.5 billion in profit, 14.6% margin in 2007. Conclusion Dell is selling a lot of profitless systems that put money in Microsoft’s pocket but starve Dell, and the marketshare numbers reflect hundreds of thousands of computers purchased by a small number of corporate IT buyers (where Apple has about 5% marketshare) while the majority of affluent individual consumers are purchasing Macs.
As to the ‘average user’ then, apparently if that average user can afford to spend over $1000 on a computer he buys a Mac 2-1 (67%) over PC.
Right. but how much money did Microsoft make compared to Apple?
Try 22.5 billion from 60 billion in revenue. Where’s the profitability now?
That was my point, Microsoft is starving its pawns, like Dell. Microsoft had $51 billion in revenue and $14 billion in profit in 2007 and didn’t _sell_ computer one.
Really? Because you responded to a guy who said that MSFT kicks Apple’s ass in sales and your response was “So in the opinion gauge that _really_ counts (profitable sales) Apple is way ahead.” But, even with all the hand wavy explanations about Dell vs Apple or HP vs Apple, when it comes down to the bottom line…you’re wrong. Every sale made by Dell, HP, Sony, Acer, etc. etc. is a sale for Microsoft and Microsoft does indeed make more money from those sales than Apple could ever hope to.
Also, to drive home the point that we’re comparing apples to apples, see here: Microsoft sells software, Apple sells software. Even though Apple makes money from their hardware, what they’re actually _selling_ is the software, since that’s what they talk about in their commercials and because everybody knows that the hardware is no different than any PC. Nobody would give a hoot about Apple computers if Apple didn’t work so hard at selling the “benefits” of it’s operating system and software.
So, tell us again…how does Apple kick Microsoft’s ass in sales??
Furthermore, every sale of Apple hardware doesn’t necessarily tilt the “opinion gauge” towards a fondness of Apple’s software. The only reason they started making more sales was because they switched to x86 and suddenly it was safe to try out Apple software because you could always go back to Windows without throwing away too much money.
“…everybody knows that the hardware is no different than any PC.”
No different?
Maybe they have the same micro processor etc, but the hardware from Apple both look and feels different to use (the laptops) than computers from other brands.
Take the iMac for example. That’s a quite unique piece of hardware in my book.
I have been a PC user since the times of DOS. Switched to Mac 4 years ago and I can tell you there’s no match. Also true that many of my PC hardcore colleagues (some IBM employees) are switching to Mac too.
Having said that, I enjoyed the two Seinfeld-Gates and I agree that the PC vs Mac ones, as good and creative as they may be, are not funny anymore.
When I first saw Seinfield in the PC ads, one thing came to my mind: I don’t see him using a PC. I’m sure he’s a Mac user and has been for a long time.
Funny- I mentioned the same thing in my blog a month ago… http://www.adve...gcommentary.com
What’s up with everyone on the web today praising the new MS ads??
Just cause the ads have nice music, editing, and different people/characters (which has nothing to do with MS but with the creative people who worked on the ads) doesn’t mean I’m gonna change my mind about MS.
The only message I get from these ads regarding MS is that those people are using a PC because they haven’t tried a Mac yet. What is MS trying to do?? Convince us that there are people actually passionate about MS, yeah right….
Do they really think they can just through cash around and have users become passionate about their products. Wake up MS, is it really that difficult to understand what’s wrong with your identity/image???
You know what, I doubt MS doesn’t understand what their problem is. They just don’t want to change. You know how they say, some people never change, yeah that’s it. And if you’ve seen Bill Gates in interviews etc., you can feel that personality. That is what I call elitism, arrogance and stubbornness, the fact that you just don’t want to change…
Oh and by the way, Apple, Steve Jobs, and all the passionate Mac users out there are NOT like that. They are idealists, purists, they strive for perfection, which is often confused with arrogance by the IGNORANT.
Well said.
I don’t think Gates was ever the problem with Microsoft. He’s a programmer, not a businessman. His partner, Mr. Ballmer, would be the one to point fingers at for the greed and heavy-handed monopolistic business practices.
Those new Microsoft ads mean nothing when the people saying that they use PCs are lying! Hello? Anyone? The ads are not reaffirming Microsoft brands when the celebrities featured in them are caught out in lies. http://www.medi...them__94952.asp
all this back and forth reminds me of our current election. McCain is PC and Obama Is a Mac. We all know who is better But one just has the Market advantage.
Actually, This ad was on the washington post and the NYT a couple weeks ago. Also, Apple did the same thing a year ago during Macworld with the Keep Vista alive campaign (which only ran on the NYT site). This is a re-tread.
I guess TechCrunch doesnt read the NYT or the Washington Post (which is surprising seeing as they ave a content sharing agreement with the post)…
You at least read the WSJ, right???
And on its most irrelevant day apple ads are still 10 times better than Microsoft ads.
lol, that’s really funny… who knew the PC guy had great facial expressions…. yes very creative ad indeed…
Argh matey. I be lovin’ these ads!
To affirm that Apple ads are “elitist” is preposterous. On the contrary, they focus on the fact that using a Mac is a better experience, with a great deal of humor by the way. The fact here is that Microsoft has been too comfortable and has forgotten about the user experience, totally. You need only to take a look to the Vista fiasco.
Anyway the last set of ads are better, they try to approach that user they forgot about and that is the point. But Mac ads still are funny, and better focused on what is important, at least for me.
Anyone understood the meaning of the Gates/Seinfield campaign? I am a marketing graduated and I really don’t have a clue what they want to communicate with all this.
@Alltech – “I am a marketing graduated” from… where? DeVry ‘university’
The ads’ message is, of course, Bill Gates=Microsoft and Microsoft=Bill Gates [plus everybody knows who Seinfeld is..] Exposure, exposure, exposure. Did you skip that class during your “marketing” training –Even my dog understands the ads!!!
BTW, is also kind of silly, because Microsoft owns a good chunk of Apple [most of you dorks do not know this] When Apple was going down the tube a few years ago, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had a crucial meeting, and then Apple got an initial life-saving infusion of cash in the amount of 400M.
Jeff
Hahaha…. ah… huh. DeVry indeed. Dorks indeed. Maybe your dog can explain the 150 million investment from a decade ago to you.
Hey Mike…i know u r fond of Mac….even i am…but when there’s is a good ideation involved(MS ads,breaking the jinx of being non-hip),one should give them accolades it rather than talk biased.
BTW,as far as mentioning ‘Vista’ in commercials is concerned,PC is synonymous to Windows(they don’t consider minority linux lovers),hence they are saying “I’m a PC”(meaning i use Windows)
And i found one thing bad….MS promotes its product telling about itself but Mac tries to convince people saying bad things about Windows…
“and shows once again that Apple is always one innovative step ahead of just about everyone else”
they just forgot to be one step ahead in their bottomline among everyone else.
Aren’t they tired maintaining their below 10percent market share for the last 2 decades?
Microsoft’s SharePoint easily hit the 1 billion dollar market in two years time. Just one product!!!
Wake up apple, all hype…
All hype? I dunno, their products are pretty damn good.
Yes they’re tired of it that’s why they’re making change. You can keep arguing about the past but you can’t deny that Apple is coming out kicking ass and taking names.
That’s why they’ve gained like nearly 2% from 2007-2008 alone. But see, I find that number not as relevant just because many of the 3rd world nations buy those cheaper computers that Apple currently doesn’t have a line to compete with.
To me, these are significant numbers:
Apple’s share in the United States is about 21%.
Apple’s worldwide notebook computer share is about 10%.
Apple’s growth is nearly doubling that of PC’s growth.
Source: http://arstechn...thy-growth.html
Apple’s 21% share is estimated by analyst at http://apple20....now-21-percent/. It’s actually 8.5% and grew 30%+ in 2008Q2 http://www.busi...cs_now_rul.html
I had no idea that they were growing that fast. I can see PC’s having a huge edge due to, as you said, multiple lines of affordable computers. If all you need is a system for web browsing and creating word documents, there wouldn’t be a lot of reasons to not spend $300 on an affordable PC rather than $1000 on a bottom line Apple.
Now if Apple enters the low priced “bare bones” technology computer line, then it will be interesting to see how things shape up.
Jake
NoteScribe: Premier Note Taking Software
Another great statistic – and shaping the future of computer users: Apple has edged out HP for the education market, and Apple had taken over Europe ever since 2006. (Funny picture, but makes the point: http://i2.photo...pg?t=1208843146)
And that will happen soon I believe. Apple’s long-standing “elitist” attitude was that they weren’t going to release lower priced computers because of the quality, experience, etc (kind of like BMW, Mercedes, etc). But I believe the strategy is to increase overall brand awareness of quality, experience via iPods, iPhone (halo effect), then work on public perception of Apple stereotypes, and then start going full-force with the lower price point campaigns.
But even BMW came out with their 1-series. Rumors are they are planning on coming out with a sub-$1000 laptop. I think we’ll see very soon how this is taking shape.