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This screams “I’m a PC, and I am better than a MAC. No Really. Cmon, the richest guy in the world wouldn’t lie to make himself richer!”
Gee, for all their billions of dollars, wouldn’t you think they could at least buy an original ad campaign?
Pathetic!
Don
A direct smack at the Apple ads. Isn’t that what everyone has been wanting to see?
What? Doesn’t a MAC do all that also?
I mean, if they’re going to make an ad, shouldn’t they be telling us why we want a WINDOWS PC over a Mac?
After all, the term PC applies to all personal computers, MAC, Linux, Unix, etc. Many cell phones today qualify as a PC!
Duh!
Apple folks must be laughing their butts off.
Let’s get it straight: I’d never buy Apple again since I want freedom of choice, not being “protected” by a hardware / software vendor. I don’t buy Windows either if I can avoid it, I use Linux. But looking at the ad campaigns, Microsoft is in a very sorry state. They have no innovation left, it seems. They define themselves as almost as good as Apple and almost as good as Google.
pj
Not sure why all of you say that Microsoft has no innovation in their ads. The first 2 commercials with Jerry Seinfeld were quite innovative if you ask me. You have to remember Microsoft isn’t trying to directly advertise their products with these commercials, they are trying to simply change their image. In my opinion Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld cracking jokes in a commercial alongside Bill’s “finding a new job” video have definitely changed the image of Microsoft in my mind.
Linux is a hobbyists OS that is not ready for the casual user like Grandma and it won’t be ready for Grandma for a long, long time, if ever. Macintosh, however, is just what Granny needs and what Granny loves once she got a chance to use it. Same with the wife. Just try to get those two to use Linux–even with Gnome and KDE—after they discover how fun it is to use a Mac. Ain’t happening. Granny and the wife don’t give a damn whether their computer is open source, closed source, or anywhere in-between, either. They just want it to run fast, be easy to use, and not crash. That is enough reason they will never, ever go back to Windows.
I was at a meeting the other night, and there were 7 laptops present. 3 of them were Mac, and 4 of them were PCs… ONE laptop was running OSX, the other six were running XP or Vista. Two out of three Macs were booted into a Microsoft OS.
I know three people that have ‘reverse-switched’ from Apple to PC. Vista on a newer system is actually better than OSX, and half the price.
And don’t tell me about all that wonderful software that is included with a Mac that doesn’t come with a PC… nobody uses that Mac bundled Mac stuff, except maybe for Apple Mail… you end up installing ‘real’ applications on both platforms.
Apple is a phone and music player company, with good laptops and overpriced desktops.
Microsoft should be making ads to sell more Vista-copies.
They don’t, because they know it is a big failure.
And also, copying The PC Guy from the Apple ads is not at all a good idea!
I have a Mac desktop, a PC laptop, and enjoy messing with Lunux from time to time. Seriously, while the Apple commercials are amusing, these Microsoft ones seem felled with self-pity and “Waaaahhh!” Bill’s company doesn’t need to market its stuff, they have cornered the market and already brainwashed most people into thinking they can never learn to use another operating system! Who care what it is so long as it works and interacts will with other computers!?
Microsoft: Wwwaaaaaaaahhhh!!!
*shrug* I’m not a pc, nor am I a mac. I’m a lover and a fighter and I’m not defined by my computers.
I define them.
There, 20 seconds, and I have an ad campaign. Funny, that.
What a waste of money.
It like they got the Vista team to brew these ads up.
I would like to see an ad saying “Hi, I’m a von Neumann machine” “And I’m a Quantum Computer.”
Now that would be hot.
Ahhhh. A breath of fresh air. Much better without the weird ass Jerry Seinfield. I’m a PC and I shoot tv news.
John you were the one who used to criticize Microsoft for not answering the “get a Mac” advertisements and not advertising and now when Microsoft does advertise and answer the Apple’s campaign you have not comments!
That is the easy way out for sure!
Thank God there’s an election going on.
Election campaign ads = hahahahahahaha
Advertising campaign ads = zzzzzzzzzz
I’m a PC… but I run Linux, and I have no time for Deepak bloody Chopra.
I’m a PC, and I am a top official of the federal government contract review panel who is interested in the importation of goods into my country with funds that are presently trapped in Nigeria.
At least the Seinfeld ads had something truly original to offer. This is MS going Bennington (global feelgoodism). YAWWWWWNNN…
On the other hand, I would love critics of these new MS ads to display a similar level of scrutiny to all marketing bullshit, because that what most marketing is, bullshit. This MS ad campaign is just what marketing does, BS viewers into to feeling something for a product or company that has no rational basis in reality. So, you’ve woken up to one sham, wake up to the rest of it and be free.
That’s more like it. The first two were more like sitcoms — entertaining, but not at all ad-like. This is AN AD, in the tradition of “I want to teach the world to sing” for Coca-Cola and the Colors of Benetton and Louis Armstrong singing “What a Wonderful World” for (AT&T? I can’t recall now what the ad was for, but it was definitely one of those “feel good” ads).
I have no idea if any of these ads increased sales or measurably improved public perception of their sponsors, but they are/were all memorable.
My first thought on watching this ad was “About time.”
@14: No, are you?
And Apple IS a PC!
This is what they SHOULD have done.
The whole problem is that the Steventologists have bamboozled the public making people think that Apple is NOT a personal computer.
Well it ain’t a server. It ain’t a miniframe nor a mainframe. It sure as hell doesn’t run as a web server… so what is it? A PC.
What they should be doing is showing how Steventologists rushed out to get an expensive piece of hardware JUST to run WINDOWS on it.
That would hammer home the idea that Apple makes great hardware, but ulttimately people use Windows because IT WORKS!
Cursor_
“…but ulttimately people use Windows because IT WORKS!”
That’s not what I hear.
I m a PC and people are racist against me. This is a better than the stinky Apple ads. Even though I use Apple products but keep my PC to do serious work. And I recently removed Windows XP and installed Vista and im loving it. Yes its different but its way better than XP in terms of reliability, security.
Microsoft all the way baby!
I can’t wait to see the parody youtube videos.
– shot of a guy sitting at a very expensive desk.
I’m a PC and I install malware on your system.
– shot of a guy in Russia
I’m a PC and I’m using YOUR PC as part of my botnet.
How about a ad telling us how you are going to try your best at locking down your OS, removing the bloatware, and increasing it’s overall performance over XP? Now that would be an ad campaign, as long as they followed through with these promises.
This ad is saying I’m a PC and I’m PC, politically correct. I don’t make generalizations about people. People who use inferior operating systems aren’t bad, just unenlightened. In stupidity there is strength!
#24 if it doesn’t work why do so many steventologists dual boot OSX and Windows?
Why not develop software that does what windows apps do for OSX?
It MUST work or else no one would dual boot.
Sometimes simple plain logic overshadows just gut-born ctiticism.
Cursor_
#13 – Digby
Copy that. Any change in the ads that gets rid of the obnoxious and unfunny Seinfeld is a change for the better.
Windows is not a PC, it’s an OS. An OS that runs on a PC.
I’m a PC and I “SMELL” fish.
But then again as has already been said…
In a world without Walls, why would you need Windows?
# 26 rudedog : Let’s not forget why there is so much malware directed against Windows. Let’s see – for good or bad – it is ubiquitous. If OSX or it’s successors ever gain a substantial portion of the market (and I believe it’s currently only around 8%) then you’ll see more malware.
Look at it that way and Steve is doing all you Apple fanboys a disservice by advertising. More sales will bring the day of malware closer.
Seriously, I have two laptops. One runs XP and the other runs Linux. I keep hoping Linux will garner more attention so it will be improved and more widely accepted. On the other hand, I realize that means bad things will come, too. -sigh-
I wonder how many people who run Macs, use it exclusively as a Windows PC (either using Parallels or Boot camp).