Has Apple Successfully Lured Microsoft Into an Ad War?

The Apple ads are a hoot!! Oh what fun to say what is true. Vista stinks and the MS ads are pitifully bad.

Coke vs. Pepsi? More like Starship vs. biplane. Cola's are about individual taste, but any user can benefit from upgrading to the Mac's superior capabilities.

I don't know if it's more of a commentary on the individual software companies or their ad agencies, but nobody is doing MS a service at this point.

Redmond loses again when it comes to creativity.

these ads are tooo good !! i am impressed, mac is great, osx is cool, vista sucks -- though i feel mac is costly :( I wish osx is allowed on pc's too, there is no technical problem, it seems to be more of a business decision.

You have such grace with Macs. Because the black eye ms is trying to cover up is so poorly hidden, why don't they [play] fair [and] quit trying to reinvent everything everyone else does and do a bit of original thinking. MS has been in the crapper for a long time and likely will for years to come.

Everyone is changing and making positive headway. Cisco, vmware, bsd variants...... Microsoft just continues to bandaid a sinking ship.

Microsoft rules because it's the only truly open platform. I'll take bugs over limited, canned computing any day.

I dont see what the big deal is, I have a Mac and I have Vista, and I have XP. I personally thought Vista started out a bit clunky with all the driver issues but now it's actually better at finding drivers than my XP box is half the time. The screen feels a lot like my Mac and as far as freezing up I don't think its ever been an issue for me. As long as you have enough RAM you will be fine. Currently I am running under a gig using vista ultimate sp1 and have no problems at all. I do have a dual core processor which I recommend highly for Vista. What I am saying is overall Vista is better than Windows XP and comparable to OSX. Perhaps a bit bloated for playing games but if you compensate with a proper machine you will have a great experience. What it all boils down to I think is that Vista runs poorly on the lower end machines that the majority of people are getting at walmart and this is giving it a bad name. Anyone with half a decent computer can run Vista the way its meant to be and get the true flawless experience. Also I dont even have to have a virus scan with Vista. It practically has Nortons built in for better or worse.

Apple sheep.

What happened to Seinfeld?

So there’s a problem with Microsoft advertising their operating system software to the intellectual people with problems who only take advice from mac ads? Meanwhile, Apple spends billions on advertising picking on Microsoft each year with “get a mac” ads?
And apparently vista is “terrible” because it works and the mac worshippers have succeeded by deceiving the world once again about Windows Vista and its unique abilities.

It's about time that Apple fights back. Hasn't anyone realized that Microsoft is the Walmart of the computer industry?

Have we all forgotten why most people now own a computer that came with a Miscroft operating system?

Monopolization is corrupt.
Apple is doing a fine job of pointing out how lame everyone is for getting stuck with a windoze box.

Leopard runs as smooth and quick as a BMW M6, while Vista putts along with as much sex appeal as a Dodge Nitro SLT.

VISTA is not even worth pirating and I will attest. M$ is releasing crap these days and it's no big secret. Go try a Mac, you pay for what you get.

I really need to say this. Vista Sucks. It's own IE won't work after putting SP1. I can't connect to VPN. I can't do any thing except seeing the widgets saying no service. Useless.

I can't Benefit from "Upgrading" from a "Mac's superior capabilities". None of the software I use will run natively on OS X. Not to mention I don't consider a month long turn around for a critical security update from apple as being successful when every other OS had a patch ready inside a few days. And apple is the LAST company that should call anyone out about how much advertising is spent. over the last 3 years I've seen 20x the advertising for mac/os x vs pc/windows. I also find it interesting you compare a full featured hardware/os solution (mac/OS X) to just an OS (windows). its a bit like comparing a full car to a crate engine. "I love my BMW and will take it any day over that crappy 351". *shrug*

Wonder when the lawyers will start on the Apple monopoly?

Hmm, really? I thought Microsoft did a great job with their ads. And how can Apple make fun of Microsoft ads? They show 10 times more ads than Microsoft. And I've used Mac and Vista. Mac is cool and stuff, but to get real work done (not just video or photo editing, actual work) I still need my PC.

As a computer scientist who programs functional (and, if I do say so, moderately attractive) applications for both Mac AND PC, I must say this never-ending war between the platforms borders on ridiculous at times.

Vista and OSX are *entirely* different beasts. You either choose to buy into Apple with its effective, yet closely-held hardware architecture (as OSX means Apple or bust), or you accept the massive scope of Vista, made to run on an unimaginably long list of hardware.

Each OS has faults from daily usability and scientific standpoints, and each has strengths.

When you're speaking of this large a technological scope, it is similar to Republicans and Democrats fighting about how fundamentally *WRONG* the other party is on a given issue. These things are nearly always philosophically debatable, qualitative, and inclusive of many THOUSANDS of variables.

Why is Microsoft punished for trying?Clearly, public image dictates everything.

i've been using vista for close to a year now and i love it. everything has worked with no trouble.

i wish i could say the same for my iphone.

Microsoft is taking the high road. Apple takes the low road. Apple gets praised for taking the low road. Microsoft gets criticized for taking the high road. It's a topsy-turvey world we live in. It's a sad world we live in.

Full disclosure: I'm a koolaid sipping Mac User.

I have to agree with Bret here. The religious wars between Mac, Windows, and Linux users is silly. There is no perfect OS, nor is there one OS that is best for all people.

That being said, both MS and Vista have a perception problem to say the least. Apple is taking advantage of this beautifully with their very funny ads. I actually liked the Bill & Jerry ads and wished MS had continued them. They were too edgy and gutsy, though, and Ballmer blinked. If he really had a pair they would have pursued more of those ads instead of the lame back up ads. There was a lot of humor potential that could have humanized MS. Bill WAS funny, dammit!

Anyway, the way MS is being run, they seem to be running scared. They really need to bring back Bill.

I like windows Vista and it's very easy to use and today it's very popular in world.

I'm convinced that MS hires people to post on sites like this ... nobody in there right mind could feel compelled to promote a monopoly. Am I paranoid or are there a lot of posters of Lenin hanging around this city?

Its a sad world when someone thinks its a sad world because one company is picking on another company ... seriously there are way more things to find that could make this world sad.

As far as the high road, Apple is on it, but maybe they are shooting low? I think they have to when dealing with Microsoft.

Clearly Apple is not perfect, I dont have an iPhone, I didnt even buy an iPod, but having to work with both systems - I can say, without a doubt OS X (10.3, 10.4 & 10.5) are way better than anything MS has put out. Even when Vista works as advertised its just embarassing. Also, so far, OS X has proven to be way more secure than XP or Vista. Just talk to my customers who fail to keep their Anti Virus/Spyware up to date! Certainly Apple needs to do better, but they are already doing better than Microsoft... Apple can not help that it has a better design.

And arrogance does go both ways - just remember.

Maybe I'll get an iPhone soon.

What MS should do is show how being an Apple user limits you when it comes to running software that is not specifically made for Apple HW--or having to ship all your HW back to the company if you run into problems. Apple is just as controlling as MS--but at least I don't have to sell my soul to a company (like Apple) when it comes to software/hardware. Yes--Apple will allow you to run Windows on their platform--why spend $1200+ on a piece of hardware just to run windows? I'm just waiting to see how many developers will eventually stop developing software for my iphone because of Apple's protective practices. Apple is no different that MS when it comes to protectionism.

I run linux. What are you people arguing about, again?

It is sad that Microsoft has for years imitated the MAC OS, now they are following the Macx advertising campaign to define their own campaign. Is there no one left in MS that has a clue?

That Apple can do these ads is entirely Microsoft's fault, who blew their ad campaign massively.

1. error: MS announced the massive budget of the campaign.
2. error: MS acknowledged that Apple is the big problem.
3. error: They started showing the Gatesfeld ads, which were clearly meant to have follow-ups.
4. error: Before the Gatesfeld ads can reach their message, MS gets cold feet, and replaces them with "I'm a PC".

At this point, the whole mess has been slammed into the ground, and everyone knows that MS has just kissed $300 mill away.

OS X runs very nicely on hardware configurations that Apple tightly controls and charges a premium for. It can have lots of foibles though, when you experiment a bit(in violation of Apple's licensing)and port it over to other hardware configurations that you put together yourself. Oh my!

But Vista runs just wonderfully too, on a "certified" hardware configuration. The issues creep in when you cut corners and go cheap with unsupported hardware configurations.

Microsoft's real problem with the original Vista roll-out was in not putting tighter reigns on where it could be deployed.

Apple fixed that very nicely by saying there is only one very specific Intel hardware configuration that you can have. All of you that have older Apple gear; too bad for you.

Could Microsoft have gotten away with that?

I don't know about advertising and Vista, but I am highly looking forward to Windows 7 and the Cloud computing platform that Windows is building.

*whistles innocently*

@WSH

"All of you that have older Apple gear; too bad for you."

That is absolute rubbish! I have a 7 year old eMac running leopard no problem! It actually sped up after upgrading!

"Wonder when the lawyers will start on the Apple monopoly?"

You don't have to wonder.

That would only happen if Apple had a monopoly to begin with. You are aware of what a monopoly is right?

It sounds like you don't so here is the definition:

Monopoly:(economics) a market in which there are many buyers but only one seller;

Now that you know the definition of a monopoly, how are you suggesting that Apple is one?

Leopard runs as smooth and quick as a BMW M6, while Vista putts along with as much sex appeal as a Dodge Nitro SLT.

I'm quoting this from john Smith

This is totally true. I own both a PC that runs vista
and an Imac that runs leopard

Here's an interesting point
i have to have 4Gb's of RAM and Core 2 Quad Q6600 to run Vista effectivly and play games decently- this is basically as new as computers get right now with the newest operating system.

Meanwhile my Imac is a G4 for those who dont know that model went out of production a long time ago(2004ish). G4 processor at 1.5Ghz with 512Mb's of RAM and it runs leopard without a hitch and games....no problem.

Leopard came out around the same time as Vista- actually before Vista....and they still couldnt get it right.

The only reason ANYONE argues for Microsoft is because they have yet to try a Mac for more than 5 minutes...if only they would lower their prices.

Microsoft needs to learn....LESS IS MORE