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Microsoft Posts Anti-Apple Windows Phone Videos of Questionable Taste [Update: Removed]

donutbagel said:
You said that the iPhone camera and hardware is behind, then, "When I look for a phone, I look for functionality and the best camera."

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There is a good amount of Mac software, just not a single Mac virus (at least not one that I've heard of) and very few malware in comparison. Why would real software makers but not malware *******s develop for Mac?
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Here's the story behind my phone:

I'm more concerned with hardware specifications than a camera but that still plays a role in my purchase. I also like a large screen.

I was originally opting for a Nexus 4 (It has a quad core processor, 4.7" screen, 2GB of RAM) but the London Drugs kiosk I went to had no Fido ones in stock. They tried activating a Rogers Nexus 4 but there was issues so I couldn't. There were no other good smartphones available so I got the iPhone 5. Luckily, I was able to keep my Tiny Tower save and use iMovie trailers.

As for the virus issue, recently an ugly trojan affected around 600,000 Mac users. I can't remember many specifics, but this is why many new antivirus software programs are developed for Mac OS X, such as Kaspersky. Kaspersky, by the way, is excellent software. I use it on all of my main PCs.

The reason virus makers don't generally go for Macs is because the user base isn't as big as Windows and their expertise is already on Windows so it would be useless to switch to the Mac platform. They have more of an effect on the system that has the larger market share, and for a lot of the time Windows was quite a bit larger than the Mac market share. The more popular Macs become (It's happening) the more viruses that will be written for it. Once Mac OS X is in Window's position in market share, trust me, there will be a huge amount more.

Read this here: Windows is technically considered to be more secure for a few reasons: Windows is patched more often than Mac OS X, Windows has fewer published vulnerabilities and has more countermeasures against attacks.

The article I linked to above generally seems to weigh in support for the Windows side of things.
 
Renzatic said:
It's the same reason why there are only three or four pieces of malware floating around on Linux. It's a platform mostly chosen by people who are at least a little computer savvy, and aren't as likely to screw up and allow a trojan to get onto their machine. Not only are you fishing in a smaller pond, but they're even less likely to get a bite there because most of the people using the platform know what the hooks look like.

Windows users represent everyone from the tech savvy professional all the way down to the grandma who's never used a computer before in their life. Not only does the platform represent a bigger target, but they're preying on a more naive userbase. The chances of a malware author getting hits there are exponentially greater.
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I don't know if Windows users are less knowledgable about viruses than Mac users. A lot of the Windows computers are used by corporations, and the home users are more likely to be on the lookup for viruses than a Mac user who thinks that he's safe. Why would old and naive people use Windows but not Mac?
 
donutbagel said:
The ad was on Microsoft's own Windows Phone YouTube channel, not a fan page or anything. If you take a look at it, there are still hate comments all over the channel.

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But you're using your knowledge as someone who follows this stuff. You know ahead of time that the 5C is plastic and not the 5S. If you didn't know, and you saw this, you'd think that the 5S secretly is plastic if you were to believe MS.

They didn't even show a picture of the 5C, nothing. Just a comment with the only context being two comments about the 5S around it. It's comparable to showing a clip of some product then the next clip being a person saying "it sucks", and you'd assume that "it" is the last subject.
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Yes, you're absolutely correct, and that's because this commercial was thrown together and organized by 3rd graders. I wasn't arguing against the confusing nature of this ad, I was just correcting the other member... but his confusion only solidifies your point, I guess... lol.
 
coolfactor said:
Geez, get off your horse. You want iOS with a bigger screen? Carry around an iPad mini. Problem solved.
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I'm with you on this. Bunch of size queens and megapixel queens. I like the smaller screen. My thumb reaches and it fits in my pocket. Anyone who cheers megapixels as the end all, knows nothing about photography.

PS:Those ads just show what a sad state Microsoft finds itself in.
 
donutbagel said:
But the ad was on Microsoft's own Windows Phone YouTube channel, not a fan page or anything. If you take a look at it, there are still hate comments all over the channel.
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at the very least, an ad is going to mention their company or product or logo or.. something..

if someone didn't tell you microsoft made this video, you would never think microsoft made it.

but hey, think what you want.. this isn't a big deal and nothing (to me at least) worth arguing over.
 
giantfan1224 said:
How are they raising the price by $100 every time? The price has stayed the same, with the base price being $199 on contract for the last, what, 4 or 5 years?
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That's not the price of the phone - that's the price you get from the providers after all the subsidies. At least in Europe, the phone itself (and yes, that's relevant as most providers here don't subsidise as heavily as those in the US) has been getting more and more expensive.
 
LOLZpersonok said:
The reason virus makers don't generally go for Macs is because the user base isn't as big as Windows and their expertise is already on Windows so it would be useless to switch to the Mac platform. They have more of an effect on the system that has the larger market share, and for a lot of the time Windows was quite a bit larger than the Mac market share. The more popular Macs become (It's happening) the more viruses that will be written for it. Once Mac OS X is in Window's position in market share, trust me, there will be a huge amount more.

Read this here: Windows is technically considered to be more secure for a few reasons: Windows is patched more often than Mac OS X, Windows has fewer published vulnerabilities and has more countermeasures against attacks.

The article I linked to above generally seems to weigh in support for the Windows side of things.
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"The reason virus makers don't generally go for Macs is because the user base isn't as big as Windows and their expertise is already on Windows so it would be useless to switch to the Mac platform."

The same exact thing could still be said about legitimate programmers.

"Windows is patched more often than Mac OS X, Windows has fewer published vulnerabilities and has more countermeasures against attacks."

Well duh, it needs to be patched more frequently because there are more frequent attacks. Apple can't release anti-malware patches if there isn't malware to remove.

I'm totally aware that Macs can get malware as well, but it seems like you'd have to be extra unlucky/gullible to get it. I tried using my Windows VM like I use my Mac, and boom, "all your base are belong to us". I got a bunch of malware, one of which wiped the user account.

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tripmusic said:
They probably figured, 'Hey screw it, Samsung is doing the same thing so why not?'.
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No, Samsung hasn't been doing anything nearly this bad.
 
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dgree03 said:
So much defense for a person you never knew....

Either way, there is no guarantee that the executive portray in the video is SJ. Even if it is, I see it as a metaphor... the entire clip is full of sarcasm.
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A metaphor? Do you even know what that means?

The guy is wearing the classic Steve Jobs outfit. And perception is reality.

Your average viewer isn't going to watch that video and say "oh hey I see what they did there! It's just a metaphor!"

gtfo of here..
 
Lame

It wouldn't have been that bad if it were actually funny. I wish gates would get back to Being the CEO.
 
danr_97070 said:
Keep pushing Microsoft and I'll never buy another one of your products...

ever...

I had considered an Xbone but after all of the controversy... nah...

I had considered a Surface but after a poorly designed and executed roll out... nah...

I had considered a Nokia Phone but after you bought them... on second thought... nah...

Keep it up losers...
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I love this.
 
donutbagel said:
I'm totally aware that Macs can get malware as well, but it seems like you'd have to be extra unlucky/gullible to get it. I tried using my Windows VM like I use my Mac, and boom, "all your base are belong to us". I got a bunch of malware, one of which wiped the user account.
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The rest of your post doesn't require a response because either that's what I'm saying or I'm confused.

I did forget to mention that the main way contract viruses is because they have a tendency to click on everything and that's an issue.

When you ran Windows in VMware I assume that's the reason to you attracting so many viruses. The simple truth is that you don't contract viruses like that on Windows unless you click fishy emails, advertisements, links and Google Search results.

Sure, you may get a couple viruses if you don't do all that.

But everyone should know that a few precautions should be taken when buying a new Windows PC.

You always buy a good AV software (such as Kaspersky Internet Security) as a minimum. You can take further precautions by downloading and installing Web of Trust and AdBlock Plus, both being browser extensions. Even more, don't click oddities you see online. This is how they attract new users.

If an advertisement seems too good to be true (Learn a new language in 10 days!) then it's good to avoid it. Advertising like that really bothers me.

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SeattleMoose said:
At this point in the movie...violin music usually starts playing....:p
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That's what I imagine when posting stuff like that
 
StyxMaker said:
Seems to me the home page would quickly become so long it would take hours to scroll through it looking for a specific item.
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Haha... true.

Then again... Apple made over 100 "Get a Mac" commercials and web videos over a 3 year span. Each video had a clear message about one topic or feature of the Mac. Over time... those little bits added up. And we're still talking about the "Get a Mac" campaign today... even though they haven't aired since 2009.

All I'm saying is... Microsoft needs to start telling the Windows Phone story... sooner than later.

It's been almost 3 years since Windows Phone launced... and their commercials still don't deliver a good message. All they seems to do is focus on other phones' shortcomings.

jasongw's comment was well said. There are tons of cool things that Windows Phone can do. It's a shame nobody knows about it.

Why can't Microsoft demonstrate at least some of those things in their commercials? The general public has no idea that Windows Phone can do all that.

Here is the outline of the most famous Windows Phone commercial... The Wedding

  • Enormous phones
  • Galaxy
  • S-Beam
  • Siri
  • Old people use iPhones
  • Apple iSheep
  • Samsung CopyBots
  • Is there an app for that?
That's a little too much time spent on other companies' phones and features... with nothing about their own products.

The commercial did end with a small mention of the Nokia Lumia 920.... but if you blinked you missed it.

You certainly don't learn anything from their commercials....
 
Even if these were meant to "pump up the team" and were supposed to be for internal consumption only, that's an awful attempt at cheerleading.

I mean, who in their right mind is going to watch these videos and feel good about a Microsoft product or service? When you spend the entire video telling the audience (whoever it was intended to be) how bad the "other guy" is while failing to mention how good you are by comparison, you don't really accomplish much except giving the audience some lame talking points.

The fact that they made not one or two -- but over a half dozen of these videos just goes to show that even with the 900M loss on Surface devices, they still don't mind continuing to throw money down the drain to have stuff like this produced.

P.S. -- Who wants to line up to be the next CEO of this company now? All those candidates are finding out that they have a lot of work to do if this kind of stuff is not only being produced but is making its way out to the internet.
 
donutbagel said:
I don't know if Windows users are less knowledgable about viruses than Mac users. A lot of the Windows computers are used by corporations, and the home users are more likely to be on the lookup for viruses than a Mac user who thinks that he's safe. Why would old and naive people use Windows but not Mac?
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It's not so much that Windows users are less knowledgeable, as it is someone who isn't as knowledgeable is more likely to be using a Windows machine. They're the people who don't care about learning the ins and outs of their computer. They just want something cheap to use for looking at pictures and posting on Facebook. They're not going to spend $800+ for something unless they have no other choice.

Up until recently, only Windows machines provided a cheap option for these people. If you were a Malware author, which platform would you prefer? The one with a smaller based used mostly by people who know what they're doing, or the platform that'll get you more clicks on that "we've detected you've got a billion viruses" banner you've been putting up all over the internet?

Things are changing now though, because these same people are now buying into the more controlled environments that iOS/Android tablets and Chromebooks provide. Because of this, we're already starting to see a shift away from traditional malware to more man in the middle and server exploit type attacks.
 
And what has Microsoft been doing for the past 6 months? Oh right, innovating new ways to bash Apple.
 
I was at the MS Store a couple of days ago and was astonished at the pricing of the Nokia Windows 8 phones plus on top of that you got a $50 gift card... :eek:

You wouldn't know this unless you walked into an MS Store - no advertising anywhere...

I guess this Marketing Campaign/Group won out instead...:rolleyes:
 
How Far Apple Fans Have Fallen

BC2009 said:
Oh Microsoft.... how far you have fallen.
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I appreciate Apple products as much as the next MR reader, but I've got to say that was a hilarious video. The fact that MS felt compelled to pull it is a commentary on our inability to appreciate the humor in situation. It's wasn't personal so enjoy for what it's worth ;)
 
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