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Microsoft Remains on Offensive with 'Apple Tax' Report and Latest Laptop Ad
- Thread starter Eidorian
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I'm not complaining about "vague". I'm talking about comparisons that are demonstrably false, like listing Office as an expense for the mac user but not for the PC user. Has Apple made any claims that are that clearly false?
And as for vista bashing, hasn't MS themselves admitted that consumers are disappointed in Vista? Isn't there plenty of bashing with specifics from PC users? And isn't the fact that MS has been forced to keep selling brand new machines with XP this long after vista's release pretty damning?
Could you rephrase? I'm not sure what you're trying to say.
Bluray IS compressed, it's just at a higher data rate than downloadable formats. And are you sure that no mac can play back video at 1080p at the Bluray bitrate? Are there any example files online anywhere that can be used as a test?
A single person's anecdotes don't reveal much, you have to look at widespread trends. And in my experience, persistent crashes tend to be related to hardware problems (usually ram or hard drive) or an unstable app or drivers.
Ok - I thought the first ad was decent. The second ad was/is really bad, and this one is even worse.
What could have been a good campaign has turned into garbage - did you see the faces the mother is making when looking at the Mac? Its pretty ridiculous.
What could have been a good campaign has turned into garbage - did you see the faces the mother is making when looking at the Mac? Its pretty ridiculous.
So let me get this straight, it's okay for Apple to target Microsofts customer base but not the other way around? Interesting...
Yes, Vista has been more reliable than OS X for me. I had 7 OSX crashes already and only 1 Vista crash.
Come on MS - if Vista is 700% as reliable as OSX, that would be a much better ad campaign.
What was it that crashed OSX?
What would be the point? You can't stream Blu-Ray quality (yet), and you can't download Blu-Ray movies, so what would you watch even if it can play 1080p? Tech demos?
Silly apple user. You must not have used a proper media center box. Let me describe the experience.
Windows Media Center is a full-blown application that manages everything including movies, tv, recordings, music, radio, news.
Windows Media Center has support for 8 TV tuners and Radio as well. So you can record 8 programs at once. Build a playlist on the fly, listen to internet radio or FM radio or read the news.
Windows Media Center has third-party apps. So you can watch Netflix, Vongo, and many other stream providers directly within...and all using your comfy remote.
You use a Logitech Harmony remote. This remote can control everything include your lights. It has a digital screen too.
The media box would have an X-FI installed. You have NOT HEARD music or movies until you hear them with an X-FI. Once you try the X-FI crystallizer, you don't go back to anything else.
Now, you have your 1080p projector connected through HDMI. A 200" screen is breath-taking.
The Z-5500, with that big subwoofer, amazing.
It's a DIY setup. You cannot do this on a mac platform, period. It's windows only.
The point would be knowing what hardware will be able to handle it when the content becomes available, as well as authoring content.
So any test content online anywhere at that data rate?
Why would I use my MacBook for this when I have a Vista desktop, with the required PCI-Express slots mind you, right next to it again?
I suggest that you should read my previous posts first.
Even if the current hardware can't handle it now, you can upgrade the Apple way later on. You just pick up your system, throw it away and buy a whole new one. Now that's convenience.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-SUu4epa-g
Can you read? I said blurary uncompressed format. No mac can play back 1080p video at blurary bitrate, try it. It will stutter. You need GPU decoding and the software that supports it works only on windows.
VMWare running for 2 days, when I shutdown VMWare....OSX crashes (it's random, 4 times).
When Macbook comes out of sleep, if I immediately type in my password, it crashes (again random, 2 times).
ITunes "determining gapless playback", I forced it to quit and it crashed OS X (once, maybe twice)
Why would I use my MacBook for this when I have a Vista desktop, with the required PCI-Express slots mind you, right next to it again?
I suggest that you should read my previous posts first.
The question is why are you using Vista? Shouldn't you use OSX? Oh wait, you can't. OSX and Macs sucks for home theatre function.
Which is meaningless as it's no different than the MS tax PC users pay. Most PCs come with Vista home installed which, for lack of polite terms, is useless for most users and not comparable to the single edition of OS X. Generally, users end up having to upgrade to a better version of Windows which isn't cheap, last time I checked. Add in the AV software you'll need to buy because MS makes an insecure product and you've got what appears to be a significant MS tax.
Yeah, I agree. So why is Windows off-the-shelf still so much more expensive than OS X?
Sure, but you're ignoring context. In this context, MS is the 500-lb gorilla so it looks really weird for them to be taking swipes at Apple. Apple can get away with mocking MS in their computer ads because they have a small share of that market. Imagine Apple taking shots at the Zune in their iPod ads. Wouldn't that look odd and really petty? When the biggest player in a given market attacks a smaller competition, it comes off as playground bully behavior.
same with costco, costco's website is a load of crap, the stuff you find online isnt even on the website and vise versa, bestbuy while not nearly as bad is the same way, ive seen laptops and peripherals not listed online
and a 3650 will slaughter a 4500HD and 9400 for gaming, even though its still slow IMO, gaming is nothing less than a 9800m
These commercials are so sappy.
I don't understand why they divert into so much stray data, like "Here's pink notebook" *Price Is Right loser horns*. If I was a fresh buyer coming to computers I would see the people in these commercials and discount them immediately because they seem so scatter brained and indefinite.
These were made to retain the fearful, poor PC crowd.
I don't understand why they divert into so much stray data, like "Here's pink notebook" *Price Is Right loser horns*. If I was a fresh buyer coming to computers I would see the people in these commercials and discount them immediately because they seem so scatter brained and indefinite.
These were made to retain the fearful, poor PC crowd.
My copy of Vista Ultimate, which I got for dirt cheap, comes with Windows Media Center. A single PCI-Express ATSC tuner is just $50 and drivers away from adding another one into the mix. It just works?
As much as I hate the Apple bashing, this is a good commercial, though the end kind of ruins it. I think the people who keep asking what MS's point is in doing these commercials are being dense. And I see several people that don't understand why MS advertises different manufacturers and the same retailer.
It's simple. Microsoft will not get sales without manufacturers, and many manufacturers sell by the retail channel. I'm sure MS has a contract with these companies that says they have to give referrals, and help promote partners, in order to strengthen relationships (with the manufacturers/retailers).
(Just a hypothetical situation) Manufacturers probably came up to MS telling them that they are losing sales to another hardware vendor: Apple. Though MS owns over 90% of its OS market, its partners pretty much rival each other in the hardware market. Apple sales hurt PC manufacturers. Face it, there are a ton of sales going to Apple coming from PC folks. And these people still have to buy XP or Vista to install into their Mac laptops. I don't see MS losing too much money, though they recognize Apple's advancements.
Last thing, Best Buy is the best retailer for PC products. Why not advertise them as well? People are comfortable with Best Buy already, so then strengthen that bond, and Best Buy will help strengthen the PC bond.
Just saying, these decisions are purely business decisions ... not technical ones (like why would MS do this because we all know they have more USB ports, or know they have blueray).
It's simple. Microsoft will not get sales without manufacturers, and many manufacturers sell by the retail channel. I'm sure MS has a contract with these companies that says they have to give referrals, and help promote partners, in order to strengthen relationships (with the manufacturers/retailers).
(Just a hypothetical situation) Manufacturers probably came up to MS telling them that they are losing sales to another hardware vendor: Apple. Though MS owns over 90% of its OS market, its partners pretty much rival each other in the hardware market. Apple sales hurt PC manufacturers. Face it, there are a ton of sales going to Apple coming from PC folks. And these people still have to buy XP or Vista to install into their Mac laptops. I don't see MS losing too much money, though they recognize Apple's advancements.
Last thing, Best Buy is the best retailer for PC products. Why not advertise them as well? People are comfortable with Best Buy already, so then strengthen that bond, and Best Buy will help strengthen the PC bond.
Just saying, these decisions are purely business decisions ... not technical ones (like why would MS do this because we all know they have more USB ports, or know they have blueray).
My copy of Vista Ultimate, which I got for dirt cheap, comes with Windows Media Center. A single PCI-Express ATSC tuner is just $50 and drivers away from adding another one into the mix. It just works?
Geez, save your PCI-X slots and use USB tuners instead. Also, get an X-FI and enable the crystallizer function. You will never listen to audio/video on a macbook ever again after listening to an X-FI.
last time i checked vista is far more capable than OSX, notice how many billions of HW configurations it works with? (yes BILLIONS if not hundreds of billions as vista and xp work on machines and hw from 2000 and 2001)
whens the last time apple stopped being lazy and programed OSX to work with other hardware? never?
AV's are free, Antivir (currently the best in detection rates last time i checked) is FREE, corporate with network administration you would have to payfor but who runs a 500 node domain in their house?
OSX technically does not work on any other computer than a mac and there for any support for additional HW is severly limited (the prorgammers dont have to ensure the Os supports new nvidia and ati cards, etc)
so apple is allowed to mock MS and not the other way around? lol are you going to cry too?
i guess in your mind apple can do no wrong.
Microsoft only has 2 things to attack Apple on.
1) Price, but then again you get what you pay for. Hard to compare a "luxury" car to an economy car.
2) Games, I do agree here though. Apple needs to take games more seriously. But hey, there is really only 1 game I play on the computer these days and thats WoW. Everything else I play I play on my PS3 or Wii.
I think Microsoft should be spending money on making their products higher quality. You can only spend so many marketing dollars selling a polished turd.
Microsoft is losing market share for a good damn reason. They make crap products, simple as that. No company is perfect, don't get me wrong. Microsoft has shinny object syndrome. Its like that kid who sees another kid eating ice cream then screams "I want ice cream!". Microsoft search is never going anywhere, they have tried and tried and failed. Its never going to work, stop burning money on it.
Microsoft has hotmail, which I think might still be the largest web mail system. Perfect, constraint there! Focus on Office, not SongSmith. Focus on your OS, not your crap browser which has no sense of standards.
This is not totally a Microsoft bashing post, all of the recent events they have brought on them selves. People are not happy with Windows or most Microsoft products. The company I work at started out as a 60% Mac shop. Now, we are over 85% ... people try OS X and never want to go back. (well, most of them won't)
1) Price, but then again you get what you pay for. Hard to compare a "luxury" car to an economy car.
2) Games, I do agree here though. Apple needs to take games more seriously. But hey, there is really only 1 game I play on the computer these days and thats WoW. Everything else I play I play on my PS3 or Wii.
I think Microsoft should be spending money on making their products higher quality. You can only spend so many marketing dollars selling a polished turd.
Microsoft is losing market share for a good damn reason. They make crap products, simple as that. No company is perfect, don't get me wrong. Microsoft has shinny object syndrome. Its like that kid who sees another kid eating ice cream then screams "I want ice cream!". Microsoft search is never going anywhere, they have tried and tried and failed. Its never going to work, stop burning money on it.
Microsoft has hotmail, which I think might still be the largest web mail system. Perfect, constraint there! Focus on Office, not SongSmith. Focus on your OS, not your crap browser which has no sense of standards.
This is not totally a Microsoft bashing post, all of the recent events they have brought on them selves. People are not happy with Windows or most Microsoft products. The company I work at started out as a 60% Mac shop. Now, we are over 85% ... people try OS X and never want to go back. (well, most of them won't)
PCI-X = 64bit PCI
PCIe = PCI Express
PCI-X is really only on server boards, and technically its inferior to PCIe 16x