Microsoft Remains on Offensive with 'Apple Tax' Report and Latest Laptop Ad

[macuserx86]

Actually I would buy a Sony Vaio as well...IF I wanted a PC. The rest of the world of PC lappys are just pure junk.

Bad call mate, we used to buy exclusively sony computers in our household and I can tell you from experience that they are overpriced *****. Build quality is pathetic, and you get very little for your money. Not to mention the insistence of including Memory stick slots everywhere, who the hell uses Memory stick?!

 

[sharp65]

Kind of like why I won't recommend anyone to buy a PC because I am not prepared to ask anyone to spend more than $200 for a machine with Windows Vista, which is a horrible OS. I don't care if it has 20 USB ports, firewire, and a 6TB HD, if the OS sucks, what good are all of the features???

*yawn* the same old baseless arguments are getting old. You should really try thinking of something that at least has some merit.

 

[RaZaK]

hmm...

sooooo..... let me get this straight.
$300 million in ad money to Seinfeld and those clowns behind the Burger King....
oh well, that didn't work. let's beat Apple on price.... It might be a valid comparison if Microsoft dictated the price of the hardware and if they had a stable\secure\non-annoying operating system! (Windows 7 doesn't count because it's not released yet)

oh snap! yes, i said it.

i know i'm being silly, but i'm just rising (or sinking) to the level of maturity of these ads. Microsoft should have used that ad money more wisely. How about free upgrades to Windows 7 for the poor consumers who got screwed over by Vista's performance? and, how about MS makes sure that Windows 7 is more secure than Fort Knox?

 

[Pants Dragon]

My favorite OSX trick: difini?[option+esc]tely!

OH... MY... GOD!

and i thought cmd control 'd' was cool

I'm really confused. I can't figure out what either of these do. Or how to use them.

 

[Bonte]

This is the biggest advertising Apple got for free, the Mac gets more attention than any other brand in these commercials.

 

[Biolizard]

*Dr Cox voice* Dear God, that is one high-pitched kid.

 

[moutian]

Grow up, kid! Then you will like a mac.

 

[RaZaK]

If I get a PC it will be the Lenovo W700ds, and its over 5k.
1GB video card (now thats topping apple), etc. - but the price is up there...and its not pretty.

So the commercials of the cheaper PC are really a lie...also, Microsoft should capitalize on the fact Vista can run on a mac...not work against that fact.

Give me a Lenovo that has the glass track pad and looks of the unibody, and your on to something.

i don't think they want to publicize Vista running on the Mac since it's been proven Vista runs better on Macs than most comparable PC hardware. I know i'm going to get asked for a link, but there were reviews and comparisons done out there, people. just google it.

 

[WeegieMac]

The adverts do make sense to those who they are targeting, but to people who are (to use Gianpaolo's term) "Technically Savvy", these ad's won't sway anyone. This latest ad is amusing in that no-one I know who games on PC via laptop would consider a Sony Vaio, and Sony themselves do not consider their laptops to be gaming systems.

These ad's are however, the very embodiment of Steve Ballmer, a man who regardless of his position or the company he works for, I personally find to be am embarrassment to the human race. Any man, and I mean ANY, who leaps onto stage to deliver a keynote while screaming, "WOOOO! GIVE IT UP FOR ME"! as they sweat an obscene amount from every pore.

And the awfully scripted line of "Maybe we'd rather buy PC" that the little boy mumbled out should have been re-shot to make him look less disappointed.

As for Blu-Ray, I don't want nor need it in my Mac when I have a dedicated player hooked up to my HD projector. That's just me though.

 

[wesrk]

just have Apple to a follow up to any of these ads, but more to the point this one with the kid, flash forward 2 months and have the kid complaining about his laptop having the new-trendy virus that's going around to the geek squad guys

sorry, I was just at best buy last night and saw the computer the second ad guy bought and some guys were saying somewhat the same thing I wrote.

 

[Mr. Giver '94]

These ads are so ridiculous because the only brand they mention is Apple.





I think the Microsoft marketing team needs a refresher course in basic advertising.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Can you get a Macbook or Macbook Pro anywhere with Blu-ray, off-the-shelf or not? Didn't think so.

You can get a Vaio FW from Newegg "off-the-shelf" for $1300.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834117857

Wow, that's a very good deal.

 

[chr1s60]

*yawn* the same old baseless arguments are getting old. You should really try thinking of something that at least has some merit.

When Microsoft fixes it people will stop saying it. You are lying to yourself if you think Vista is a good OS.

 

[WeegieMac]

*Dr Cox voice* Dear God, that is one high-pitched kid.

Quoted cause it made me laugh ... *Scrubs fan here.

Although I'd have gone with, "For the love of God, Molly ... why did you buy a Vaio for gaming? They're so bad that even if you had to rescue my salt soaked body from the ocean, and breathe life into my lifeless body, I would still be upset that the computer you chose was a Vaio"!

 

[DMann]

I love the fact they were shopping for a "gaming" PC and bought a Sony Vaio. Off the shelf Sony Vaios don't ship with gaming GPU's and Blu-Ray for under $1500.00 and Sony doesn't even advertise gaming on their PC's. Good one again Microsoft.

Shhhhhhhhh! This defeats the entire focus of the ad.

So, MS is basically saying that we should stop paying the Microsoft-tax, and switch to Linux? Or is their argument totally opposite when it's their product that costs more?

Next ad: IT apprentice walks in looking for a laptop under $1500, at MS's request. He looks at a Dell, and requests that LINUX be installed for the OS. Now, there's a PC for ya.

So they decided to acknowledge the fact that Macs are available at Best Buy as well. And they made poor Lauren run all over the place.

Typical MS oversight.

Yea, they really missed the mark with this one. Gaming is real weakness on a Mac, yet they don't really bring down the Mac for that reason. The kid simply says "EHHHHHH IT'S KINDAAA SMALLLL." Also, in my opinion, laptops aren't meant for gaming, period. Light gaming, maybe, but most can't handle the new stuff coming out, and if they can, you can count on abysmal battery life, temperatures similar to that of the Sun, and something as heavy as a brick.

He got want he wanted, and will soon live to regret it.

Ha ha, Microsoft has to PAY people to buy a PC.

How else would they be able to bribe people to buy this dreck?

To be fair, if Apple said they'd buy me a computer, anyone I wanted, I'd sure as heck let them =p.

They don't seem to have the need to beg.

I can't wait to see Apple's commercial against Microsuck I have a feeling it will be good.

Clear, simple, and to the point.

My joke was that it looks like PC's aren't selling well enough so Microsoft has to pay people to take them.

They've been doing this for the XBox for years - losing millions per year by literally subsidizing them in an attempt to compete with the gaming console market, resulting in MS taking a huge loss with every unit sold - Great business model.

As much as Ballmer says there is no threat, there must be some threat if they're going to these lengths to drive PC sales.

Funny though how it seems Blu-ray was a big decision-making factor in the purchase. Oh and I loved how it needed to be fast so they could look up stuff and then get out to baseball. I would of thought that kind of speed would be dependant on their broadband.

Sure, didn't you know? A PC running Windex can make dial-up scream.

 

[mosx]

Another great ad that points out many facts.

First being that you can get much better hardware for a much lower price with PCs.

Second being that Apple fails to adopt new technologies, like blu-ray.

Third being that Apple just doesn't give you choice at all. Again, its the iWay or the highway. No real choice in hardware or options.

 

[Christopher8258]

You will get more bang for your buck with a pc. A mac is used to look pretty at the local coffee shop while you blog about how bad vista is.

 

[Howmanoid]

The best offense is a desperate defense.

To say that MSFT is on the offense is to turn this whole thing on its head. They are frantically thrashing, looking for one thing, any thing that they can hang their hat on. That "thing" right now is the price of OTHER PEOPLE'S hardware. Remember punters, MSFT DOESN'T MAKE PCs.... It's an important point. Why? Because they act like the WalM*rt of software. it's in their interest to have cheap hardware coz it offsets the MICROSOFT TAX that the whole computer industry had been paying for decades.

To call this marketing collateral a "report" is to give it status it never deserved. Page one admits - "Sponsored by Microsoft".. For those of you not in marketing roles, that doesn't mean that they give money to charity, it mean THEY PAID FOR IT.

Poor desperate Microdorks.. Saddled with crappy OSes that are bug traps on a good day and virus magnets the rest of the time. The only thing they can do is try to draw parallels between Cadillacs and Pintos to try to deflect the hard hitting truth that they are slow, old and way behind the curve in terms of what the market wants.

Windows 7?? The savior? I doubt it. It's window dressing (pardon the pun) on an OS that's been creaking at the seams for years as it's desperately hung onto backwards compatibility at the expense of the thing that MSFT always claim, innovation. You can put all all the transparency you like on your window frames and you can render little icons of open documents to make people think that this is new, but you're going to have to face the fact someday that Apple did all that 5 years ago and that all you really have to offer is an OS that you finally stripped the bloat that you claimed was "Core" to the os out of and that you're at last waking up to the fact that Moore's law isn't going to give you a free ticket to write crap any longer.

Poor Microsoft. How totally alone you must feel.

 

[mosx]

They've been doing this for the XBox for years - losing millions per year by literally subsidizing them in an attempt to compete with the gaming console market, resulting in MS taking a huge loss with every unit sold - Great business model.

You realize that the Xbox has been profitable for awhile now, right? That it was the first generation unit that was a loss leader, not the second generation. The Xbox360 has been quite successful financially and in the marketplace, seeing as how its the only true next generation console that is leading the market. The other true next generation console is in a very distant third among the three available (not counting the PS2, which is in rapid decline).

 

[localoid]

The reactions are better than the ads...

Quoting from the CNN Money.com article, Is the Apple press falling into Microsoft’s trap?:

...the money quote that Dan Lyons (a.k.a. Fake Steve Jobs), writing for Newsweek, got out of David Webster, general manager for brand marketing at Microsoft.

Webster says, according to Lyons, that “the ugly attacks from Mac fanboys are exactly what Microsoft was hoping to provoke.”

“He says the idea was to turn Apple’s ‘I’m a Mac’ campaign to Microsoft’s advantage. ‘We associate real people with being PCs, [but then Apple] ends up looking pretty mean-spirited, the way they go after customers,’ he says. ‘It’s clear that’s who they are insulting.’ At the same time he can’t resist taking a crack at the preciousness of some Mac users. ‘Not everyone wants a machine that’s been washed with unicorn tears,’ he says.”

 

[chr1s60]

Another great ad that points out many facts.

First being that you can get much better hardware for a much lower price with PCs.

Second being that Apple fails to adopt new technologies, like blu-ray.

Third being that Apple just doesn't give you choice at all. Again, its the iWay or the highway. No real choice in hardware or options.

Lets not forget that we are comparing ONE manufacturer to MANY manufacturers. It would be financially irresponsible for Apple to offer as many models as the combined models of PCs that exist from all the manufacturers.

 

[ipoppy]

These adds not doing any good for Microsoft. Thats how people exactly see it..."they are particularly concerned about Apple's growth despite their relatively small overall PC marketshare."...and they see Gates panic. Now...whats rats do on sinking boat? And thats whats people do jumping from widowz to mac. Those adds just proofs of what shape microsoft is in.
If they want people back, or stop leaving, they need to redesign all windows right from the start and give totally different look all together. Like apple did for OSX from OS9. Otherwise microsoft will land on seabed pretty soon.

 

[cg0def]

wtf they go through 2 macs saying only that they are expensive. After that the supposed customer has to go through a boat load of crap before he/she gets something that he/she likes. Is that really flattering to MS? Oh and IT'S NOT A PC! It's a Vaio! I get it that MS is trying to strike back at Apple for the get a mac commercials but this is really lame. After all they are repeating the same dumb thing. Macs are expensive. Get a person that hasn't actually slept though all of his/her econ classes and you'll understand how ridiculous that point actually is MS.

 

[mosx]

Lets not forget that we are comparing ONE manufacturer to MANY manufacturers. It would be financially irresponsible for Apple to offer as many models as the combined models of PCs that exist from all the manufacturers.

They don't have to offer as many options as Dell and HP combined. But they could offer at least half of what HP does. A $1,000 system with a 1GB GPU, blu-ray, and a 16.4" screen would be a nice start.

 

[neil1980]

True...If I ever went PC, I would definitely buy a SONY!

I dunno, 2 laptops ago I had a Sony Vaio...

Yes it was the second most attractive laptop I've owned (Unibody MacBook first of course lol) but having paid over £800 for a laptop that lasted 13 months it kind of put me off.

Plus id say if there was an "apple tax" there was definitely a "Sony tax" cost more than a similar model but in a nicer case with a Sony badge on it... and that was comparing like for like, ie. a windows laptop with a windows laptop.