Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Microsoft's "I'm a PC" Ad Airs

MacTraveller said:
If one builds Windows without any walls, then those Windows will crash to the ground, all broken shards of glass.

Maybe this is what they are trying to say.
Click to expand...

No, no, no. Windows without walls is called a Greenhouse!! Does that make MS synonymous with the "greenhouse effect" - hmm. No wonder Al Gore sits on Apple's board instead of MS's! haha

Strangely enough all windows do is let you see what you're missing out on but can't actually enjoy (like a beautiful day when you're stuck in the office using, well, Office).

I mean - it's not called a roof - it's called a glass ceiling - aka a window. You can look but you can't touch (this, it's Hammer time!)
 
DigitalM said:
Nope, that's just to support users who switch during their transition. Web designers have to support Internet Explorer 6, does that mean they're all stupid? No.
Click to expand...

No it's not. It's because people want to run Windows, because there's tens of thousands of apps (especially business ones) and peripherals that run on it, which don't run on the Mac. Why? Because Apple is focused on an end-user highly controlled end-to-end experience, whereas Microsoft is focused on building a platform for millions of developers to quickly and easily write and develop new solutions. Two very different approaches, as simple as that.

Is a BMW better than an 18-wheeler? For Paris Hilton, yes. For a businessman trying to ship his goods to the entire country, no. That doesn't make one any "better" than the other.
 
The Elite?

auxplage said:
It was good, but all I learned from it was the usual stereotype that "PCs are for normal people and Macs are for elitists."
Click to expand...

Wow... I just don't know how a commercial showing a bunch of random people doing random things... It doesn't show the reaction that people have when they are doing random things and their system craps out on them because they didn't use a 3 layer security approach to getting rid of virus and adware... PC will always fall on these problems, and they will always be a pain in the @$$ because of it. I would like to see Apple come out with a similar ad showing random people doing random things with their PC and getting mad because they pushed the wrong button and installed unwanted crap on their system... Bottom line: Mac is still the best platform out there for people who want a system that just works.
 
arjen92 said:
There are more differences than only that. Apple always tweaks it's computer. So there are no same computers as apple's. (they change the hardware a bit etc). Than the os. Mac os x is more stable. It's much more user friendly, you don't need to install drivers (which I found very irritating on windows xp) If something freezes it's often only that program (instead of your entire computer), there are no viruses etc etc. So there are a lot of differences.
Click to expand...

Typical... exactly the kind of gross generalization that Apple uses to disguise their branding ads as product ads, trying to harp on points that might have been valid 10 years ago.

Mac OS X is not more stable than Windows. They're the same. I've gotten the same or even more kernel panics (very rare) in OS X than crashes using Vista (also very rare). You don't need to install drivers you say? Then how come my fingerprint reader is not recognized when I plug it into my Mac? Or my flatbed scanner? Or my USB camera? Or my USB microscope? Bull. In fact, Windows comes pre-loaded with far more drivers than OS X does. It's just that there are a hundred times more peripherals for Windows. Windows also has protected memory and if an app freezes you can just kill it. Security? Even Mac fans know by know that the curtain has been lifted and OS X is not as secure as everyone thought. There have been WAAAAY more security holes found for OS X than Vista, and Apple has been very poor and unresponsive when dealing with them, something at which Microsoft now excels.

Macs are awesome, but don't fall into the trap of buying into all that Apple spoon-fed BS about Windows. They both work really well, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
 
dalvin200 said:
lol!!!... i can see Apple chopping these ad's to bits ;)

Eva Longoria is a PC? Oh no.. i'm gonna ditch my mac and buy a dell now :D
Click to expand...


What!!! Eva Longoria is a PC, But she drives a DB9, Oh man, I think I may switch over to windows now.

And was that Pharrell?, Im sure ive seen shots of him using macs before,
 
Sweetfeld28 said:
I thought they were ok, significantly better than the previous commercials though.


I am Apple.
Click to expand...

I'm of the opposite opinion.

The Seinfeld ads, while they went over the heads of many, actually *may* have had a positive effect for MS, which is to soften the image of the company, and give it a more "folksy" tone to the general public. While the Seinfeld ads would not be effective in actually SELLING any Windows products, it could conceivably boost the image of the company in a slightly more positive light. Slightly.

These latest I am PC ads.... I doubt they will do anything at all. They do not give any message or new insight to the audience. There is nothing revealing here.

Hello, I am PC. And I am used in medical field. No duh? What moron on planet earth did not already know that???

Hello, I am PC. And I am used in aerospace engineering. No duh? What moron on planet earth did not already know that???

Hello, I am PC. And I am in your university classrooms and labs. No duh? What moron on planet earth did not already know that fact???

Hello, I am television. I exist in Japan!

Hello, I am television. I exist in Russia!

Hello, I am television. I exist in the US of A.

Hello, I am television. I can also be found in Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan! Believe it or not!

Hello, I am television. People in Hollywood California watch me!

WTF?
 
cal6n said:
Throughout the last twenty years, I have watched as Microsoft shipped nothing but shoddy, second-rate products and actively held back progress in worldwide computer technology in order to line their corporate pockets.
Click to expand...

Oh you mean like Surface? Photosynth? Live Mesh? Worldwide Telescope? Sync? Silverlight? .NET? Live Maps with 3D and Eagle Eye view? Xbox and Xbox Live? Media Center? IPTV? Mac Office? Seadragon a.k.a. Deep Zoom? Robotics Studio? FlexGo? Microsoft Virtualization?

I highly encourage you to Google each one of these, you'd be amazed. And also visit this page: http://research.microsoft.com/Resea...sortCriteria=releaseDate&sortOrder=descending

You're obviously clueless (or out of touch), not to mention bitter. Microsoft is a very, very different beast now. 20 years (or even 5 years) make a big difference, and I really like the direction they've been taking.
 
Sweetfeld28 said:
I think Apple might have stole the "Concept" of the mouse from PARC [Xerox], since PARC used a Three Button Mouse for there interface designed desktops, and Apple has always used a Single Button Mouse; up until recently with the Mighty Mouse.

Folklore.org
Click to expand...

Your point being? A mouse is still a mouse, and his point was that MS somehow "stole" the idea from Apple.
 
henrymonroe said:
Typical... exactly the kind of gross generalization that Apple uses to disguise their branding ads as product ads, trying to harp on points that might have been valid 10 years ago.

Mac OS X is not more stable than Windows. They're the same. I've gotten the same or even more kernel panics (very rare) in OS X than crashes using Vista (also very rare). You don't need to install drivers you say? Then how come my fingerprint reader is not recognized when I plug it into my Mac? Or my flatbed scanner? Or my USB camera? Or my USB microscope? Bull. In fact, Windows comes pre-loaded with far more drivers than OS X does. It's just that there are a hundred times more peripherals for Windows. Windows also has protected memory and if an app freezes you can just kill it. Security? Even Mac fans know by know that the curtain has been lifted and OS X is not as secure as everyone thought. There have been WAAAAY more security holes found for OS X than Vista, and Apple has been very poor and unresponsive when dealing with them, something at which Microsoft now excels.

Macs are awesome, but don't fall into the trap of buying into all that Apple spoon-fed BS about Windows. They both work really well, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
Click to expand...

I think you have to distinguish between the number of security holes and the severeness of the security holes here. Early reports this year might appear that Mac has outstanding unfixed issues, doesn't mean they have critical holes.

Put it this way, one simple example, I can use bittorrents to download, er hem.. stuff, with ease, whereas when i was using Windows to do the same, the OS slows down dramatically very quickly.

Back on the ad, i think this one is a successful campaign. In advertising, the most effective is being cheesy and in your face and repetition, force feeding images and ideas into the audience's heads.

It's been said on here already, it's a bit lame to point out that everyone in the world is using a PC, but it's an awareness that they wanted. I just wish this ad was done for Mac. Imagine, all these people from different backgrounds were saying they're a Mac, that'd really put the message across that Mac is not incompatible with most things and a whole spectrum of people use Macs, it's not just for an elite group.
 
I know the PC the broadcasts for McCain. Went to middle school with him and he would come back to play tennis in high school. We all knew he would be famous one day (and he is, but not because of this commercial).
 
Haha, I liked the ad.

Still, it doesn't say anything about the PC itself - which is a source of infinite frustration for all these wondeful people the ad shows!! LOL

The essence of Apple's ads is about the computers, not the people who use them.

my 0.02
 
I really disliked the first couple ads, but this one I feel is effective. Am I going to run out and buy a pc? No. But I still think this ad was effective to their target audience.
 
the Common Ones

No one wants to be part of the masses. The General public. The common caste. Remember the 'Think different' campaign? its time to bring those back I think. I'd still prefer to be one of the 'Crazy ones'.

On another note, Apple's campaign targets a specific topic with each ad. Microsoft's merely states the obvious (in a nice friendly way, I'll give them credit for that). Bill Gates = Captain Obvious. Bottom line is that its a defensive reaction and rather than showing Microsoft's strengths its almost begging people to remain PC users. If Old Captain Obvious' posse is smart, they'd scour the web for all these comments and try to make better ads. However, people have been writing in their comments for years about Windows' flaws and bugs but nothing has been done about them - that's Microsoft for you.
 
I thought the first ad (haven't watched the other two) was a nice tasteful response. Yes, it's not as witty, but that's because it's not going for wit. It's trying to show that Windows is inclusive, not exclusive, which is what Mac is going for.
 
elpenguino said:
I love the old bandwagon ploy in the commercial. "All these people use PC's, that's why you should too." Please. I learned about that logical fallacy in 9th grade.
Click to expand...

Apple's present campaign relies upon the reductio ad absurdum, in many incidences. It's hard to fit a logical argument for a complex decision in 30 seconds.
 
nanoboy said:
I think you have to distinguish between the number of security holes and the severeness of the security holes here. Early reports this year might appear that Mac has outstanding unfixed issues, doesn't mean they have critical holes.
Click to expand...

But some of them are critical. And Apple is really bad and highly criticized at their slowness to respond and being open about them. And you didn't see Mac zealots analyzing the actual security impact of miscellaneous Windows security holes back when they were widespread, did you? They're always so pragmatic and convenient and quick to point out other's faults, while ignoring their own identical ones and resorting to lame excuses.

nanoboy said:
Put it this way, one simple example, I can use bittorrents to download, er hem.. stuff, with ease, whereas when i was using Windows to do the same, the OS slows down dramatically very quickly.
Click to expand...

Utter BS. I'm downloading around 50 torrents on my PC at 1.2Mbps combined speed, and it's not even blinking. Try running a Java based client on your Mac, it slows down to a crawl. It's all very subjective and that's a really poor argument. I like the rest of your post though.
 
Good job i thought. Obviously it lacks the smoothness of Apple's ads, but like it was going to have that sort of style.

Once again, support for Microsoft is what makes Apple and/or OS X better. Never forget that.

And to the above - tried uTorrent? Ridiculously light torrenting application. Doesn't run on Java as far as i know, loads up in a flash and i can easily max out my connection testing it with a linux distro.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back