New Mac Ads

I don't like the sound of the new adverts. I've seen the virus one uploaded on here and I really don't like it. Yeah we all know that there are far fewer viruses on OS X. That's not as much to do with how the software is written but the size of the user base, people don't usually bother writing viruses for Macs or Linux because most of the dumb ass users who are the targets of viruses out there and most businesses use windows. This is like asking a virus writer to write a mean ass virus for OS X. Not great.

 

brian you are my hero! keep posting 'em!

 

gosh, you are on top of things!

 

you do know how many times that excuse has been totally debunked, right?

 

Hosted on YouTube to free up his bandwidth.

And the 2nd Here

 

This is something I am sure Apple has thought about. Thy obviously feel they are prepared for whatever might happen.

 

Yeah, or it could prove that we were right all along and writing OSX viruses are a hard thing to accomplish. We might get a handful - but these ads are worth it.

 

The ad doesn't say NO viruses, just they can't catch PC viruses! LISTEN TO IT. Sure, little diceptive, but they're right!

 

Then the normal user can start to learn that the FUD is false

Mac OS X has never had a virus capable of transmitting itself over the Internet (which is what most people think of as a virus) and never any successful viruses at all. Even by technical semantics, it has only had two. Please correct me if I have missed something

* One "virus" could transmit over Bluetooth--and was patched last year.

* The other "virus" (Oomp/A) could transmit only on your LAN--and only if you made an obscure change to your iChat settings, enabling Bonjour. This old story has just RE-appeared as if it's new, but it's not--and the number of people affected was tiny. As in, one or two.

Those both fit SOME definitions of "virus", yes, but neither was an INTERNET virus and neither was successful in any way.

And nobody was actually harmed by either one: no data was lost, no private data was spied on.

A real, successful attack WILL happen to OS X some day, but never on the repeated massive scale that Windows users face. Never requiring the kind of time, money, and know-how that Windows users need to have. I'm surprised Apple has chosen to advertise this advantage, but it is a REAL advantage.

And it's an advantage that's here to stay. OS X is more secure by design AND it's a smaller target market. Both very good things, and neither one will change any time soon.

So are you perfectly safe on OS X? No, no OS is 100% perfect. Are you massively more safe on Mac than Windows? Without a doubt.

People who say the increasing popularity of Macs will make them have the same problems has Windows must think Mac will suddenly gain 50% marketshare and magically become the buggy, bloated legacy mess that Windows is

Now, the timing... is something new coming tomorrow with MacBook in the name?

 

good commercials
i only saw the virus one...
funny stuff
like the new campaign

 

Now is when the really good Mac ads come out, Andy Griffith was always kinda like a mini superbowl....maybe not

 

Ack! You beat me to it! It was shown during 24 which I was recording but, I couldn't stop it and rewind it or my brother would flip out Now we just need a video of the other ad.
Ugh...guys please don't turn this into a Mac Virus thread...

 

Yeah did ANYONE have a DVR running for the 2nd one?

 

Good point but, just for the ad it gets the message across. It's obvious since the Windows guy makes up the fake magazine name and such. But, I can see this maybe being a problem if Apple doesn't word it's commercials just right.

Nope, I had one for the 3rd ad but, not the second one. Hopefully Apple will put them up on their site soon

 

Well, if it never was before,
the gauntlet has been thrown down by Apple.

I can't really see how it's smart to thumb your nose at the entire hacker population, but it's too late now.

I guess they better get on those non-public non-patched exploits. After all, we already know that a skilled hacker can get at least administrator if not root privileges easily if they can get logged in at all....

 

It's the same case for Apple Store employees -- I've never liked it.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/brianbobcat1/iMovieTheater16.html

Link to Mac review ad.


Edit by jsw:
.Mac bandwidth limit has been exceeded for now.

YouTube link to virus video.
YouTube link to WSJ video.

 

Then we'd have a "drumroll" LAWSUITE!

 

i saw it too!

That ad was the greatest. Im glad to see OS X advertised.

I saw it during 24.. i EyeTV'd it. so i will go back and take out that commercial. I would put it on my dotmac. but then again, theres the whole bandwidth thing. i think i might upload it to googgle video or youtube.

I will post again when its up.

It was the one about The PC Review with Wal Mossberg. It came on FOX at about 9:30 ish est.

 

These ads are dreadful.

 

Up or down, a parody comes out in one week!

 

I guess one way to look at it is: security and freedom from malware is a real benefit of using a Mac. Better to advertise it NOW while you still can, because after there's a successful virus, that marketing window will be lost. We'll still be safer than Windows users, but the chance to say so with such simplicity will be gone. So maybe Apple's seizing the moment while it lasts.

And then, after the first successful virus comes along, Apple can use a similar but more toned down message, with lots of nice stats about how much safer Macs are than Windows--without claiming no viruses. The advantage WILL remain, but Apple will have to use a less simplistic approach to advertise it.

And when that happens, it may be nice that the initial concept of safer Macs was well-planted by the current campaign.

Worst case, Apple won't be hurt too badly by conversations like this: "A Mac virus? I thought they didn't have those!" "Well, they have hardly any, it's not like Windows, but it's not zero anymore."

Meanwhile it still IS zero if you mean SUCCESSFUL viruses. Or Internet viruses. (As opposed to LAN or Bluetooth viruses, which is all we've had that I know of. One of each, both failures!)

 

What people don't understand about the Oomp/A virus is that the thread around it was blocked and the file was removed. So there's virtually no chance now of someone getting it.

 

How'd you manage to debunk it? Did you somehow magically make OS X have 95%+ market share and then switch it back? No, you didn't. It can't really be debunked until the tables are turned and OS X is on top.

Security by obscurity is DEFINITELY an advantage for OS X and Linux. I'm not saying that OS X or Linux are insecure and would be hacked to pieces if they were on top, BUT there are definitely vulnerabilities in both of them. There's ALWAYS going to be a security hole that can allow a virus to cause some harm, but without a large market share there's not too much incentive to write it for those who do it for profit or to destroy.

I'm certainly not saying writing a virus for OS X is anywhere as easy as it is for Windows, but it's certainly possible. This much should be obvious as every operating system has security vulnerabilities and there's no denying this, otherwise Apple wouldn't bother issuing security updates.

EDIT: The ad's aren't all that great, I mean I like them but if I didn't care about computer's too much I'd completely forget/ignore the ad when it was playing on my TV.