Windows Price Hunting Ads No Longer Relevant?

[joejoejoe]

Wasn't sure where to put this...

Just watched an ad for the laptop hunter ads from microsoft. Some girl claimed that the best mac under 2 grand only had 2 gb of ram. There are now 3 Laptops (one 13 inch MBP and 2 15 inch MBPs) with 4GB of ram.

Is microsoft allowed to continue running these ads?

 

[angelwatt]

Doesn't really matter, most consumers can't even spell RAM, let alone know why it's important It's great the 4GB is standard on most of the laptops now.

 

[joejoejoe]

Doesn't really matter, most consumers can't even spell RAM, let alone know why it's important It's great the 4GB is standard on most of the laptops now.

Haha, true

I was just wondering if it's a legal thing... I was getting pretty curious about it after I saw the ad.

 

[angelwatt]

Haha, true

I was just wondering if it's a legal thing... I was getting pretty curious about it after I saw the ad.

Well they used testimonials from people. The non-actors weren't given any scripts or the like, so MS wouldn't be as liable, and since the commercial was made when the statement was true, there's really no legal grounds to work from. I doubt the commercials will last much longer. I've heard they have new set coming soon.

 

[mkrishnan]

I was just wondering if it's a legal thing... I was getting pretty curious about it after I saw the ad.

I think the legalities acknowledge that things change over time. Often there are also disclaimers at the bottom of the screen or page, stating that the claims are based on published data from such-and-such a source at such-and-such a time (which makes them accurate, in this case) If one had somehow broken the law every time one made a commercial that cited one's opponents features, I think this kind of advertising would quickly become completely impossible from a legal perspective.

The ads are irrelevant for a wholly different reason: Microsoft hires lame, fashion-insensible, uninteresting, whiny people who are looking for computers based on a stupid set of specifications rather than actually using them for anything interesting, and tries to argue based upon them that Apple customers are making a mistake. The problem is that the people represented in the MS ads were never going to buy Apple products in the first place, and the people to whom the ads appeal are pretty unlikely likewise to buy from Apple.

I own two computers running Windows and only one running OS X (and Tiger at that). I would buy another computer running Windows (but not Vista), but I wouldn't buy any of the ones that were featured in those ads.

 

[joejoejoe]

I think the legalities acknowledge that things change over time. Often there are also disclaimers at the bottom of the screen or page, stating that the claims are based on published data from such-and-such a source at such-and-such a time (which makes them accurate, in this case) If one had somehow broken the law every time one made a commercial that cited one's opponents features, I think this kind of advertising would quickly become completely impossible from a legal perspective.

The ads are irrelevant for a wholly different reason: Microsoft hires lame, fashion-insensible, uninteresting, whiny people who are looking for computers based on a stupid set of specifications rather than actually using them for anything interesting, and tries to argue based upon them that Apple customers are making a mistake. The problem is that the people represented in the MS ads were never going to buy Apple products in the first place, and the people to whom the ads appeal are pretty unlikely likewise to buy from Apple.

I own two computers running Windows and only one running OS X (and Tiger at that). I would buy another computer running Windows (but not Vista), but I wouldn't buy any of the ones that were featured in those ads.

Cool, that explains it, thanks.