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Apple blasts Microsoft, Windows Vista in two new ‘Get a Mac’ ads (with video)

Sunday, October 19, 2008 · 7:45 pm · 82 Comments

Apple has begun airing two new “Get a Mac” TV commercials on U.S television networks that each blast Microsoft and their Windows Vista product.

Apple’s “Bean Counter” ad looks at how Microsoft plans to “fix” Vista (throw $300 million at advertising) while “V Word” has PC trying to bleep out every mention of the word “Vista.”

Apple Web Ad: Bean Counter

Direct link to video here.

Apple Web Ad: V Word

Direct link to video here.

See the ads in higher quality and in various sizes via Apple.com here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers "Fred Mertz" and "Cubert" for the heads up.]

“How about spending $300 million to create an OS that isn’t a derivative, counterintuitive, bloated, spaghetti-coded mess?” – MacDailyNews Take, August 21, 2008

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Comment Feed

82 Comments

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Peruchito

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:11 am · Reply

i concur with Predrag. do we really need to convince these people? with stupid people, there can be no smart people. its all relative.
John B

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:19 am · Reply

The thing that bothers me about the “I’m a PC” ads is the same thing that bothers me about Windows. They just don’t get it. In their superficial attempt to copy Apple, MS once again missed the boat. In the Mac ads, when they say “I’m a Mac” or “I’m a PC” they mean it literally. Those characters represent the platforms, not their users. It’s a metaphor. But in MS’s ads what they should be saying is “I’m a PC user.” In the PC ads they are not characters representing the platform, they are the platform’s users. If you don’t understand something, you can’t do a very good job copying it, let alone parodying it.
Im a PC

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:22 am · Reply

Well i think its pathetic of Apple to even spend the time involved to make silly ads like this. For once they should take there own advice, spend you money to fix your broken operating system.
While there at it why don’t they try making an operating system that can run on as many hardware cofigs as MS does. Hahahahaha they cant, that’s why they only allow it on there systems only.

Apple=FAIL!!!
Im a PC

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:33 am · Reply

So what are all you Mac fan boys really gonna do when and if MS goes down. Then Hacker will rip your macs apart. Appl really has no real security implemented and we all know they are the slowest to give out updates. hahahaha you will all get OWNED real soon.
Im a PC

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:39 am · Reply

“John C. Randolph

With that first ad, Apple has basically neutralized Microsoft’s advertising war chest. The more vista ads people see now, they more they’ll see desperation.”

Actually that’s what i saw with Apples first commercial, desperation.
Please reffer to my secont comment about hackes, they are coming and you cant stop them and neither can your beloved Apple.
MB

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 10:40 am · Reply

Those adds need more churros
Rudge

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 11:26 am · Reply

My Wife has been complaining about her work PC. It’s ancient and slow, but she prefers to continue using it with Windows XP than to get new PC hardware with Windows Vista. Everyone that she knows that is using Vista at her work is having problems.

As for me, I have a dual (Mirror) PowerMac using Tiger and would love a MacPro or even an iMac upgrade. Using Leopard would be icing on the cake.

Great new commercials, Apple
RDF

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 11:43 am · Reply

“Microsoft quit selling XP to force people to buy Vista….”

Which explains why you can still buy a Dell with XP, and any Vista Business or Ultimate buyer who wishes can downgrade from XP to Vista. Microsoft still gives you the choice of XP.

“Ford outsell BMW 30-1.
And your point is…?”

That Ford sells a lot more cars than BMW. And if you make your money based on how many cars you sell not what price they get sold to the customer, that’s a good thing.

As I stated, Microsoft cares if you ditch Windows for Mac OS X, but really they don’t care if you ditch Vista for XP.

So enjoy your Mac, but stop pretending to yourself that Apple’s causing Microsoft to sell any less product (Given the growing market, that’s just not so) or that Apple is about to cause Microsoft’s imminent demise.
@ RDF

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 11:49 am · Reply

Paul,

Why don’t you use your real name?

Can’t you spell Thurrott?
Rudge

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 12:03 pm · Reply

@ Im a PC

I’ve been hearing about security problems with the Mac OS X, by Unix guys, but frankly, I don’t see anybody getting too worried about it.

http://www.macworld.com/article/135904/2008/10/privacy.html

If you watch your own security on your Mac, I don’t see you being any more vulnerable than people who use Vista.
MrScrith

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 12:32 pm · Reply

@RDF and @Im a PC

a couple interesting points:

#1 Steve Jobs does not want majority of the computer market share, he wants leadership of the direction the computer industry takes, he has it.

#2 PC sales are flat or falling, Mac sales are growing at 30% (if I remember the number correctly)

#3 A big portion of Vista sales are actually XP sales, MS is no longer selling XP licenses, but they are allowing you to install XP under a Vista license. Numbers on Vista sales by MS just report Vista licenses, not installs.

#4 XP is still outselling Vista, in the top 10 personal computers on Amazon, 3 have XP home, one has Linux, 5 are macs, and one is… a monitor… Where is Vista? no idea, but it’s being outsold by XP, Macs, Linux, and even a Monitor.

In conclusion, technology isn’t about what is now but where things are going, you can’t stay in one spot. Microsoft has stopped any progress (copying) they were making, they are in one spot, and that spot is slowly falling apart. The flow of technology is going a direction they don’t understand and can’t follow. Yes windows has majority market share, but that share is falling.

Apple is leading this new direction and those who can are struggling to follow. Apple has a small percentage of the market, but the market is trying to follow Apple, not Microsoft.

I don’t know what the market will look like in 5 years, I expect Apple’s market share will grow to a sizable chunk but still be under 50%, Microsoft will still be in that one spot, and it will be smaller then it is now. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see XP still being installed on computers for sale. Apple will probably be out with the version after Snow Leopard with more new innovations and things that make people go ‘wow’, which Microsoft will announce they are “innovating” in their next version of windows 8 (likely Vista SP4) soon to be out early 2014…
MrScrith

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 12:36 pm · Reply

Oh, found it, Vista machine at #26, with several XP Home, Linux, and Monitors above it (and roughly 10 to 15 mac computers and warranties).

So yah… really selling… just flying off those shelves…
RDF

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 2:34 pm · Reply

“#1 Steve Jobs does not want majority of the computer market share, he wants leadership of the direction the computer industry takes, he has it. “

I particularly like how he’s “led” the PC industry to a standard WinTel platform. Go Steve, Thanks for finally putting your stamp of approval on what everyone else has been doing for years.

“#2 PC sales are flat or falling, Mac sales are growing at 30% (if I remember the number correctly)”

Market share can be flat or slightly up but that’s not the same as flat sales.

Worldwide for example, total sales were up 15%. That means even a vendor who didn’t increase market share at all sold 15% more PCs. Even in the US, PC vendors combined increased their sales by more than Apple did, even though Apple grew as a larger percentage of it’s small share.

“#3 A big portion of Vista sales are actually XP sales, MS is no longer selling XP licenses”

But the Net Applications numbers are based on people actually using the OS to browse the web, not those who have downgraded to XP, who appear against XP in that survey. And as noted Microsoft doesn’t care. Either way they have the same amount of money from you.

“#4 XP is still outselling Vista, in the top 10 personal computers on Amazon, 3 have XP home”

And if you believe Amazon is a proxy for the US market then you must believe that Asus and Acer are now the top two PC vendors in the US. That’s not true, therefore you can’t really infer anything about broader trends from Amazon sales.

“Yes windows has majority market share, but that share is falling.”

Falling slightly and as I noted, that doesn’t mean the vendors are selling any fewer computers or Microsoft is selling fewer copies of Windows. Because the whole market is growing, They’re both selling more.

Worldwide, everyone else combined grew by about 10 million units for the quarter meanwhile Apple added a few hundred thousand units, mostly in the US to it’s total. The other vendors combined therefore grew by about the same amount as Apple’s total sales for a year and Apple’s growth when normalized is a fraction of what the other players achieved.

That is the reality behind Apple’s “Amazing” “30%” growth and everyone else’s “flat” sales.
Im a PC

Monday, October 20, 2008 - 7:26 pm · Reply

Well I’ll admit i don’t look at PC sales, especially on Amazon. But i do know a lot of people don’t go out and buy a new PC every year, i know a few ppl who are still using the one hey bought 5 years ago. Now if all those ppl that have older PC’s all of a sudden go out and buy a new one, well im sure you can see where im going here. I also know that a majority of them will still buy a PC cause “It works” with all the programs they are used to using.

Like i said, i would love to see how well Apple would do if they could build an operating system to run on all hardware configures, like MS has to do. I bet they wouldn’t fair to well.

I bet if MS did what Apple does and made an operating system to only work on their setups then they would be the ultimate. But as it stands, i think MS has done a great job considering how many PC configures there are .
bill gates

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 1:58 am · Reply

So there’s a problem with Microsoft advertising their operating system software to the intellectual people with problems who only take advice from mac ads meanwhile apple spends billions on advertising picking on Microsoft each year with “get a mac” ads?
And apparently vista is “terrible” because it works and the mac worshippers have succeeded by deceiving the world once again about windows vista and its unique abilities.
justme2

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 2:34 am · Reply

@JayMac: Where is Zune Tang now? Busy trying to back up all the tunes he bought from the Walmart Music Store before they go bye-bye, most likely…
twilightmoon

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 5:36 am · Reply

RDF “”Microsoft as far as I am aware has NEVER mentioned the installed base who is actually actively USING Vista.”

No, but Net Applications do, and their estimates come out at about 180 million users. That’s the same survey I believe you’re quoting to support your argument, so the results should be acceptable to you.”

I haven’t read the survey you’re quoting but not linking, but I’ll your word for it.

“Whatever way you look at it Microsoft is absolutely demolishing Apple with Vista sales alone… the market is growing, and Microsoft gets the lion’s share of that growth”

Microsoft went into Vista with somewhere close to 94% of the market, I could be off by a percent or 2, but that’s pretty close. So clearly they are going to “demolish” Apple with regards to unit sales from that point to a point nearly 3 years later, IF you only look at units sold and compare that. The problem you’re not seeing is that Apple in large part because of Vista has been selling Macs at a greatly accelerated rate, especially to young customers including greatly increased market share of college students who are the future of Microsoft’s monopoly.

“30% of retail dollars spent in the US are now spent on Macs, and far more than this among college students who are the future of computer users.”

That may be cause for concern for HP or Dell, but not Microsoft.They care about units sold not dollars per unit.

Who do you think pays Microsoft’s bills if not HP and Dell, et all?

“Apple is rapidly eating away at Microsofts cash cow,”

At 3% of units worldwide, Apple is gnawing at the scraps that fall from Microsoft’s table. The Microsoft cash cow is as healthy as it ever was.

You keep bringing up the worldwide numbers as if that’s going to save Microsoft. Clearly China is using Windows more than Macs, they don’t even pay for software there, it’s sold bootleg in corner stores. Having a large % of that market isn’t terribly profitable. The US is the market where the majority of money is spent on technology. You leave the US you only have a few other profitable markets, and they pay less for software than in the US.

Instead of quoting me how much % of the worldwide market MS currently has, why not look up how much of MS revenue comes from outside the US? I suspect its far less per unit than what they get for the US. That’s a large part of why Apple spends much of their time and energy trying to capture the US market. They are not after pure market share, but rather as much filthy lucre as they can get their hands on. It’s just smart business.

So when you say stuff like:

“It’s all very well to quote being the #1 PC in US retails sales costing over $1000, but that’s about as impressive as being the world’s tallest dwarf.”

..you completely miss the point. This is not about how many units are in front of people but how much money Apple takes in for what they sell. If Apple is able to match a significant percentage of Microsoft’s income with a significantly smaller % of the market, they can invest in technology at the same level as MS, and Apple has already proven they can do much more with much less, in part by starting from scratch from a more robust foundation based on NeXT style BSD Unix while MS bolts Windows on top of creakingly ancient code without ever starting from scratch with modern methods and tech.

Apple is also far more willing to embrace and extend upon open source projects while MS does everything in-house in proprietary fashion shunning open source, and seeing it as a threat not an asset, even threatening to sue Linux.

If all Microsoft’s partners can do is sell cheap low margin boxes with Windows while Apple eats their lunch at the top end, they won’t make as much money selling Windows and will subsequently refuse to pay Microsoft’s premiums for windows licenses. Businesses, and PC box assemblers are already scrambling to find cheaper Linux alternatives so they don’t have to keep paying the MS tax.

If you don’t see how this could hurt MS’s bottom line going forward I don’t know what to tell you. MS isn’t suddenly going to stop making Windows or go out of business, but they will likely be making substantially less per unit from Windows licenses in 5 years from now if things continue as they are.
twilightmoon

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 5:51 am · Reply

RDF: “Which explains why you can still buy a Dell with XP, and any Vista Business or Ultimate buyer who wishes can downgrade from XP to Vista. Microsoft still gives you the choice of XP.”

Do they? I thought they stopped selling XP in retail boxes? Can you still go out and buy brand new boxes with XP?

And the “choice” you describe is listed as a “Vista” sale by MS regardless of you running XP on it. If they didn’t care why would they try to fake new Vista sales when they are not?

“As I stated, Microsoft cares if you ditch Windows for Mac OS X, but really they don’t care if you ditch Vista for XP.”

See above.

“So enjoy your Mac, but stop pretending to yourself that Apple’s causing Microsoft to sell any less product (Given the growing market, that’s just not so) or that Apple is about to cause Microsoft’s imminent demise.”

I would rather say that Microsoft is going to cause Microsoft’s demise by being bloated and inefficient and lacking vision, focus, and agility. They are throwing money away on unprofitable hobbies, while failing to fully strengthen their core product lines.

Vista is a failure. Note I’m not saying how good or bad it is, but that it’s a failure. It is meant to sell the features of OS X to businesses, it’s not doing that. XP might sell well for a long time, but if the vast majority of businesses are not interested in modern MS products, they will eventually look elsewhere. Linux and Apple have an opportunity to pick up significant marketshare, MS needs to take this as a serious threat and not assume the monopoly they’ve built up will last forever.

Let me ask you this, RDF, wouldn’t you benefit if MS was forced to compete on merit and had to work harder on their products to improve them, and not collect automatic tax on every PC sold without having to do any real work? If Apple disappeared would that make your life better in some way?
Im a PC

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 6:17 am · Reply

“MS needs to take this as a serious threat and not assume the monopoly they’ve built up will last forever.”

hahahaha, i think its the other way around. Apple has the monopoly by not allowing people to buy there operating system and install it on a custom built machine or any machine that they don’t sell.

“If Apple disappeared would that make your life better in some way?”

I myself don’t want Apple to disappear. I would just like Apple users to grow up and stop thinking that they are so great. Cause no matter how you look at it your Mac is still a PC= personal computer. Especially now that some Apple users dual boot now with Window, why would you even do that if a Mac is so great? Oh that’s right, GAMING!!!
John C. Randolph

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 - 7:49 am · Reply

“Please reffer to my secont comment about hackes, they are coming and you cant stop them and neither can your beloved Apple.”

PC,

You seem to have a chip on your shoulders, and very little else. Furthermore, you clearly don’t believe your own bullshit, or you wouldn’t be here trying to harangue down the people who don’t share your fantasy of Vista someday proving adequate for routine use.

Look, I know you resent it when your poor judgement is made fun of, but that’s your own problem.

-jcr