Microsoft, at a recent company meeting in Seattle, showed a spoof of Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads, featuring their Zune digital media player taking on Apple’s iPod.
Besides completely missing the central theme by having the actors state that one is a Mac and the other a PC and then quickly forgetting the whole premise by turning into just two people with MP3 players – in the actual Apple ads, the actors are playing the products (John Hodgman is a Windows PC and Justin Long is an Apple Mac) – the spoof also fails the reality test.
In Microsoft’s spoof, two actors play, ahem, people (not products) that look like Apple’s Hodgman and Long who discuss how easily iPod scratches (harking back to an ill-fated, spectacularly unsuccessful FUD campaign), how supposedly nice it is that Zune comes in brown, but mainly how Zune supposedly trumps iPod on ease-of-use and wireless song transfer.
Of course, Microsoft neglects to explain that by wirelessly transferring a song to your soon-to-be-ex-friend, you are sending them an advertisement. Songs “squirted” from Zune to Zune (as if you could ever find another Zune, that is) last for only 3 “plays” (a minute or so counts as a “play”) or 3 days before they stop playing and turn into an ad on the “squirtee’s” Zune. Do you get a commission from the music labels and Microsoft for performing this service? Nope, it’s just free advertising that you’re expected to inflict on your friends for free. Why not just go from website to website signing up your “friends” for thought-you-might-like-this spam?
The Microsoft spoof is funny, but not in the way Microsoft probably intended, because multiple independent reviews of Zune (see related articles below) have indicated just how badly the Zune software performed, how “squirting” failed, how impossible it is to find someone with a Zune to whom to squirt your time-bomb ads, and how the Zune can’t match Apple’s iPod for, among other things, “ease-of-use” especially. Of course, you can buy iTunes Store songs with just one click and you cannot buy Zune songs with one click (or any number of clicks) from your Zune player.
Microsoft should stay as far away from the “ease-of-use” issue as possible when it comes to challenging Apple. Microsoft should have taken on iPod’s lighter weight/smaller size, too many accessories, too large an online song library, too much storage capacity, too many models, too many iPod-ready vehicles from which to choose, or something else instead. Ease-of-use vs. Apple is way too large a leap for Microsoft.
The Microsoft spoof also conveniently totally ignores Apple iTunes’ “iMix” feature which, of course, allows for sharing music in a different way. With total iMixes now approaching one million in the US iTunes Store alone, it seems to be a very popular social feature; certainly vastly more popular than “squirting” 3-plays-then-self-destruct-leaving-only-an-ad-behind files like Zune.
The spoof via YouTube (some more free publicity for a doomed product):
Related articles:
Desperation time? Microsoft Zune already being discounted by retailers – December 13, 2006
Zune: Welcome to the social isolation – December 11, 2006
RealMoney.com’s Holiday Gadget Gift Guide: buy Apple iPod, avoid Microsoft Zune – December 08, 2006
Microsoft Zune plummets to 5th place in U.S. digital media player market share with 2.1 percent – December 04, 2006
Analysts: Microsoft needs to ‘rethink’ as interest in Zune fades fast – December 01, 2006
Enderle on Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune – November 30, 2006
The Channel Checkers: 81% recommend Apple iPod – November 30, 2006
NPD: Microsoft Zune hits 9% in US market share in first week, takes #2 spot from SanDisk [UPDATED] – November 29, 2006
Microsoft says Zune sales in line with their expectations – November 29, 2006
Newsflash: analyst says Apple iPod beating Microsoft Zune – November 28, 2006
Thurrott reviews Microsoft Zune: ‘a joke, a travesty, I can’t imagine what they were thinking’ – November 28, 2006
Apple iPod clearly immune to Zune – November 27, 2006
Zune reinforces Microsoft’s dorky image, pushes people toward Apple iPods, Macs – November 27, 2006
Ihnatko: Microsoft Zune experience about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face – November 24, 2006
TheStreet.com: It’s not looking good for Microsoft’s Zune; bad press may taint brand for years – November 24, 2006
Amazon’s bestselling MP3 players list chronicles Microsoft Zune dud – November 20, 2006
Bill Gates: Apple iPod ‘phenomenal, unbelievable, fantastic’ – November 16, 2006
Cramer’s Mad Money: Microsoft’s Zune is pathetic; Vista may cause people to turn to Apple Mac – November 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune selling like snotcakes – November 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune incompatible with Windows Vista – November 14, 2006
Dvorak: ‘If anything is doomed to failure, it’s Microsoft’s Zune’ – November 14, 2006
Ballmer: Zune’s Wi-Fi will help Microsoft challenge Apple’s iPod+iTunes – November 14, 2006
CNN ridicules Microsoft’s Zune while gushing over Apple’s new iPod shuffle – November 14, 2006
Engadget: Microsoft’s Zune software: ‘It sucks’ – November 13, 2006
Early Microsoft Zune customer greeted with Zune ‘Installation Error’ – November 13, 2006
Zuned: What’s the ‘deal’ with Microsoft Points? – November 12, 2006
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Apple has no need to worry about Microsoft’s cumbersome, chunkier Zune – November 11, 2006
BusinessWeek: ‘By this time next year, Microsoft’s Zune will be considered a dismal failure’ – November 10, 2006
USA Today’s Baig: Microsoft Zune is no Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft’s Zune stinks; like ‘Microsoft Bob,’ only more embarrassing – November 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue: Zune should come in green to match Microsoft’s iPod envy – November 09, 2006
Mossberg: MS Zune has ‘too many compromises, missing features’ vs. ‘thin, sleek, elegant’ Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Microsoft to pay Universal for every Zune sold – November 09, 2006
Analysts: Microsoft Zune may end up being a flop – November 08, 2006
Are 58% of iPod owners really thinking of a Zune switch? – November 08, 2006
Survey: 58% of iPod owners planning another MP3 player purchase will consider Microsoft’s Zune – November 01, 2006
Zune is from Microsoft, but Microsoft doesn’t want anybody to know about it – November 07, 2006
Microsoft Zune to be US-only, no firm plans to launch anywhere else globally – November 03, 2006
Five Microsoft Zune TV commercials – November 02, 2006
JupiterResearch: Apple’s iPod will dominate for foreseeable future; Microsoft’s Zune insignificant – October 25, 2006
Ellen DeGeneres Show gives away Microsoft Zunes, studio audience goes berserk – October 23, 2006
More Microsoft Zune myths explored – October 20, 2006
Five more Microsoft Zune myths – October 18, 2006
Microsoft Zune intensifies chaos in Apple iPod+iTunes also-ran market – October 16, 2006
Newsweek Q&A: Apple CEO Steve Jobs discusses iPod’s impact, Microsoft’s Zune, and more – October 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Ballmer: Zune device not money loser, wishes Apple’s 30GB iPod was $299 instead of $249 – October 11, 2006
Microsoft’s consumer electronics track record: long string of failures – October 11, 2006
MP3.com founder: ‘Zune will be an expensive failure for Microsoft because consumers aren’t stupid’ – October 06, 2006
Microsoft fails to secure key Zune domains – October 04, 2006
Microsoft rigs Zune with tricky pricing and proprietary money schemes – October 03, 2006
Why Microsoft’s Zune won’t kill Apple’s iPod – October 03, 2006
10 Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune myths – October 02, 2006
Analyst: Zune could lead to ‘civil war’ between Microsoft and Windows Media partners – September 29, 2006
Thurrott on Microsoft’s Zune: ‘The makings of a disaster, what the heck are these people thinking?’ – September 29, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune’s as good as dead on arrival – September 28, 2006
Microsoft sets 30GB Zune price at $249.99 – September 28, 2006
How Microsoft’s Zune can kill Apple’s iPod – September 21, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune insanity – September 21, 2006
The Microsoft Zune 1.0 dud – September 20, 2006
Microsoft’s underwhelming Zune a ‘viral DRM’ device – September 18, 2006
SanDisk teams with RealNetworks against new common foe: Microsoft Zune – September 18, 2006
Creative does Apple’s dirty work by immediately attacking Microsoft’s Zune – September 17, 2006
Motley Fool’s Jayson: Microsoft’s ‘just plain ugly’ Zune a meager offering, not an iPod killer – September 15, 2006
What’s in a name? ‘Zune’ a French-Canadian euphemism for penis or vagina – September 15, 2006
Crave at CNET: ‘Microsoft Zune, all the excitement that brown can bring’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune underwhelms – September 15, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft Zune ‘a design mistake’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft hypocrisy exposed with Zune: What ever happened to ‘choice?’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune won’t spoil Apple’s biggest iPod Christmas ever – September 14, 2006
Microsoft unveils Zune 30GB player, Zune Marketplace; declines to disclose prices – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft Zune is chunky brick made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft to sell single Zune model this fall, rumors of Wi-Fi capability were greatly exaggerated – August 10, 2006
Microsoft to spend hundreds of millions, several years on Zune trying to catch Apple iPod+iTunes – July 27, 2006
Zune: Apple cannot lose. Microsoft cannot win. – July 26, 2006
Opinion: More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Microsoft pulls plug on Zune – July 25, 2006
…quick, where’s my sick bucket!
Pathetic. They could never copy well. Losers.
Read about this on mini-MSFT blog after they had a big company meeting. Sounded crappy then, too– but many of the employees loved it because they saw it as an aggressive act toward Apple. It’s funny– despite being so big, they all have an inferiority complex, I think.
RETARDED!!!! all i’m gonna say…
CANT THEY DO ANYTHING ON THEIR OWN?! M$ just sucks.
Arrggg!! I can’t believe I watched that!!!!!
Wow. I’m… speechless
The “Zune Boards” only have 1000+ members???? OMG, that far more humorous than that pathetic spoof…
I think many women prefer a guy with an iPod and a huge hard drive more than a guy with nothing more than a sack full of dough…Y’know whatta sayin?
You look at the desperation with which Microsoft clings to Apple’s coat tails and it really is hard to tell that they are the bigger ‘world dominating’ software company. Embarrassing.
Poorly written, no class and I think even the unwashed masses will see through this as a pitifull attempt to compete.
Hmmm, Yes, I did think it was very funny.
The mac user does not have a computer yet he can easily upload new songs to his iPod. The Zune guy only cares that “its brown” and that it squirts. LOL
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OK, the Mac guy is a real dork but still he gets it. The Zune guy only squirts. In Brown.
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I love it.
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N.
This damn thing doesn’t even look professionally produced. I guess all the money is tied up in the Vista debacle. The actors stink too.
What’s funny is the fact that by using the “I’m a Mac” look and feel, it only helps to brand the Ipod even more. When Joe Bag-O-Donuts sees it, he’ll say oh, it’s a spoof on that APPLE commercial – keyword APPLE.
Dumb, dumb, dumb marketing.
They even copy Apple’s commercials!
About the only thing they did get right was the easily scratching screen. No, that’s not a flame, that’s a fact, and yeah, I have owned 3 iPods. Zune is doomed. The only thing that would be nice is if Apple allowed you to easily move your music off your authorized iPod back to your authorized Mac. I know there are several programs that allow that, however, it would be nice to have that functionality built in.
There commercial was way off base on downloading. I guess they didn’t take the time to find out that Apple has the one click system in place. I’ll bet MS is a pain to put in the billing info and download.
The two funniest things about this ad are:
1) Not even MS can bring themselves to use the term, “Squirt” in their own ads for their own product.
2) Finding any premise to brag about the sh*t-brown shade of the Zune.
On point number one: Not being totally beyond some things that some people might find sexually deviant, I can never the less say that I have no desire to go around ejaculating on friends or strangers.
On point number two: I was tired of Apple white about two months after it and its entire product line came out, but at least I don’t have to be embarrased by it.
I tried to keep an open mind, but it’s not funny in the least bit. I want my two minutes back.
Can’t knock ’em for trying.
Hopefully Apple will wait till the middle of next year before refreshing the iPod lineup. That really pisses me off when I buy something for someone for Xmas and then in January they come out with the new shit.
Hey, I like their mac guy better. He is animated. Real cool. Much better than that other mac guy.
Go Mac guy!
You gotta admit that mac guy is better than apple’s original Mac guy. Apple’s original mac guy is so smug. Like a cat. This new mac guy is playful and dumb. Like a dog.
Go doggy mac guy!
“The only thing that would be nice is if Apple allowed you to easily move your music off your authorized iPod back to your authorized Mac”
I believe this is a new function in current releases of iTunes.
What Microsoft just doesn’t get is that on a daily basis, everyone is laughing at them, not laughing with them. They’ll never be cool, no matter how much money they spend or how much they try.
“and they make it in brown” ? ? ? Were they thinking they were bragging?
Pathetic. Flaccid.
It’s a shining example of Microsoft’s total lack of creativity and flair.
Gimme my 2 minutes back MS.
AND… How dose one uninstall that last “Security Update”?
Dude, you just got Zuned!
check out what the folks over @ “zunescene” (yawn) are saying about “Apple fanboys”…man, if I had a dollar for every time they’d say that, I’d be rich..it seems the MS J-off’s can only retort in the same meaningless way….calling someone who can see the blatant difference between the iPod’s true features and the Zune much over-hyped features is not a ‘fanboy’ thing it’s a reality thing…
http://www.zunescene.com/forums/index.php?topic=5176.0
Bill…
Yes, iPods can scratch, but so can EVERY electronic device you carry…
… Cell phone. Palm. Camera. MacBook… you name it.
What’s the big deal with buying a $20 case?
I nearly pee-d in my pants!! They depicted the millions of iPod users as complete MORONS, while the fag in the $hit brown suit was supposed to be HIP!! My bloody heck that was funny! No mention that the zune song is going to self destruct. The guy who gets his song on iTunes has it forever. Dinkless there is just wanting to squirt something. Filthy little boy.
Zune Tang starred on TV!!! You can totally tell he’s the ipod guy in this clip! He’s even butt uglier than he sounds in his posts. Although he almost looks ‘stupider’ than he sounds (is that possible?).
I admit it…I laughed. Not at the Dorky Mac guy but at the silly MS attempt to reverse the tables. Even if the Mac guy was supposed to look a bit doofy, I would much rather be him than that geek in the squirt brown jacket who smugly gives the impression that the Zune is operated by pressing this one button.
I bet he dreams alone in his bed at night about getting a date with the ugliest girl in his class. Maybe if he pulled out his Zune…….
Keep’em coming MS.
What saps they are. Terrible. I know a woman who works in microsofts european headquaters and shw always says that mafiasoft would never “stoop as low as apple” and mention competing with them because msoft is so big that they dont even see apple as a real competitor, yet they come out with this cr*p.
Wow, This ad speaks for itself. Even though Microsoft sucks I dought that they would come out with something this lame. I just don’t know how to respond to this ad other than wow how sad and lame.
This spoofing thing that MS always relys on… MUST be something left over from Bill Gates high school days.
Makes we wanna take a HUGE zune right on Steve Ballmer’s head.
How the Zune was conceived..
http://doodleplex.com/glassmaze/?p=447
Hmm..
I would think this was meant as an internal thing only. I think it’s cute that MS is spoofing Apple’s Get a Mac ads, but couldn’t they do it well. Spoof away MS, just make it funny.
I think the brown part at the end was supposed to be a little pick on themselves, maybe.
Hey, everyone look at us! We’re just like Apple, only crappier!
Uh huh.
Yeah, you know, if I want a song from a guy who’s wearing a 3 piece suit and walking around with a Zune in the daylight, I’ll prolly just knock his punk ass down at take it. I’m sure he won’t put up much of a fight.
But really, he looks like the sort of person who would have a lot more Perry Como on his Zune than I would like anyway.
I doubt there are a lot of Amon Tobin or Godspeed! You Black Emperor tracks in there.
Otherwise, I’ll fire up iTunes, and find the song, and click ONE BUTTON and it’s mine.
Forever.
Not just 3 days/plays.
MS… it’s getting sadder and more desperate every day. Do you really want to make it worse?
Have you looked at your XBox 360 sales figures lately?
Nintendo is handing you your ass.
Just like Apple.
So, instead of spoofing commercials for products that are better than yours, how about making some decent products?
Like a whole computer, maybe.
-c
MW: ‘month’ (end sales might cover your morning latté)
MDN, chill out. It’s a spoof, not a real ad. Plus they are also making fun of themselves regarding the brown color.
I take it that it’s just an amateurish spoof for internal consumption, and not an ad, right?
They obviously feel that there’s unexploited mileage to be made up in the Social message — deaf as they are to overwhelming criticism of that aspect of the zune. Spoofing the Apple ad just shows that they are rattled by their failure to slow the iPod juggernaut.
But this thing squirts! If only they’d try it…..
Sorry, Mr. Moneybags. You might have the dough to achieve something over time, but it’s going to cost you at least 10 or 20 times what you’ve spent so far. And it’s obvious you don’t know how or where to spend it; and even if you did, you’d probably still miss this moving target.
Welcome to the Real World.
Ummm…No their “Mac Guy” is a ƒuck!ng geek/nerd. I prefer Justin, he would never embarrass himself attempting to dance. Truly pathetic…
Is there anything that Apple does that Microsoft won’t copy?
I love this one, comments from real people.
That is soooo lame, similar to the other spoof that came out of Youtube months ago
where the guy obviously has a major wardrobe problem. That tight belt is making him spout a lot of nonsense. I guess most PC users dress that way. No wonder.
The thing about iPods getting scratched is true because people actually care enough about their iPod to keep it looking nice. It’s an elegant device. Nobody gives a flying shit about how a Zune looks. I saw a Zune at Target the other day. It looks like MacGyver and B.A. Baracus made it out of an old Palm Pilot, a rat trap, and feces.
Turn to deceptive adverts if you can’t innovate your way out of a paper bag. Way to Monkey Boy!
Rock on Steve.
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How crap was that ad for Zune!!
I took a look over at the Zuneboards and read about someone in NYC who has had their first Zune social on the Subway.
Okay it might be a setup, but unless proven false, there are people with Zune’s who are doing exactly what the Zune advertises as doing!
That does have me concerned, unless Apple does add a similar capability to iTMS & iPods, which won’t have the 3 day or 3 play limit. No AAC, just a lower bit rate locked MP3*. Locked in a way that it cannot be burned to a CD or copied on to any computer. You could still send it on to another iPod, of course in that low bit rate quality MP3*.
Each time you hook up to your computer iTunes asks you if you want to buy that track and replace that low quality track at the same time.
Plus Microsoft on Zuneboards has announced the Zune is to be made available in Australia from January.
*MP3 is just an example format, Apple could choose another or introduce another format themselves.
MW ‘army’ seems as though a war is looming!
nice one jimbo, i like the way that when their talking about it it’s almost like their stabbing the zune with knifes as they pick up on just about everything wrong with it
Soon Tank, where are you? We need more jokes for this!
Everyone even PC users know that ease of use is NOT a Microsoft trait and from what it looks like, NEVER WILL BE.
With Zune, I can skeet songs all over my peeps. Skeet! Skeet! Skeet-skeet!
Of course iMixes are the way that tracks are shared and with anyone wherever they are in the country that has a store.
That is not in the vicinity of your own iPod! That is still quite impersonal as no one really knows who you are on iTunes.
I have published 4 iMixes in my time and does anyone know which 4 iMixes are mine?
I might mention it to my friends and even then they will have to get on to iTunes to see my iMixes and the tracks they contain.
I hate the Zune and everything about it too, but I can see a gap in the market that the Zune seems to be capitalising on. A sense of instantaneous connectivity??
Apple will have to respond in a similar way as I have already mentioned above. Knowing Apple they will make the same functionality a whole lot better!
MW: ‘north’ is there really a chance that the iPod market moves north. From Cupertino to Redmond.
Hmm – I recall purchasing an iTunes card with CASH at my local pharmacy and the using it to purchase items from iTunes without a credit card. We need a Red Forman type to go to MS just to remind them when they are being a Dumbass – but I guess nobody would have that much time.
i bought an xbox 360
it’s noisy , badly made , scratches discs and sounds like it’ll blow up
first and last microsuck product i ever buy
The big problem with this (and so many other attempts at spoof/parody ads, be they amature or professionally produced) is that they are attempting to spoof/parody humorous ads. Trying to poke fun of something that’s funny just never works and always comes across as rather pathetic.
You only spoof or parody something that’s serious or, at least, not intentionally funny.
It’s the humor equivalent of a double negative.
Turnabout is fair play. The ad is funny and effective.
M$ would be smart to go with it on TV – but wouldn’t make any large impact… ultimately the devices compete on their merits, and this iteration of the zune is an inferior product to the iPod.
That looks so corny!!
First off your bud’s have to have a Zume – know anyone, a bud or otherwise that has spend their money on a Zume of late – NO!
Now ask yourself just how many bud’s or otherwise has bought a iPod in the 6 months – many
End-Game!
This is of no real surprise coming from copysoft, but it does tell you theyre poor losers.
check out this idiot preaching the zune and getting absolutely drilled.
[url=http://www.rebelmac.com/?p=32]http://www.rebelmac.com/?p=32[/url]
@ Buster:
Best. Post. Ever.
You owe it to yourself to click on Buster’s link.
@ Zune Gangsta:
Bravo. Made my day.
Why do so many still get the name wrong.. it’s NOT Ipod or I-Pod…. it’s iPod.
Geesh.
“The ad is funny and effective.”
Sure. If you limit the audience to just the MS boardroom.
hahahahaha!!!
eat it and enjoy.
The funny thing is that they are trying to show the iPod in a bad light by talking about how “difficult” it is to put music on it, while it’s as easy as a press of the button with Zune. That’s apples and oranges. It’s not the same thing at all. The Zune guy had to go through exactly the same steps (probably more) to get that song on his Zune the first time. If they wanted to compare similar actions, the iPod would connect to someone else’s computer and they could get music that their friends or family bought, and have it as long as they wanted.
Besides, isn’t there a little more to “squirting” that pushing one button? I mean, they didn’t put a “Squirt” button on the interface, did they? Don’t you have to ask someone for a specific song and then the one guy has to set up to receive and the other has to set up to send? I’d be really surprised to hear that MS made it easier than that.
“Yeah, and they make it in brown.
It matches the turds floating in the toilet bowl.
Hmmm.”
Interesting comments.
ZuneTang, incognito?
Meanwhile, Ballmer is pitching his original idea for a sitcom to Fox. He wants to play a crotchety grandfather that throws chairs at his son and chases his grandkids with a squirt gun. The working title is:
“Everybody Loves Redmond”
MDN claims this is an actual M$ piece? Is it really, or just a spoof piece done by two kids a camera and a room?
If done by M$ I can only think they did it for an interenal promotional event.
But if produced by M$ for an in-house event, they were wise to post it to YouTube, as Zune is once again being talked about.
M$, each and every few weeks will have some sort of Zune announcement, good, bad, poinless, it will be in our faces the next two years..
Then it will go silent as M$ will be abandoning Zune and have moved onto their next great entertainment wave – which will be another bad copy of whatever Apple is doing…
Didn’t they do the same exact thing with the Switch ads? Microsoft copying Apple, that is. Then it was found out she was a Microsoft employee. I guess they really can’t find a good marketing team, or maybe they just don’t have a marketable product.
I thought that it was pretty funny too. Did Microsoft really make this? Because it looked like an amateur job. I’ve seen some better Pro Windoze/anti Apple videos out there. But better than Balmer’s monkeyboy dance, “Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers.”
I loved the “Watch it you’ll scratch my iPod!” comment. I’m kind of surprised that Microsoft didn’t make it as a virus infected Quicktime that you can screw up Macs on MySpace. That would have been the ultimate put down to the Macintosh.
Just keep on creating the next big thing, Apple. Microsoft will never manage to catch up.
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=7b841d66-fa63-45a4-83f4-45179814dcd1
Actually pretty funny!
The PC guy looks like a young Donald Rumsfeld.
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=22fd376f-e1fa-4fea-b8fd-3242ae0de3ab
Funny that this is posted on a MS site!
Truth be told, I never tire of the Monkey Boy Dance.
I wonder if Ballmer would disown his kids for owning and using a Mac/iPod. It’d be like a parent disowning their kid for being gay or a different religion or something. Microsoft is a religion, Apple is a cult. Religions are people going through the motions in hopes for something better, but stale and boring like Microsoft. Cults believe they have got something better and are excited about it.
@amyhre
Tell you what I wonder.
I wonder if Ballmer’s KIDS would disown HIM, if they ever saw Dad’s ‘developers’
video!
Soapbox, huh?
MS sure is a glutton for punishment.
“First, we’ll go after the ipod. Then You tube. Tomorrow? GOOGLE!”
This is my favorite Ballmer video ever. Brilliant!
Funny on that soapbox.msn.com site, it won’t let you close the page without asking if you really want to leave. Typical MS.
M$ can’t even come up with an original joke.
Sad bastards.
ndelc,
yes, I meant to comment on that MS “feature”.
And I agree, Young Frankensteve should be shown @ Sundance (filler between other films)
Zune and Vista.
Two more products from MicroSpoof.
Are they embarrassed about “Windows” since this is all the Zune will run on. Why didn’t they say “I’m a Mac. I’m a Windows”. Oh, now I see. Everyone is embarrassed about having to have Windows, so PC is more PC.
Where’s Zune Tang? Don’t tell me he’s not going to show up with his usual insane ramblings on a MDN story featuring Zune! Man, first the homeless guy in front of my building at work (the one who growls and barks at women in dresses) downtown disappears, now Zune Tang is MIA!
Did they have a crackdown on the mentally ill, and I didn’t hear about it?
Boy that was funny and sure to be copied too, especially since the new government copy add is almost complete.
Remember the Ballmer chant?
More developers
More developers
More developers.
The Bush add will be out starting next year. Goes like this:
More troops
More troops
More troops.
Now that MS has made the original iPod vs. Zune add you can expect the same from Bush.
Hi, I am an Iraqi with a car bomb. Hi, I am a highly trained US marine with weaponry so advanced it uses depleted uranium.
Guess which one gets to squirt the other?
Hey Road Warrior:
You seem to have lost your map. This is MacDailyNews, not The New York Times.
Maybe you should change your name to Road Wanderer.
Very Korny, the actors suck, and the music sounds like it was recorded from a baby’es toy.. Microsoft can’t take a hint that they lost and Apple won. This really shows just how much of a Sore Loser Microsoft really is.
All they got right was the white backround.
Can’t wait to see how apple will bash microsoft with their next commercials
That was truly embarrassing. That video they did a few months ago mocking themselves about “if Microsoft did the iPod packaging” was clever and funny. But this attempt is pathetic. Even the Microsoft employees watching will know how pathetic it is…
Aren’t they advocating pirating?
That video they did a few months ago mocking themselves about “if Microsoft did the iPod packaging” was clever and funny. But this attempt is pathetic.
IIRC, the video was impromptu and done from the bottom up, grassroots-style by frustrated MicroSerfs.
The spoof was obviously official, ordered “from above”, and probably percolated through team meetings. Ya gotta wonder how many PowerPoint slides were involved.
It’s proof-in-practice of the talent MS could have, and of how badly their own weight is crushing them…
MS can’t even get a spoof right??
And to think spoofs take minimal originality. Not to mention MS’s theoretic ability to pay people to do it right…
Thank God for Apple, ’cause I don’t see much sun shining on MS…
Dimebag,
Justin would never embarrass himself attempting to dance? What a stupid remark.
You know he’s an actor right? He’s not really a Mac.
He’ll embarrass himself just as much as the script tells him to…
I guess no one at Microsoft has ever heard that you can’t put lipstick on a pig.
The only way to make that piece a ‘perfect failure’ is if they went brown screen and “Got Zune?” and the end.
And you KNOW they toyed with the idea.
My fav part was the “um-chic um-chic um-chic” part.
Notice how the Zune guy didn’t ask, “How do you buy a song for your iPod” ?? He asked, “How do you get a song on your iPod.”
It’ll be fun to see how many viruses get squirted from one PC to another via Zune.
And, ZuneBoards is an astroturf site, guys. MSFT has been spreading it’s “fertilizer” all over the media, except for real life reviews.
“The big problem with this (and so many other attempts at spoof/parody ads, be they amature or professionally produced) is that they are attempting to spoof/parody humorous ads. Trying to poke fun of something that’s funny just never works and always comes across as rather pathetic.”
I for one have never seen a Mac ad spoof that’s less funny than the actual Mac ads. And there’s a lot of bad Mac ad spoofs out there. Mac addicts need to understand just how funny the rest of the world finds them to be.
MS is right, if you have a Zune, sharing is easier. iMixes don’t even count because you can’t do them there and then, and you don’t even get 3 tries before you buy.
So to say the Zune bookmark of what file do download from your friend and get to play 3 times is “Free Advertising” yet people publishing lists of songs they think you should buy is not “Free Advertising” is just dumb. Can you download the mix to your iPod, play it 3 times and then decide which songs you wnat to buy? Nope that’s not the way iMixes work. It gives you a list of songs somebody else thinks you might like to buy. That’s almost the very definition of advertising.
Apple is using the “Buy before you Try” model. Microsoft is using “Try before you Buy”. Which one will work out better? Given that most people hear a song a few times, like it then go and buy it, I’d give the win to Microsoft on this one.
Apple’s behind the 8 ball by not offering people their choice of subscription or purchase.
The overwhelming amount of music in iPods comes from CDs or P2P “All you can eat” music downloading. If “all you can eat” can be done legally, inexpensively and more conveniently, there’s a huge base of customers out there already accustomed to that model.
If every iPod owner buys an average of 23 songs per iPod from iTunes, and the average iPod lasts about 2 years before crapping out, if Apple can sell a subscription to them all for anything more than $0.95/month they will still come out ahead. And at that price renting vs buying is a no brainer.
>> Apple is using the “Buy before you Try” model. Microsoft is using “Try before you Buy”. Which one will work out better? …
iTunes has a preview of songs, also you can hear a song on the radio or other media before buying. What about Audio CDs? People often only hear one or two songs, or in some cases preview all the songs on a record shop before buying the whole album. Zune lets you do what? Try sharing an entire album with Zune sharing, how long, and how much battery is required for that? Zune is still v1, it ha a ways to mature, and you are missing a lot with your current POV.
“iTunes has a preview of songs, also you can hear a song on the radio or other media before buying. What about Audio CDs? “
Here’s the thing. All the things you said apply equally well to Zune, you can hear the songs on the radio and go buy them for your Zune too, or load them from CDs to your Zune. That’s hardly an argument for why it’s a bad feature for you to introduce your friends to your favorite new band who might not happen to be playing on the radio at just that instant.
“People often only hear one or two songs, or in some cases preview all the songs on a record shop before buying the whole album. Zune lets you do what? Try sharing an entire album with Zune sharing, how long, and how much battery is required for that? “
believe it or not, there are lots of handheld devices which use wifi and don’t drain the battery in 3 seconds.
Buying a whole album is a historical way of doing things, because that’s how songs have historically been bundled and sold. Frankly I’d rather spend a few minutes getting the album sent to me and decide which of the tracks I could be bothered buying after listening to them.
Maybe if I already knew I liked the band I’d buy the whole album.
But with an all you can eat subscription, you don’t need to take that risk, I’d happly download those tracks and make up my mind over a period of time (since the concept of buying no longer exists, you rent the store’s entire collection), whether they are deserving of space in my device.
“Zune is still v1, it ha a ways to mature, and you are missing a lot with your current POV.”
Give Microsoft their due. They came up with the first MP3 player which lets you share stuff on the fly with other people. Will it be copied by Apple? Sure. Will it become more refined in future versions? sure.
Microsoft usually kills the competition with v2 or v3 (Usually after the competition has widely derided V1 as a non-starter in the field).
What I can bet is that Apple will follow. Then half the people in this forum will believe that Apple invented wireless sharing of songs. The other half will acknowledge that Microsoft did, but claim that Apple’s way of doing it is so much better than anyone else’s.
I watched Eragon this weekend and before the film they had a Zune commercial. I thought to myself, “they should quit while they’re behind.” Saw a billboard ad on the way home on the Zune too, “Duets are better than solo performances.” Not necessarily. Maybe if you’re talking about sex, but that’s a given.
Don’t steal intellectual property; Microsoft hates competition. Probably because they have no intellect of their own.
And if I were Ballmer’s kids, I’d disown him for being a monkey. Sure kids are meant to surpass their parents, and students their teachers, but when his kids squirted out of their mother (couldn’t resist) and they’re already more intelligent than the troll holding their mother’s hand, I think I’d be saying “WTF. Please let that be a foster parent or stepdad or something.”