“By now you’ve seen, no doubt many times, Apple’s most recent Get a Mac commercial, in which poor PC can not get a word in (or out) without first clearing it (Cancel or allow?) through his grim, Secret-Service-style security agent. If for some reason you haven’t seen it… you should see it, because it’s the best of the series so far. This is no small compliment, given how consistently smart and funny and clever and creative they’ve been. But this one is pure perfection: a marvel of brisk pacing, crisp editing, and deft comic timing, showcasing yet again the subtle brilliance and hilarity of John Hodgman’s work as PC,” Chad Hermann blogs for The Huffington Post.
Apple’s ‘Get a Mac – Security’ ad:
Hermann writes, “Almost equally amazing is the inability — or perhaps the unwillingness — of someone as smart as Bill Gates to understand how the ads work. When asked, in a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, whether he was bothered by the commercial in which PC must undergo upgrade surgery to install Windows Vista, the Microsoft Chairman replied, I’ve never seen it. I don’t think over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.“
Hermann writes, “PC is to Mac what Wile E. Coyote was to the Roadrunner: the poor, pitiful foil for whom we feel some strange sort of empathy, even as we can’t quite bring ourselves to identify with him. He won’t ever win, and he can’t even get his name in the title, but he’s the one who makes the stories worth watching. He makes them great…”
Hermann writes, “If Bill Gates understood this, or could at least bring himself to admit it, perhaps he would feel better about the ad campaign. Or perhaps not. Elsewhere in that same interview, when he’s saying silly and patently untrue things about Apple computers (Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally) or bragging about Vista features (the way the search lets you go through lots of things, including lots of photos… And then I might edit a high-definition movie and a make a little DVD that’s got photos) that have been possible on a Mac for months or even years, he sounds an awful lot like PC in those commercials: by turns boastful and dismissive, trying too hard and succeeding too little, clinging to the tenuous and increasingly unpleasant company of his own mistaken assumptions.”
Hermann writes, “Much has been made of the notion that, at first glance, Mac and PC bear a more than passing resemblance to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. And maybe that’s what really bugs Mr. Gates about the commercials. Maybe he’s not bothered by how they may hurt the feelings of 90 percent of computer users; maybe he’s bothered by how they hurt his own.”
More in the full article – highly recommended – here.
Related articles:
Bill Gates unhinged with Apple envy; Microsoft on path to become high profile casualty – February 06, 2007
Bill Gates has lost his mind: calls Apple liars, copiers; slams Mac OS X security vs. Windows – February 02, 2007
And whilst at Huffington Post, don’t forget to read some of the other blogs as well.
MW=problem
In other words, Bill’s been exhibiting a few lately
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Im at work using a late 90’s pc, and as soon as i clicked on this news ad i got a message asking me is i wanted to debug.
life imitates art…
> pitiful foil for whom we feel some strange sort of empathy
An apt description of Zune Tang!
I love how in the same article he says he never saw the ads but then later describes them…. hmmm. He is a busy man does he have someone take the time to tell him what they think of the ad’s so he can dismiss them in public or does he take 10 minutes to watch everyone of them.
So Huffington Post is a progressive blog in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt who started the progressive party (aka “Bull Moose” party”) after abandoning the Republicans. And Huffington was a repub herself, but split from the party when her husband, a republican, was outed as a homosexual? So, Teddy switched (parties.) Arianna switched (parties.) Rush switched (platforms.)
I can’t follow this soap opera. But the article is good. As are the commercials.
“Know your audience,” and “Love what you do.”
Chad Hermann
A fully qualified man to offer critique, it would seem. Hermann teaches communications at Carnegie Mellon University. He’s also greatly admired by his students, apparently.
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2006/bs20060919_195233.htm?chan=bschools_undergrad+–+favorite+professors_favorite+professors
Yes, that is a brilliant ad. It really makes me laugh.
The only wow I’m hearing in my head is “Wow, that stings!” Nice going.
Bill has just been “school”ed.
Yeah, except that John Hodgman is endearingly cute, while Bill Gates is simply an offense to the eyes. I’d say Bill is being generously flattered in the ads.
But what else could Bill G say when asked about the PC/Mac adds? Really, what could he say…. “Oh, I think they are pretty good” or “Yeah the adds are cute but they are not representing the truth”? He just about had to say that he has not seen them. That is the only way that he would be able to not have to comment on them.
Great commercials. Huffington-not so great.
Huffington post-Maher said one of the most disgraceful and irresponsible things uttered on a major television program since Bush was elected.
In a nutshell, the host said the world would be a safer place if the Cheney assassination attempt succeeded. And, he even had the nerve to reiterate it. Here’s the deplorable sequence of events for those that have the stomach for it.
Maher: What about the people who got onto the Huffington Post – and these weren’t even the bloggers, these were just the comments section – who said they, they expressed regret that the attack on Dick Cheney failed.
Libs-Libs-Libs
MW-freedom
“…So Huffington Post is a progressive blog…”
When did “liberal” get replaced with “progressive”?
“In a nutshell, the host said the world would be a safer place if the Cheney assassination attempt succeeded”
The thing wasn’t a Cheney assassination attempt. He wasn’t anywhere near the explosion. The media just spun it that way to create more drama from none.
I don’t call it a media conspiracy, just a weak ass attempt to boost ratings. Although if it was a conspiracy it would fall right in line with typical Rove tactics where he makes his candidate appear to be the victim in some way to garner sympathy and support.
A dullard is the last person to know he is one.
d.
The world WOULD be a safer… and SANER.. place without Cheney polluting it with his existence.
What would have happened if Bill Clinton shot an old man in the face,
If a blow job rates impeachment?
Ron,
As opposed to Ann Coulter espousing the assassination of members of the Federal judiciary or arguing that the offices of a newspaper should be bombed.
Or are those facts an inconvenient truth that you can just ignore because your prejudices lean that way.
ron . . .
Are you equally willing to condemn violent hate speech that comes out of Ann Couter’s, Sean Hannity’s, Rush Limaugh’s, Jerry Falwell’s, Pat Robertson’s (and many more right wing hatemonger’s) mouths ? ?
If so , you have a valid point. If not, then you are a hyopocrite.
Respectfully
I would like to know if Hodgman and Long are Mac users, and if they are (as I suppose) were they before the gig
With Bill Gates making 4 million dollars a day in interest…
I don’t think he really cares about anything and that’s exactly the advantage Apple needs.
Mr. Reeee,
Clinton was not impeached because of getting a blow job. He was impeached for lying about it.
Did Cheney lie about the gun accident?
I have always been amazed at how the general public (that includes you Mr. Reeee) cannot follow a story line and keep facts straight. Always gotta bend it to fit their own agenda.
Ron, you clearly haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.
Arianna Huffington removed comments from the comments section of her site expressed regret that Dick Cheney wasn’t killed. Bill Maher, on Friday night on his show, which I watched, and you evidently didn’t, asked his panelists to discuss her hasty removal -i.e., was she stifling free speech, etc.
The quote you posted is just Bill bringing up the topic for discussion, giving the backstory to his panelists. Okay. Not at all controversial.
What I can see as controversial is that Bill Maher DID say that he believes for a fact, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that if Dick Cheney died today, fewer people would die as a result of his conquests in the future. And, while subjective, I think that’s sadly a statement that’s pretty hard to refute.
He had the nerve to state it and reiterate it because – if you believe this is Dick Cheney’s war – it IS true. In fact, I’d say it’s one of the most responsible things uttered on a major television program since Bush was elected.
(but I digress, Macs rule, Steve Jobs created the world and then the rest of us came along, yada yada yada).
John H. uses a mac
I’m a PC
@Mondale
Arrgh ….why did you mention Ann Coulter’s name….now I have to go puke. God I dislike that ignorant, self-centered, self-promoting, un-ethical, cold-blodded bit*h.
Cheney is a waste of life.
To have been given such an opportunity for service to one’s own country, and to squander it towards the benefit only of the powerful “elite” is a shame. He sends our sons to war for no good reason, he refuses to acknowledge the value of humanity which put him in office. We’d be better off without him. That’s not an endorsement for violence. But he and GWB should be impeached. Pelosi would be preferable than that bunch! They have shamed the GOP beyond repair.
Someone asked:
“When did “liberal” get replaced with “progressive”?”
Um, not long after right-wing nutjobs distorted the definition of liberal into a negative epithet. I think it’s funny, since the original progressives were (as posted above) conservatives who abandoned the republican party because they didn’t care about the populace, but sought to favor the elite, wealthy.
What would have happened if Bill Clinton shot an old man in the face,
If a blow job rates impeachment?
Cheney was off duty, in the woods, and never lied about it. It was an accident.
Clinton was ON duty, IN the Oval Office, and lied directly to the world. Remember the “I did not have sex with that woman” speech? There were reports of Clinton being unavailable for hours while he and Monica “met in private”. What if a 9/11-scale emergency struck, and the president literally had his pants down? You get the idea.
Now before you Angry Leftists fire back, remember that while Clinton was impeached, he was NOT removed from office. There is a time to put politics aside, and carefully weigh the well-being of the nation to the seriousness off the offense. Remember that.
“…Cheney is a waste of life…”
“…right-wing nutjobs…”
“…why did you mention Ann Coulter’s name….now I have to go puke…”
…”without Cheney polluting it with his existence.”
If you don’t leave liberals in a sputtering impotent rage, you’re not doing it right.
– Ann Coulter
Why is it that libs are so full of hate?
I don’t hate anyone. God bless every one. (Tiny Tim).
Amazing how a discussion of the Mac commercials — most (but not all) brilliant, in my opinion — leads to a discussion of Bill Clinton vs. Dick Cheney.
Sheesh.
And they say Mac users are zealots? The Clinton haters are still bitching, six years after THEY TOOK OVER THE GOVERNMENT!! I mean, what more do you want?
As for Cheney’s telling the truth, you folks have a truly selective memory. There’s a lot about that shooting that we’ll probably ever know, not least of which was Cheney’s blood alcohol level (cops weren’t allowed on site for 24 hours). When it comes to this administration (well, all administrations) we don’t know anything about anything. It’s all spin and posturing.
Anything dealing with Arianna Huffington I am boycotting. She is a complete wackjob and this story is from her online site. Too bad, sounds good.
We thinking British are proud to be Liberal.
And when Bush and Blair are nothing but a nasty fading aftertaste, so will America.
Alex McKenna, Manchester
Fan of Roosevelt!
“…Cheney is a waste of life…”
“…right-wing nutjobs…”
“…why did you mention Ann Coulter’s name….now I have to go puke…”
…”without Cheney polluting it with his existence.”
Can’t you just feel the peace, love, understanding and tolerance?
“There were reports of Clinton being unavailable for hours while he and Monica “met in private”. What if a 9/11-scale emergency struck, and the president literally had his pants down? You get the idea.”
He probably would’ve pulled his pants up and raced into action, immediately, unlike Bush who just sat there for 10 fscking minutes in that classroom waiting for “God” to tell him what to do. And he, sure as Shinola, wouldn’t have invaded Iraq over something Saudi terrorists were responsible for.
And yeah, Clinton lied directly to the world. I would never cheat on my wife, but if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell all you goofballs about it. That’s NOBODY’S business. Jesus, that’s in, like, Cheating On Your Wife 101, for cryin’ out loud.
Billy got OWNED!
Bill has seen the ad, YOU know it and I know it!
He’s full of poop!
Poor Bill Gates. He’s going to soon become the world’s second richest man, and his megalomania just can’t take it.
The SOB ought to be thankful he isn’t behind bars.
“He probably would’ve pulled his pants up and raced into action, immediately”
Right…. just like he raced into action during the Rawandan genocide, and after the bombings of the USS Cole and the African embassies.
Go F*CK yourself Alex McKenna you piece of garbage, crooked toothed mother f*cker.
You know, ive got a mac and a pc, ive got a macbook and a self built xp box.
Honestly the mac is great but it hasnt changed my life or anything. ]
As for “just works”
well, not exactly, close but not all the way, getting my printer to work took a little doing, not macs fault but still….
Getting it to network with my pc’s was a little hit an miss, i worked it out but not by the standard means of doing so.
Alex McK wrote:
“We thinking British are proud to be Liberal.
And when Bush and Blair are nothing but a nasty fading aftertaste, so will America.”
I hope America does fade, to a certain extent, with George W. Bush and Bill Gates leading the way. Just remember that the UK has been one of our most loyal allies, so be prepared to fade along with us.
David Blomstrom
The Invisible Republic
@mirror and @ close to the Mark
What is this liberal crap? Ann Coulter is neomous agains liberals to be sure but she haas also shit on Canadians as well. I dislike her as a person because she spews hatred and derisive and downright denigrating commentsfor one purpose only….self promotion. What saddens me is the people (like you guys) who lap it up. So don’t be so hypocritical about tolerance….I am amazed you can live with yourself.
That would be ‘venomous against’
I couldn’t spell properly because the tears of love and tolerance was couding my vision,
By the way, in an interview on the CBC, the reporter was lisening to her diatribe about Cnada etc and you could just see him rolling his eyes as if to say, “who is this idiot’?
Yep, liberals love every just like them and only like them. That and adhering to the myths of liberal supremacy and inherent righteousness.
Love, love, love…except eveyone else who deserves to die slow and painful deaths for opposing the party line.
@Buster
I wasn’t defending Coulter.
And I didn’t claim to be tolerant either.
I am intolerant of lots of things…
…like certain members of a 7th-century religion who fly passenger jets into skyscrapers and blame everyone else for their problems except themselves…
…people who call themselves progressives/liberals and claim to have cornered the market on civil discourse, yet employ the politics of personal destruction (another invention of the Clintons – remember their ‘War Room’?) whenever it suits their needs…
…people who want tell us we’re all energy hogs and we should use less of everything, yet have no problem running up $30,000/yr energy bills running their own 20-room mansions (e.g. Al Gore).
If that makes me “intolerant” in your eyes, so be it.
brilliant article, but why are we talking about Cheney ?
please !
(i don’t want him dead, but another president+vice president, anyone, would have been a better choice)
On a completely unrelated topic, I really really hope Apple has plans for Leopard to include something with similar effects to the Beryl project. That is simply kick butt! That window manager is AMAZING. Google Beryl or check out some of the youtube demos of it in action. Just wow. It almost makes me want to install Gentoo Linux on a partition of my Mac just to have it.
David Blomstrom – I think you misunderstood Alex McK. I don’t think he was saying that America would fade but that America will be proud to be liberal after Bush and Blair fade.
AND to “Not a Limey and Proud of it” – what a xenophobic, vitrolic, idiot you are. You and your redneck Cheney-Bush loving pinheads are an embarassment to America and true Americans.
See, there are two kinds of Republicans: the rich ones who are smart but were born without the compassion and fairness genes, and then there are the poor ones who say “thank you, sir, yes sir!” as they are getting screwed by the the smart rich ones. Sadly the latter group was born without the brain gene.
Now I know some of you conservative are going to be a little upset with what I’ve said but that’s because you fall into the latter group.
Personally I am very proud to be a liberal and very proud to be an American.
@ Thomas
“Now I know some of you conservative are going to be a little upset with what I’ve said…”
Nah – we’ve heard it all before. And before that. And before that. And…
I you have really grouped all Republicans into those two neat little rows in your mind, maybe you should re-examine. We’re not that bad. Hell, I’ve got a little compassion.
Sp. error : vitriolic
The above post by Thomas is typical lib:
Those who disagree with their lib religion == “born without compassion and born without the brain gene” …
.. now that’s smart and compassionate. Haha
jump, Dick, jump.
@ close to the mark
Hey, my best friend is a die-hard Republican. He’s got a great sense of humor like yours. Nice to see it.
T.
Ouch. I think I’ve been blocked.
@ close to the mark
Hey, my best friend is a die-hard Republican. He’s got a great sense of humor like yours. Nice to see it.
T.
T. –
We have ceased the diatribes. Cancel or allow…
microsuck own the bbc and half the uk media , that explains a lot
Did I just read a blog about a blog? Pay attention folks, we are now seeing through the looking glass.
A quick point: liberal women do not have more than two children, if they have children at all. Conservatives have families and their families tend to be larger. Thus, America will be conservative in the future. It’s a matter of simple reproductive rates.
>A quick point: liberal women do not have more than two children>
Flush the future.
pitiful machismo wrote:
“…Rush switched (platforms.)…”
Just a niggling correction: Rush Limbaugh has used and espoused Macs since the late ’80s. He’s never “switched.”
F*ck conservatives!!
“If a blow job rates impeachment?”
Wow, amazing how people live in distorted reality.
Billyboy was impeached because he made false statements under oath in a court of law.
Imagine the media if there was a woman accusing Cheney of raping her…. ha the media would be camping out in his backyard and calling for the entire administration to resign!
Billyboy had immunity, remember!
The american media is disgusting!
I’m with Cubert. The Huffington post is a joke, published by an embarrassment.
As for Ann Coulter, she is both brilliant and nuanced in ways most people miss. I am amazed at how many people (both Libs and Conservatives) don’t get what she is about. Her mission over the last few years has been to flush out the language totalitarians in our society. The Orwellian thought police are anathema to Coulter. Her comments at CPAC that ignited a firestorm of faux outrage from numerous quarters were intended to demonstrate that people are simple-minded and easily cowed by the extreme PCism of our time.
In a nod to the ridiculous Isaiah Washington situation over at the set of Grey’s Anatomy, she reminded everyone that you can actually be sent to rehab for saying a word. Furthermore, she was calling an obvious metrosexual, John Edwards, a more incendiary version of the word “wuss”. She cunningly made two points: Edwards is a weakling who would be the worst possible type of president, a girlyman, and saying so in today’s totalitarian PC-speak society can put you in rehab.
I love that woman’s brain (in a purely platonic way of course).
-B
P.S. I believe Ann when she said she obviously wasn’t calling Edwards a homosexual but the fact that the gay community was outraged even though they know that Edwards is not a homosexual indicates that they were insulted by being associated with a guy like Edwards. It’s one of those “call Edwards ‘gay’ and you will have to apologize to gay people everywhere”.
“Almost equally amazing is the inability — or perhaps the unwillingness — of someone as smart as Bill Gates to understand how the ads work.”
What? bill gates is not smart. Of course if he was he would be able to come up with his own ideas instead of copying everybody else. Oh and to those people who think Bill is the richest man in the world well, he’s acctually the second or third. I think that person who runs Ikea is the richest.