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 $300 million to create an OS that isn’t a derivative, counterintuitive, bloated, spaghetti-coded mess?” – MacDailyNews Take, August 21, 2008
Brilliant; that’s all!!
As much as I am not a fan of Justin Long I think that he and Hodgman are great together and could be today’s equivalent of Abbot and Costello (at least thanks to the writers of the commercials)
That is much more than 4 times as much cash! PCs can’t count.
I’ve gotta tell you, the ‘Bean Counter’ ad is the best of these types of ads to date. I’ve never laughed and enjoyed these types of ads this much before. I thought to myself, great comeback Apple.
I mean that is really and truly what M$ is doing, simply throwing advertising dollars at Vista’s problems rather than fixing it. Why do you think M$ is talking so much about Windows 7? In fact Steve Ballmer is recently quoted as saying, “[Windows 7], it’s Windows Vista, but a lot better.” M$ is not going to fix Vista, they are just going to sell Windows 7 to it’s sheep.
However, the Mac switching momentum is not about to phase out. The new Macs are really going to shine with 64 bit Snow Leopard and the awesome performance superiority it will have over bloated Vista and Windows 7 a.k.a. Vista 2nd edition.
Microsoft doesn’t fix Windows because it is unfixable.
They need to start from scratch and rewrite.
They probably won’t do it.
If they did, it would take 5 to 7 years for the first draft… too late.
Apple will have a 128 bit enterprise grade file system (ZFS from Sun) starting with Snow Leopard.
Game over.
Apple will be bigger than Microsoft.
Yea!
The Tyrannosaurus is dying.
Those were certainly funnier than Bill and Jerry.
At least Hodgman doesn’t have to wiggle his ass to get laughs.
The ‘bean counter’ ad is the funniest and sharpest of all the ‘Get a Mac’ ads so far.
Glass workers are going to be very busy fixing all the broken windows (oops, a pun) in Mr. Ballmer’s office tomorrow.
… but isn’t an advertising campaign that mocks an advertising campaign kinda ironic?
“[Windows 7], it’s Windows Vista, but a lot better.”
Hard to imagine how MS could make Vista any worse.
But this is the same MS that gave the world Windows ME, so I’m sure they’re capable.
@I hate to say it…,
Well, yeah, but no one’s accusing OS X of being a chrome-plated turd either.
Yeah, more ads Microsoft! That’s helping! ROTFLMAO!
Ballmer is a tool!
LOL!
Glass workers are going to be very busy fixing all the broken windows (oops, a pun) in Mr. Ballmer’s office tomorrow.
MS really needs to get Ballmer a rubber room.
Or at least a monkey pit.
Very sharp ads. If M$ decreases their advertising, they lose. If they keep spending a ton on their advertising, they lose.
They seem to try everything but make a good product.
CLASSIC!!
We all saw something like this happening after the MS’s “ads” with Billy G. and Seinfeld, now didn’t we?
I think there are going to be a lot of toilets in Redmond stopped up with bricks this next week.
Very nice Apple!
lol if i worked in Microsoft’s advertising dept i’d be pretty raged. That impotent, “i wish you hadn’t said that even though it’s exactly right” kind of rage.
“… but isn’t an advertising campaign that mocks an advertising campaign kinda ironic?”
Not at all. The MS campaign does not advertise any advantages of Vista over other operating systems. Nor does it illustrate problems with other OSes. Seinfeld ads say that MS is making an attempt to get in the consumer market, and the I’m a PC ad just says a lot of people use PCs (to the point that they now think they are PCs) which really goes without saying because it’s quite obvious from market share figures.
Apple ads, however try to show the benefits of Macs and the downsides of the PC.
Is M$ really trying to get people to quit referring to “vista?” That is so 1984; as in Orwellian. They could then start selling the old system as the new system until the next version comes out and nobody could tell the difference because they are all called Windows. At least they get one more chance this way. If Windows 7 is a turd things will really get interesting.
Heh. It’s amazing how the Apple-Microsoft war is beginning to resemble a political campaign, with ads that attack each other’s tactics.
——RM
@LordRobin,
Please, don’t go there!
How many corporations and businesses are going to be looking for other solutions after Ballmer’s little remark? I would think that many of them that are close to making long-term technology decisions for their companies are really starting to look at the alternatives. Why wait for MS to putz around with the Vista turd for 2-3 more years, when there are already other choices out there that are superior and will cost at least the same, if not save some money long-term. Ballmer just handed probably 10-20% of his market share to the competition. OS X and Linux are both ready to step in and take up the slack.
Maybe this is Ballmer & Gate’s long-term strategy. They are so beholden to so much legacy code. Maybe they are ceding some of their market share, so that they can “justify” the need to do a complete rewrite. Or maybe they’re just that incompetent. Who knows. Either way it better for all of us for more competition in the OS market place.
OMG, I can’t imagine a more perfectly executed comeback, and it’s almost as if the I’m a PC, I’m a Mac campaign planned for exactly this retaliation tactic of Microsoft’s.
Brilliant!
Well done … I would suggest that they take a pig and name it Vista and try to disguise it with lipstick, a necklace, clothes etc. Make the point that no matter how you name it or disguise it, Vista is still a pig. Of course, this might alienate pig farmers.
I love the new ads. They’re great! LOL at the Bean Counter ad.
Peace.