MacDailyNews Take: You might remember Microsoft’s Kevin Turner, he called Windows Vista “the most secure OS on the planet, including Mac OS X and Linux” in April 2009. Then, just when we’d finally stopped laughing, last July Turner said of Microsoft’s PC ad campaigns, “Wow. Did we punch right back? The PC Hunter ads, the PC Rookie ads clearly have been winners in the marketplace… And you know why I know they’re working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, ‘Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.’ They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. I did cartwheels down the hallway.”
We’d still really like to see Kevin attempt even a single cartwheel. Of course, Apple’s record Mac sales continued to outpace the PC industry throughout Microsoft’s various ad campaigns. The one to which Turner refers was a case of false advertising, so of course Apple asked for it to be revised, which Microsoft promptly did. That “the greatest single phone call in the history that Turner’s ever taken in business” was that phone call speaks volumes. But, boy, those Microsoft “PC Hunter” and “PC Rookie” ads sure worked, didn’t they? They did if the goal was to increase Mac sales to record levels. Turner is like Ballmer’s Mini Me with a bad mustache. They’re both bad used car salesmen working for a derivative, mismanaged, hopelessly outclassed tech company.
By the way, nobody ever called Windows Vista the best operating system on the market. Nobody.
Keizer reports, “Earlier in his talk, Turner poked fun at the reception problems that have dogged Apple’s iPhone 4 since its June 24 launch. “One of the things I want to make sure you know today is that you’re going to be able to use a Windows Phone 7 and not have to worry about how you’re holding it to make a phone call,” Turner said, referring to the Microsoft mobile operating system set to debut on smartphones this fall.
MacDailyNews Take: Cartwheel Boy is right on that count, hardly anybody will have to worry about holding a Windows Phone 7, uh, phone (smooth naming scheme you’ve got there as usual, Microsoft).
Keizer reports, “The iPhone’s position isn’t unassailable, Turner argued. ‘We’re back in the game,’ he said. ‘And this game is not over.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Channelling Sergeant Hulka: “So, go ahead, give it your best shot… Gutless… Punk.”