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Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

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Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#51
post #9

I wonder what proportion of Vista users think it needs fixing? I don't understand the new Microsoft PC adverts either. What does having glasses have to do with anything?

I don't think Apple is trying to target users of Vista, just people that are considering moving off XP.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked it. It isn't mean at all. It's lighthearted and funny but it does address something I've thought about before. Perhaps Vista isn't as bad as most people think but it certainly does have problems. Instead earnestly promising to address any real issues Microsoft announced a $300m ad campaign to deal with it. MS could have earned a lot more credibility and respect by admitting to perhaps even a small sampling of…

What parts of Vista need to be fixed?

I'll try not to get mean - I'm a Mac user, and I know how much I hate it when Windows users get douchey - but I think that the biggest problem they'd need to fix is the ration of aesthetic to functionality. It's what pissed me off every day with Vista. Microsoft added features that look "Mac-like" but without the inherent usability.

For instance, that window display where they're all sideways and you can scroll through them. I'm certain that's a rip off of Expose on the Mac. The difference is that Expose provides a very quick-n-easy way to access your windows, whereas that display seemed like it didn't make things particularly easy. And I forget if I tested it, but I very much doubt that it was a spring-loaded view, either.

The Aero theme is another instance. Compare that to Leopard's Aqua. They're both attempts to look modern and beautiful, but Leopard goes about it my making all of its chrome minimal. The buttons are small, the borders on every last window are 1px. With Vista, you get bulk hanging off of every window and the buttons look cartoony.

I won't go into the OS operations, because - again - I think that anything that I say will only invite flaming on the other side, and frankly I'm sick and tired of Hacker News having the same fucking OS wars that every other social news site does, and I don't want to flame things. But OS X feels like a complete solution in a way. Every part of it has been lovingly slavered over to perfection. From the feel of the computers to small things like the message windows (there was an article here talking about on OS X message windows are more direct than their Win/Lin equivalents) things are polished to a fault. And that's something that Windows or Linux need to "fix" before they can really seem like a decent competitor in my eyes.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked it. It isn't mean at all. It's lighthearted and funny but it does address something I've thought about before. Perhaps Vista isn't as bad as most people think but it certainly does have problems. Instead earnestly promising to address any real issues Microsoft announced a $300m ad campaign to deal with it. MS could have earned a lot more credibility and respect by admitting to perhaps even a small sampling of…

What parts of Vista need to be fixed?

You mean besides the fact that it's slow, clumsily designed, and ugly?

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#54

When did advertisments become about putting your competitor down? Heck even the Coke v/s Pepsi wars didn't stoop this low. If Apple can't market it's products on their own features and has to rely on this kind of negative adverts I'd say it's really hitting a low-point. The ad kind of pisses me off actually.

They're getting aggressive because they want big results.

OS X is on the rise: it's getting big pretty quickly. Apple wants to take advantage of that and force every last Apple product they can into the consumer marketplace.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#55

This is pretty ironic considering how Mac ads far outnumber Windows ads. Maybe next time around Apple can pull a few of the spots and get Java up to date sooner than a year after an OS release.

But do the Apple ads cost as much as this Microsoft campaign? (Disclaimer: I don't know if they do or not. I'm curious myself about this.) Because with Microsoft the cost of the ads kept popping up, especially in regards with Seinfeld. I'm guessing their current campaign is pretty vastly expensive, and I don't know if Apple's campaign is or not.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#57
post #3

Brilliant. I love the look on Macs face when he swoops the ad money towards fixing vista and PC swoops it toward advertising. This is like boxing. Mac ads have had pc's reputation on the ropes in the collective unconscious. All the sudden, after getting beat on barely throwing a punch, PC comes out swinging. Even lands a blow on macs chin, shakes him up a bit. But before PC can land another punch, this uppercut takes…

"Mac ads have had pc's reputation on the ropes in the collective unconscious." Do you mean Microsoft? If so, it sure as hell hasn't scratched the business world. It's only knicked the consumer world a couple percentage points. I'd reconsider your position. Further, this is kind of old and becoming a nonissue in today's world. With the migration towards non-platform-specific consumer usage of systems (ie. internet) I…

Right now, Apple's pushing for the businessplace. Snow Leopard is supposed to have out-of-the-box Exchange support, which is a step Apple needs to take. Beyond that, Apple's been winning over plenty of small businesses: not the big guys yet, but large corporations can't change on a dime. If Apple stays as consistently reliable for another handful of years, I'd predict us seeing the Mac starting to gain entry to the workplace.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#58
post #25
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sure not a full-time Mac evangelist (I use Linux myself), but have you tried to use a Mac for a month or so? I was perfectly happy with Windows (XP then) when I decided to check the greener grass on the other side of the fence (Red Hat, first, then Debian, then Ubuntu) and I never thought about going back. Linux is so much more refined under the hood that more than compensates for the lack of software in several…

...and I had to use a Mac at work for 12 months and hated every minute of it. For every person with a convert story to the Mac, there's another person who is quite happy to stick with Windows. I'm not sure why so many people consider the prospect so crazy.

With respect to your story, I'm fairly certain there are more convert stories among people who have used the Mac than there are stories of people disliking them.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#59
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's been a while, but let's see what I can remember! I think, the fact that: * I had to re-map certain keys on my keyboard just to get a usable # key/'real' British keyboard layout - it ultimately meant I had keys labelled as one thing that did another (thankfully I touch type) * Pressing Apple + C or Apple + Z meant forcing my hand in to uncomfortable, unnatural positions - I prefer the spacing on a standard…

* Pressing Apple + C or Apple + Z meant forcing my hand in to uncomfortable, unnatural positions - I prefer the spacing on a standard PC keyboard between Ctrl + C/etc* Huh? I'm pretty platform agnostic, but I've always liked this about the Mac. The Command key can be held down my shifting my thumb to the left of the spacebar and I can copy+paste without ever pulling my hands off the home row. Trying to hold control w…

And this is why I said 'These were just some of the things that annoyed me' - emphasis on the me, if you will. What I find annoying, another may find bliss, and vice versa. Such is life.

Re: Apple responds to "I'm a PC"

#60
post #28
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Slimming down the bloated iTunes 8 installer": http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=554

Thanks for the link, but my point was more that Apple should really watch their step here. They're creating a crappy product that pushes stuff you didn't ask for to potential buyers. And it inflicts heavy damage on their otherwise good reputation.

Is it possible that Apple's blind to the Quicktime problem because it's working on the Mac so well? I remember loathing Quicktime on the PC, but since I've moved over to OS X it's moved very quickly at all times. It's possible that its reliability on OS X makes Apple less quick to move and fix things, which is a tad disappointing.
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