Apple Ready to Pounce Windows 7 with "Get a Mac" Commercials
Posted 10/16/09 at 04:22:10 PM by Paul Lilly
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Let's for a moment put aside the recent Snow Leopard debacle involving lost data due to a bug in the OS. And while we're overlooking things, we might as well disregard the multitude of positive reactions Windows 7 has received, which is still nearly a week away from being released. None of it matters, because Apple plans to continue its relentless advertising assault against Windows-based PCs.
According to BusinessWeek, Apple is prepared for the Windows 7 launch with a series of "Get a Mac" ads that will air at the same time. Whereas some of the criticisms coming from the Apple camp might have been justified during Vista's forgettable reign, what could the rival OS maker possibly have to say about Windows 7?
"It will likely make the case that Macs are less susceptible to viruses and are best suited to its popular iPods and iPhones. And look for it to poke fun at Microsoft making XP owners go through an arduous process to upgrade to Windows 7 -- one that includes backing up all their files to an external drive, reformatting their PC, and then reinstalling all of their old programs, assuming they still have the CDs," BusinessWeek wrote.
It's an interesting tactic, but we're not so sure Apple's message will resonate as loudly as it did when Vista made it all too easy to go on the offensive. Think about it for a moment - is a somewhat bothersome upgrade process for XP owners really enough to sway consumers over to OS X? Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP for Worldwide Product Marketing believes it is.
"Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out," Schiller stated. "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy a Mac?"
right on
Submitted by Trooper_One on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 11:47am
Wow, right on Ace!
Submitted by Ace of Spades on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 3:16pm
The main reason Apple sells is because of the message they are trying to say to college kids and the younger kids. They secretly say, "Buy a Apple, be a cool kid since you'll have a shiny product. And its the new hip thing to do." Like most people only buy a Mac because it has a shiny case with aluminum and a shiny UI. BIG DEAL! I can get Windows XP, Vista, and of course Windows 7 and make the UI look WAY better than OS X. Shoot, my case will look better than a Macs (my case of choice: CoolerMaster Cosmo S Silver) and I'll have much more power running inside that rig than a Mac Pro and have neons.
Macs are just like exotic cars like Ferrari, Lambo, etc. While PC's are the tuners cars like a Nissan GT-R, Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra, Suburu WRX STi, Nissan Silvia, Scion Tc, etc. Once a tuner is tuned, it'll destroy exotic cars and will be cheaper in the end too. Garage Custom is always better. Am I right, or am I right?
Wow, so true
Submitted by DBsantos77 on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 6:44pm
Wow, so true hahaha
-Santos
My Specs:
AMD Phenom II 720 (UnLOCKED to QUAD-CORE) @ 3.4 Ghz w/stock voltage.
HIS Radeon 4670 @ 830/1060
4 GB DDR3 1333 G.Skill
550w Corsair PSU 41a - 12v Rail
Logitech Illuminated Ke
spot on ace...spot on
Submitted by dracx619 on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 4:14pm
spot on ace...spot on
Submitted by NeoTifa on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 8:09am
The only mac I'll contemplate buying is a Big Mac. (I'm a vegetarian).
Submitted by Apolyonn on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 7:29pm
If anyone else has noticed, Chevy is doing the exact same thing. Chevy, as we know, is on the verge of collapse. Does anyone else find this interesting?
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Thu, 10/29/2009 - 7:03am
So what you're saying, according to your analogy, is that Apple is on the verge of collapse!
Well, since Chevy is not on the verge, your analogy about Apple is also untrue. I hate Apple, but I know they are doing real well right now. Windows 7 will boost PC sales, but Apple will be around too, unfortunately!
Submitted by Apolyonn on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 7:27pm
What model is your motherboard power supply, and did you upgrade from Vista or perform a fresh ("custom") install? 7 installed fresh within 45 minutes on my Presario f761, same for my desktop.
EDIT: ...this was supposed to be a reply to the dude below whose PC took 3 hours to install 7. How did it end up here?
man the commercials are
Submitted by nekollx on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 10:21pm
man the commercials are WEAK
their ENTIRE argument is
"since you have to reinstall everything ANYWAY go with us because of our costomer service is the bestest!"
Seriously? That's it?
That's your defense?
Please that's pathetic.
"hey boss what do you want to do? Buy a mac and have to buy mac versions of all our apps but get great customer service...or get Windows, gers new versions of SOME of our apps, run the most of the rest in XP Mode?"
"Uh let me think about that....Windows"
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by DriZzLe on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 4:47am
Actually, Apple is rated # 1 in Customer Satisfaction....not Customer Service. Two TOTALLY different things. This makes their argument even weaker.
"Do you like your Mac?...Yes?...Are you satisfied with it?...Yes?"
"Do I like my custom built quad core PC?...Yes?...Am I satisfied with it?...Yes?" See...that really means jack crap.
Apple is lame with these pathetic commercials. Why not tell me WHY a Mac is better. What innovations make it better? What features make it better?...they haven't got anything to say on that. I think THAT speaks volumes...
Submitted by nekollx on Sun, 10/25/2009 - 2:15pm
Least you got my point, the comercials are just so pathetically weak
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
Submitted by Windows7Defender on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 4:53am
Okay, so the argument of reinstalling your software is a big thing for windows 7. I have a bunch of programs, all with about an hour or more of install time. Now Mac says just go to mac instead of installing everything again..here are some problems with that..number one, most of the programs wont work with mac, second, I would have to REINSTALL them all anyways on the mac, and it is also less organized, and half of the programs I use like Photoshop have different styles of working since they are differnt OS systmes..Now I have a bunch of friends that have macs, even the microsoft rep that comes to my work to show us how windows 7 works, has a mac, but he told us as soon as its available, wich it is now, he is installing it on his mac..so, the hell with mac, since, it is just as much a hassle, and 7 has so many cool features, like the shake, automatic 50/50 split, live internet tv (FREE), less backround noise for faster operation. Also, the person who was talking about paying the $1200 for a new pc with 7 or a new mac that all the programs wouldnt work on..not gonna bitch ya out, but one thing about that..you could pay $1200 for a PC preloaded with 7 or less for a pretty good computer, or a nice mac w/ out 7 on it for about $2200.
My knowlege about Windows 7 comes from the microsoft rep. that visits my work, (OfficeMax), regularly to update us on the system before it is even released to the public.
Submitted by Windows7Defender on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 4:53am
Okay, so the argument of reinstalling your software is a big thing for windows 7. I have a bunch of programs, all with about an hour or more of install time. Now Mac says just go to mac instead of installing everything again..here are some problems with that..number one, most of the programs wont work with mac, second, I would have to REINSTALL them all anyways on the mac, and it is also less organized, and half of the programs I use like Photoshop have different styles of working since they are differnt OS systmes..Now I have a bunch of friends that have macs, even the microsoft rep that comes to my work to show us how windows 7 works, has a mac, but he told us as soon as its available, wich it is now, he is installing it on his mac..so, the hell with mac, since, it is just as much a hassle, and 7 has so many cool features, like the shake, automatic 50/50 split, live internet tv (FREE), less backround noise for faster operation. Also, the person who was talking about paying the $1200 for a new pc with 7 or a new mac that all the programs wouldnt work on..not gonna bitch ya out, but one thing about that..you could pay $1200 for a PC preloaded with 7 or less for a pretty good computer, or a nice mac w/ out 7 on it for about $2200.
My knowlege about Windows 7 comes from the microsoft rep. that visits my work, (OfficeMax), regularly to update us on the system before it is even released to the public.
Submitted by nekollx on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 8:52am
"reinstalling all of their old programs, assuming they still have the CDs,"
So buys a new mac where none of them work!
personally i want to see who they use for Vista guy and Seven Guy
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
If you "just get a mac"
Submitted by icebird on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 7:05am
If you "just get a mac" you're still going to have to copy all your files over to it.
When was the last time Apple made a commercial highlighting the best features of their OS instead of getting a fruity celeb to PMS all over the competition? If their product is so great, it should stand on its own. These are getting petty and unprofessional. Apparently, that's the type of people Apple wants to appeal to.
Tru Dat, and then theres
Submitted by Xylogeist on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 7:12am
Tru Dat, and then theres compatibilty issues. Soon their "lack of viruses" claim will crumble when people actually WANT to make viruses for macs, if they ever find the need..
Submitted by Xylogeist on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 6:55am
wow... this makes me laugh...
If apple thinks they can make a commercial dissing Windows 7..... they have another thing coming XD
What will their argument be? :D "Windows 7 boots 4 times faster than the average Mac Pro, is far more streamlined, has Plug n' Play, and has much better software such as Office 2007! AKA our macs are probably going to be cheaper due to the lower quality... oh wait... NEVERMIND!"
Windows 7 is 20 times the OS that any Mac will ever be, this is a fucking joke on Apple's part.
Submitted by publicimage on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 8:15pm
OK, so rather than this terrible hassle of upgrading ("What do you mean I have to put a disc in the drive?!") I should buy a new computer because it's the easier thing to do? OK fine, I'll bite. So instead of buying a smokin' Core i7 Win7 PC for $1200, I should buy an iMac with a core 2 duo (how quaint!) for the same price? Um, sorry Apple, that chip is what I'm upgrading FROM, not TO.
And for everyone trying to be polite by saying "I use Macs and they're good too" ... I am a power user and have to use Macs at least twice a week for work. I find OS X to be tedious, cumbersome and unconfigurable. To the point where the lack of any sort of user and interface customization is infuriating. And that Dock is so inferior to the Start menu. I have what, maybe 250 programs installed in All Programs -- and btw Apple, they're in alphabetical order. I couldn't imagine having to use the Dock to sift through that many programs (assuming of course that 250 applications actually exist for OS X). Even the little things, like in order to resize windows you must use the resize box in the lower-right corner?! Really? It is 2009 right? Maybe under the hood OS X is lean, but I could've guessed that ... because it doesn't let me DO anything.
I just don't get it. :|
Submitted by JoeDLP on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 4:11pm
i think Apple will have to stick to the old "we don't get viruses" argument. i have a Mac and a PC and I like both equally. i like how apple forces it's customers to make sure they have hardware and software that is guaranteed to work - expensive but more stable. then again, since i'm pretty poor, i appreciate microsoft's efforts to make sure my old crappy hardware still works with the new OS.
and lay off the snow leopard guest account glitch! the fix takes about 2 minutes without installing a patch. nobody liked vista until they put out sp1 and the problem with... everything.
Submitted by ExarKun1138 on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 6:21am
I don't think that argument is gonna fly much longer, either! After Steve Jobs opened his pie hole and basically challeneged hackers to "hack our superior OS" back in early 2009, he had to then come out later and recommend that Apple users go ahead and get some kind of Virus/Malware protection for their computer. Real good Steve! So that argument isn't going to hold water much longer, and with nothing else to slam MS on with Windows 7, Apple may find themselves in a bad position of actually having to compare OSX SL to Windows 7 feature for feature, and they KNOW they will lose that fight! I use both now, and OSX SL feels so closed and non-user customizable compared to Windows 7(hell, ANY Winodws version!), and it's definitley not as "pretty" an OS, nor is it more stable. Windows 7 is the best OS from Microsoft, and the best one out there for every day use!
Hey, if the Mac freaks can
Submitted by Caboose on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 7:52pm
Hey, if the Mac freaks can pick on some of the dumbest things in Vista (UAC for example), then we can pick on the guest account bug, especially considering IT'S BEEN AROUND SINCE 2007(MacOS X Leopard 10.5). Thats a pretty big problem IMHO!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by MyNameIsNas on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 7:09am
Apple's are trying their best to embrace the release of a 'thumbs up everywhere'(mostly) OS. And just with a commercial of 'get a mac'. Nothing much.
Submitted by van_helblaze on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 10:41am
Maybe Apple should make an official patch for the data deletion bug, that currently plaugues Snow Leopard, before they judge another OS, that up to this point has shown to be the best version of Windows EVER.
Submitted by Caboose on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 11:22am
It's apparently been around since 2007.
Anyone know of a bug that serious in Windows thats been around since XP (and you can't say IE)
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Does this count?
Submitted by Havok on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 5:44pm
Vista pre service pack 2?
CLICK.
Submitted by Caboose on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 7:09pm
The bugs that were in Vista, were not in XP. And in both Vista and XP, you can sign in to a guest account, or any other account, sign back in to your account and your data's there.
And once SP1 came out for Vista, all issues were gone. Oh, and if you were using ATI chipset and GPU then there were no issues!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by Havok on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 11:19am
I just threw that out there for chuckles. The first SP did A LOT to help. AndI agree with you on the ATI front, I'm a fanboy myself.
CLICK.
Submitted by Caboose on Sun, 10/18/2009 - 7:52pm
Ah ok. My mistake!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by roleki on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 4:35am
Unafraid to make a prediction, Mr. Schiller tells BusinessWeek, "I expect Snow Leopard will have an amazing upgrade rate -- and Windows 7 won't."
Well, when your user-base is desperate to experience any kind of install whatsoever, you'll have that.
Submitted by Carbon on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:54pm
If Apple really had a better OS, would they need to spend most all advertizing money trying to knock MS down a peg?Negative advertizing will accomplish that.
Too bad they have 478 more pegs to go.....8)Have some class Apple, like you try to promote with those over priced toys.
Submitted by gymbeau2000 on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 9:50pm
"Any user that reads all those steps is probably going to freak out,"
Schiller stated. "If you have to go through all that, why not just buy
a Mac?"Ummmm did he forget that for you to "upgrade" from a PC to a MAc because it's so difficult STILL requires you to backup and migrate all your files, not to mention having to now go out and buy mac versions of the software you already own, where needed. That sounds more difficult to me.
Submitted by xRadeon on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 8:28am
My point exactly.
Submitted by webhead on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 9:20pm
I don't know whether you all just buy PCs off the shelf or what. But I tried to install Win7 on my newly built rig and not only did the install take over three hours, but it wouldn't read my netgear wireless card. I was so pissed. So Win7 pretty much proved to be garbage, mac still sucks and is insanely overpriced, but that shit just really disappointed me. I'm not so sure about this Windows 7
My Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 2.66Ghz
HIS IceQ 4+ Radeon 4870
4gb ddr2
Netgear WNP311
500 gb sata hdd
Submitted by xRadeon on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 8:37am
Yeah, I've had pretty dang fast install times with mine. I installed it on a pretty old laptop and it didn't take too long. About 30 or 40 minutes. It took an hour to install XP on it. So, I don't know whats up with your install time, maybe you have bad disk. You should try installing if from a USB flash drive. We did that at my work for Windows Sever 2008 R2, which is mostly based off of 7 code. We installed it from a flash drive in something like 12 minutes.
You have t realize that the
Submitted by vistageek on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 7:56am
You have t realize that the OS has not been released. So judge it when it comes out.
Submitted by Caboose on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 9:36am
The OS has been released. the RTM build that was released this summer is the same thing that is going to be boxed up and sold in stores or OEM. So anyone reviewing the RTM build is reviewing the final build.
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
I feel your pain
Submitted by Scatmanbrandt on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:48pm
I feel your pain, I installed RC1 on my Alienware M7700 but since there are no compatible drivers avalible for it (yet) It kept giving me the bsod so I switch back to XP.
My Specs:
Pentium 4 3.4GHZ proc W/Hyperthreading
Nvidia 6800Go
4GB DDR2
Wireless N adapter
2 Toshiba SATA 300 7200rpm 80GB drives, RAID0
20 Minute battery life
Submitted by DriZzLe on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 5:59pm
Installed 7 on an older Sony Vaio- p4 2.8, 2 gigs ram, nvidia 5200 (had to use Vista driver 98.xx), 120 gig hdd & it only took 45 minutes & everything works perfectly. You do know you can use any Vista driver in 7. You can also run pretty much any XP driver in compatibility mode.
Submitted by Scatmanbrandt on Mon, 10/19/2009 - 10:02am
I tried with every vista driver I could find for it, apparantly there were a few missing. Unfortunatly, my computer was released before Vista so not many divers to find other then RAID
Submitted by Tony_Wilson on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 3:33am
"20 Minute battery life"- funny
Submitted by gymbeau2000 on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 9:43pm
Are you sure you were not installing the Beta or RC? I just installed Win 7 Ultimate retail on my home-built tower and went from insert DVD, reboot, start the install, format C & install Total time = 22 mins. And that got me to the desktop and ready to use.
Pentium D, mid-level Asus mobo, 2x1.5 TB HD, 4GB ram, so nothing fancy. Oh and PS, my linksys wifi card worked like a dream and I was connected to my network before I was on the desktop since it's part of the setup.
So I call BS on this comment
Submitted by lien_meat on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:30pm
Yeah, I have to agree with this guy. I have a really boring/lackluster inspiron 1525 laptop that I installed both the beta, RC, and RTM builds of windows7 on, and it didn't take longer than 40 mins ever.
Specs:
1.6ghz core 2
2gb ddr2
160gb 5400rpm hard drive
CRAP intel965gm graphicsIt's possible that your hard drive or something is nearly dead, and that could have made it take longer...but it would have to be either incompatable or defective CORE system hardware, not video card or wireless or anything.
I'm not saying win7 doesn't have things that need work (I could name quite a few nags), but this seems pretty outlandish.
### I'm an idiot, and I approve this message ###
Submitted by Havok on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 5:42pm
I remember selling those laptops at work! True POS's. Vista hung sooooo many times running these things on demo, we just shut them down mostly. But hearing that Win7 runs on it FROM a user..... well, let's just say miracles do come true....
CLICK.
Submitted by mesiah on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 9:06pm
Here are a few more freebie commercial ideas for you to run MS.
1.) (preferably run this one immediately after the apple commercial when possible.) "Time it takes to upgrade from windows XP to windows 7: 3 hours. Time it takes to upgrade from windows xp to mac osx: impossible." Followed by "Cost of upgrading to windows 7: $129. Cost of a new mac: $1500. Cost of replacing all of your software that doesn't work on mac: Priceless."
2.) I would pay anything to see a commercial where the PC guy kicks the mac guys ass.
3.) A commercial that points out the need for boot camp and windows to perform certain tasks (like gaming) Followed by "Mac, it just works...... if you are running windows."
Submitted by vistageek on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 7:57am
Awesome!!!
Submitted by Lash on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 8:32pm
I have just upgraded a network of ten computers to windows 7,
each of the new win7 machines has a little window in the corner with the old OS running.
some of the machines were win98 some were XP, they are all running nicely as virtual machines on the new computers.
the upgrade was quite simple, but I can see how Mac users would have trouble with it. There is no simple icon that they can click on to make it all happen while they order a new latte.
Submitted by Caboose on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 8:12pm
Where I work, we have a new VP of sales, and when he started, I handed him his shiny brand new Dell notebook. His first comment to me was that he was a mac user. Second was asking if our remote connect software and external access works on a mac. Nope, Windows only mac boy! Then when he had issues with access to an app, his reasoning was "Well, the computer must have sensed I'm a Mac user, and doesn't like me!".
Next time he spouts off about his love for Macs, I'll just have to bring up the bug in OSX (thats been around since 2007), the huge flaw in the mac keyboard, the one where you can get a key logger in you keyboard. Only way to get rid of it, is to get rid of the keyboard! And how about that whole thing where a Mac won't boot if the CMOS battery is dead (or whatever it's called on a Mac)
Apple is grasping at straws right now if this is the best they can come up with. I agree with others, about a major major mac virus! Something that really reaks havoc!
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
Submitted by Tony_Wilson on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 7:03pm
Apple is for people that dont know shit about computers. I'm so tired of hearing about people talk about how much they LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE their MAC! Oh, look at me and my mac book sitting heare at Starbucks, listening to my I-Pod sipping my latte, can you see that apple logo glowing on the back of my Mac book? It means I'm more intellectual than you are and I made a better buy than you, and Oh shit my I phone is ringin hold one you peasent while I answer my phone and dont be jealous of my $500 phone, Oh did I metion that I'm trying to pull of that I look smarter than you look?
Submitted by lien_meat on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:21pm
First off, I'm a PC. I dual boot Win7 and Ubuntu on a dell. I LOVE my pc for lots of reasons, but the biggest one being it is SOOOO much cheaper to own a PC.
HOWEVER...macs are definately NOT ONLY for people who don't know shit about computers. I have serveral graduated and successful computer science (I graduated with CS as well) and computer engineering friends that are brilliant when it comes to computers, programming, unix, you name it...
You may not personally like macs, or the "mac mentality", but it doesn't mean that only computer idiots use macs.
Also, apple DOES inovate. For example, Grand Central Dispatch...pretty much SOLVES the whole "programming for concurency and parrallelism is HARD" problem...and they just open sourced it...so every *nix is probably gonna have it very soon. This is coming from a programmer that has programmed multithreaded apps before, and understands exactly how much this is needed. Google it if you don't believe me.
### I'm an idiot, and I approve this message ###
Submitted by Tony_Wilson on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 3:28am
I mean the general consumer, you know the majority of people who buy a product. The tone of your comment is the typical, oooohhhhhh well their innovative and they did did this and they did that. You missed the point Mr.B.A. computer science. Nobody gives a crap what you went to college for. Its the reasoning behind the purchase. They automatically bypass windows pc and head over to the Apples because they bare selling and image of fashion rather than user ability or function.
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