Apple’s Windows 7 Bashing Begins Now
By Harry McCracken | Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Hmmm! As I learned from All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher, even Apple ended up joining in the Windows 7 launch festivities today, in its own special way–by premiering three new “Get a Mac” ads that are specifically about the arrival of the new OS.
They’re very funny, very clever, very mean, at least somewhat effective, and–at least in the case of the first one below–unfair. (Windows 7 is a major improvement on Vista, and hey–Apple OS upgrades have been known to fix nagging problems with their predecessors, too.)
Also, while there are any number of sensible reasons for Windows users to consider switching to the Mac, avoiding the hassle of upgrading from XP to Windows 7 isn’t one of them. Unless Apple suddenly starts bundling its hardware with the OS for free.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d be just as happy if the snarkfest that has been recent ads from both Apple and Microsoft were to fade away. (Microsoft’s latest Windows ads involve shiny happy people of all ages, but it has a enough of a tendency to careen between different advertising messages that I wouldn’t be stunned if it starts unloading on Apple again in upcoming ads.)
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Tiefschlag: Apple macht Werbung gegen Windows 7 « 11tech Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:41 am[…] [Technologizer] […]
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 pm
<3 it
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:36 pm
It isn’t fair to bash Windows 7. It can support up to 192 GB of RAM. That is impressive. Almost as impressive as Snow Leopard supporting only 16 TB of RAM. Oh, wait. That is 16,000 GB of RAM. Oh, never mind. Windows 8 will fix that, we promise!
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:08 am
“while there are any number of sensible reasons for Windows users to consider switching to the Mac, avoiding the hassle of upgrading from XP to Windows 7 isn’t one of them”
I disagree. For most XP users (not geeks hitting up tech blogs) there’s no way they’re backing up data, upgrading, copying data back, etc. Heck, they don’t even have a second drive to back up TO.
No, for them it likely means a new PC. I believe that’s what PC manufacturers (and Microsoft) is expecting, and Apple is saying it may as well be a Mac.
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 am
the first one is funny and somewhat fair imo, the other two just aren’t 🙂
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:33 am
Any dig at Windows and Microsoft is deserved in my opinion.
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 am
I like the “Cut that feed, let’s go to a commercial!” “We are a commercial.”
😛
October 23rd, 2009 at 4:47 am
Meh, Apple has it’s fair share of problems too. While I find these ads amusing, they’re often misleading. I’m an Apple switcher because I like the direction Apple has taken with their hardware and software. The most annoying thing about any platform is the users who refuse to admit the problems with their OS of choice.
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:23 am
Does Windows 7 have a feature whereby it deletes all your data?
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:14 am
I recently moved from Windows on a netbook to Ubuntu, and then replaced my Vista desktop with a Macmini. I played with Windows 7, and thought it was not bad.
I actually install Vista using Parallels on the mini for the two or three Windows programs I need for work. I move back and forth with little effort, though I find myself perfering the Mac OS.
However, since Win7 came out yesterday, I considered throwing down a litle money for the upgrade; I would not have complained of spending $50 or so for the upgrade. However, as I did some searching, the upgrade from Vista Home to Win7 is north of $100. That is simply too much, since I don’t use Vista all that much, and Vista works well enough for what I need.
I just don’t see people running out and dropping that sort of cash on an upgrade. Snow Leopard was around $29 for the upgrade.
I am just tired of paying Microsoft.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:01 am
Based on past Microsoft promises every time that this new OS was the greatest ever and made the old one look like the crap it was, the Apple ads are spot on.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:16 am
Harry,
Your posts from the last week or so seem cranky. Hope everything’s alright.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:39 am
The first ad was really annoying, but the last two were pretty funny, and valid.
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:51 am
When my Mac OS has problems to the degree, scale, scope and frequency that I have and had with Windows then I’ll let everybody know. For me though, it simply hasn’t happened. There’s a reason why I switched back to Mac in my personal life – better hardware and an infinitely superior OS. Microsoft burned its bridge with me long ago, and I’ll do everything within my power to persuade people to switch.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:05 am
I don’t personally see any of these ads as mean — at least, no meaner than the usual competitive advertising fare in any industry. Come to think of it, they actually seem friendlier and far less snarky and annoying than the typical Mac vs. PC ad.
Listening to that innocent background music for 1:30 straight made me feel like I was in some weird Apple nursery though.
October 23rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
@chip: I don’t feel cranky! At least no crankier than usual…
@tom: I get the idea that many people won’t go through the bother of moving an XP PC to Windows 7, and if you’re buying a new computer, you should consider a Mac. For the record, I think it’s a good idea for any Windows user who’s buying a new computer in the price range that Macs play in to consider one. But I also think that the arrival of Windows 7 lessens the case for XP users switching, simply because it’s so much superior an upgrade to XP than Vista ever was.
–Harry
October 24th, 2009 at 1:06 am
The last good thing microsoft made was Windows XP. Vista/7 = garbage!
October 25th, 2009 at 3:39 am
Apple and Microsoft are going to continue to one-up each other in the advertising wars.
October 25th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I actually like when tech companies compete instead of buying each other and shutting them down.
No way is it unfair to point out that Microsoft has been making the same exact promises about Windows with every launch and failing to deliver. Microsoft’s failure to deliver is one of the 21st century’s most interesting tech stories. Remember that Apple announced they were building Mac OS X in 1996, so Windows XP in late 2001 had 5 years of getting ready for Mac OS X. Windows 7 still has viruses! It’s grim, and we downplay it because HP et al has nothing else to sell.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:54 am
@Stilgar
Mac’s are costly. Theyre hardware is ‘better’ only because they put professional grade stuff into their computers. A regular joe-shmoe isnt gonna need that good of a graphics or that fast of a processor. PC’s give more choice to the user, they dont always have to spend $1k+ on a laptop.
But if you are willing to spend that much money to buy a MAC, then spend that same amount of money into a PC, and I gaurantee you, you will have way better hardware.
Also, if you ever try to upgrade anything on a mac.. its a fail. You simply cant do it. If anything breaks, you gotta send it in. If you wanna upgrade ram, send it in. With PCs, its straight forward to open it up and put/replace hardware.
As to the software, MAC and PCs are completely different things. You cannot compare them. MAC is for people who jsut want a blackbox to work. They dont know anythign about it, they dotn want to customize it, they just want something that works.
With PC’s its much more than that, you can customize every single tiny little thing about your computer. You can put all sorts of software on it, you are free to do whatever you like.
In conclusion, Windows PCs are for people who like to customize and have control over what they have. Mac is for those who simply want things to work and want to know nothing about hardware/software or every customizing either.
Also I dont know if people are noticing , but the OS’s are slowly converging to look more and more alike. One day itll just be one OS. And it is not always Windows copying Mac’s, believe you me, Mac has done its fair share of stealing ideas. Not to mention always offering its people Microsoft software (like Office), why would Mac do that if theyre software is so great?
I laugh at Mac’s, I laugh at Mac owners, and most of all, I laugh at the Mac Guy
October 27th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Hamranhansenhansen wrote:
Windows 7 still has viruses!
Then why did Apple reccommend that Mac OSX users start using AV software last December? While Mac OSX may be far more secure, it is not immune, and virus writers target Windows because it is still 85%+ of the market. If Mac OSX had 80%+ market share, it would have a virus problem too.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Stranger has is right on! I spent $400 building my pc that is at least twice as fast as my friend’s $1,000+ mac, and my screen is actually bigger than my cell phone’s screen. I never get viruses and my pc never crashes. That’s probably partly due to the fact that I have some common sense when surfing the internet.
I would have to say though, if you’re a computer illiterate, aren’t smart enough to customize things, like overpaying to make yourself feel that you bought a superior product, like to join crowds of other idiots that make you feel less like an idiot, well, the mac is indeed designed just for you!
October 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I find the Mac ads starting to be ridiculous. I use ubuntu, have a Mac, and run Windows 7, I may be a “geek” when it comes to computers, I still wouldn’t go as far bashing 7! It runs my OLD games better then XP, hasn’t crashed yet (beta and upgrade edition) and I like it quite a bit! I still prefer ubuntu above the rest, but for running my “old” games, I can say 7 does the job quite admirably (Warzone 2100, Locomotion, Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 and 2, Sims, Sims 2, Sim City 3000, 4 Rush hour)
March 11th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
While W/7 is very much an improvement over Vista on my HP; I still prefer my imac for day to day use. Stranger; you speak of total control over your pc; please note i have x11 built in as well as total CLI built in on my iMac. I also have native capability to run W/7, XP, Vista if I prefer. I also can run both systems side by side simultaneously if I prefer. All Macs have easy to read instructions for installing RAM, btw, and I’ve upgraded RAM, HD, processors, and video cards on all my macs and pc’s for years. Yes; I pay more for my macs, but even my 17 yr old macs all perform, with no issues. My 4 year old iMac performs much better than my 1.5 year old HP, which, by the way, beats out my iMac in RAM, processor and video card power. The OS for Windows tends to drag my HP down, even after clearing all the trash out. it just uses more power, fact. Mac OS runs smoother because it is built to run with the specific hardware. I like W/7, and while it is much more mac like, it is not a mac. I won’t get into historical infighting between mac and windows; I just wanted to clarify a few of your misnomers regarding macs. By the way, you are correct in your assumption that the macs will just work without all the tweaks.