Nice, but I have a better one. Right after you run spyware detection on a PC and you see no found instances.WOW.

world of warcraft (wow)?

Yes. The MAC commercials are highly condescending but grounded in just enough validity to make them both recognizeable and funny @ to most Windows users. Looking deeper though, they're also comperable to smear political campaigns that we all both love and hate, fermenting zealotry, while M$ as usual takes the moral high ground, knowing they're the incumbent with that quiet confidence of 800M+ PCs running Windows worldwide. WOW!!!

>While the Microsoft commercial is emotional, uplifting and hopeful, the Apple ad is smarmy, condescending and sarcastic.

no, i don't see any of apple's ads as any of those... most non-technical folks i know like those commercials and think they speak quite plainly to them. most hard-core windows users might find them condescending, but that's probably because the ads hit too close to home for them.

the only uplifting and hopeful thing in the microsoft ads is the promise of an operating system that does what the hype says it will... and then reality will come crashing down on those that try it...

all the *new features* in vista? i've been using them for years already... in jaguar, panther and tiger. and leopard will raise the bar even further later this spring.

fifteen years of no viruses... fifteen years of no spyware... fifteen years of never calling any technician (at work or at home) to fix my Mac... and i've been editing video for those fifteen years, not just writing letters and balancing my checkbook.

it's really a very simple choice... i get work done *with* my Mac... i don't have to work *on* it. so i'm not one of the statistical majority that reports feeling frustrated with technology.

have fun, y'all... i am!

Apple adds turn me off. As do most adds that "put down" or "make fun of" their competitors (or what they want to see as their competitors)

If you need to put another down top promote yourself, something is wrong. Why does a company that can make some decent products feel the need to put down another company? They shouldn't, and since they do, they push me away from wanting one of their products, even ones that they don't advertise this way.

Microsoft's add doesn't do this, and while its nice, it also doesn't inspire me to rush out and get Vista, rather makes me think of the last time I was climbing a snow covered volcano, or running in the forest, or walking next to a stormy sea and wishing I was doing one of those things right now rather than what I'm doing now, at the same time it doesn't push me away from their product. (Granted as I already have Vista, its not going to push me to buy it again no matter how good an add it is)

I like Microsoft software, but I cant see why I would switch from XP just to look like a mac. I play games on a PC and I keep important things on a Mac to keep them safe. I also use XP on my mac to run certain software not YET available on a MAC. they may have their OS on 800M but I think the it's - not + in the future.Can anyone tell me why Microsoft cannot come up with an OS like OS X? When they do this , then I'll say WOW.

The ad was corny and lame. Any time an ad campaign tries to tie truly inspiring life moments to much more mundane things (like a computer operating system upgrade), they're just asking for trouble. The whole "wow" thing is forced & awkward; most people don't actually say "wow" when conronted with something truly awe-inspiring - they usually stare in silence.

The attempt to tie in to the marketing tagline "the wow starts now" feels like a lead weight. The ad would have been much better without the whole "wow" thing. In fact, instead of creating images & sounds that create a "wow" sensation in the VIEWER, we have a bunch of actors SAYING "wow", and the viewer saying to himself "so what?"

I think the main difference is people aren't sick to the back teeth of a Mac. We've all had horror stories happen to us on a windows machine.

What is this MAC of which you all speak?

The only MAC I am aware of is a MAC address.

If you are referring to a Macintosh computer you could at the very least refer to it as Mac.

Fifteen years of no viruses on Mac OSes is equivalent to say "no pink-and-green haired monkeys have ever caught AIDS". Simply said, those monkeys are very hard to find out there.

The Mac ads arent condescending, they're tongue in cheek fun. If they wanted to be malicious, they wouldnt have hired such a likable comedian to play the part of the "PC".

Some of you people just need to lighten up :-)

From a marketing perspective, the new Microsoft ad feels like Apples "heres to the dreamers" ads of 10 years ago - though not as profound. Its a "preaching to the choir" approach, that will probably work for microsoft because, lets face it, they've got 90% of the choir.

Microsofts commercial compares man landing on the moon to Aqua sorry Aero flipping through Windows. WOW indeed. The Microsoft commercials are totally forgettable. Name the other wow things in the commercial. You can't without looking at it. But you can recite the Mac ads almost verbatim and you probably only saw them on the web. And Microsoft taking the moral high ground, bleat on.

"Fifteen years of no viruses on Mac OSes is equivalent to say "no pink-and-green haired monkeys have ever caught AIDS". Simply said, those monkeys are very hard to find out there."

That's such a BS statement. Between Apple's commercials and Mac users screaming at the top of their lungs about how secure the MacOS is in comparison to Windows, you're going to tell me that the reason the Mac hasn't been compromised is because "they're hard to find out there"? Please. The first hacker to create the first Mac exploit will go down in infamy, using that feat as bragging rights to tell us Mac users to shut the hell up about security.

Fifteen years and no downtime due to malware IS impressive; you're just too pissed that it's not MS software that can stake claim to this.

Yet another lame advert from Microsoft. The actors are unbelievable and don't say the "WOW" with any conviction to make you connect in an emotive way with their message.

The only decent publically aired Microsoft advert I've ever seen came from their Japanese operation, with the only piece of speech being in Japanese. In spite of that, the advert is memorable and understandable.

Check it out:
http://www.roundtripsolutions.com/blog/2006/03/23/148/what-the-bad-guys-do/

Some of their viral marketing adverts were also really good but the mainstream advertising is lame, ineffective and totally anti-WOW. Maybe that is the point, like viruses and spyware, Vista is the anti-* solution :-).

The Apple ads are amusing and based on truth, albeit sometime a little twisted, but they aren't going to make me run out and purchase one. I'm still a hardened PC users running Windows and Linux.

Windows fanboys always trot out the 'there aren't enough Macs to attract viruses' argument along with the equally famous 'Macs only support one button mice'

Time for new fud guys..these ones are getting old

Apple fanboys should read a good book about computer history. Back in 1981, Apple II caught the Elk Cloner virus. Go take a look or do some google by yourselves: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistir/threats/subsubsection3_3_1_1.html

"Windows fanboys always trot out the 'there aren't enough Macs to attract viruses' argument". Has Apple OSes any special by-design feature that made them invulnerable to viruses? I don't think so, a virus can be written for any OS you imagine. I too guess virus programmers don't think Apple's OS are worth the effort. And yes, firts personal computers viruses were writen for Apple, Windows didn't exist then.

Wow, this Microsoft ad fails to get anyone interested in Vista let alone explain WTF's a Vista. I watched this ad in a movie theater not far from Microsoft's Mountain View campus. Everyone within ear shot thought it was a Nike commercial. Someone else cracked the same joke as commenter, judy longo: "World of Warcraft!" The Vista Flip 3D feature in the ad looks like it's systematically deleting files... I digress.

maybe not invulnerable but they are a lot more impenetrable.

Tod O:

Yea. Good rebuttal. "25 years ago, Apple had a virus."

Excellent call. Let me know when you find a link more... I don't know... more up to date. You know... more relevant.

Ratis: malware writers would write their software to shut people up like me (which is the entire Mac community, including recent switchers). You can't even argue that the first OS X malware won't be a HUGE deal, so keep referring to 25 year old links.

And there IS a reason OS X doesn't have malware and that is because there aren't any viable exploits. OS X's Unix-based underpinnings is inherently more secure than Windows.

Want proof? Get a Mac and use it.

Unfortunately for MS, I had my first "wow" moment over 5 years ago when I installed Mac OS X 10.0. Vista is just a "meh, they finally get 5 year old tech to prettify their 15 year old OS" moment (or however long ago it is that NT4 first came out), because that is all it is, another NT4 with better graphics and a few improvements in usability which have been long, long overdue.

Wrt to the ads. I really don't like the Apple ads as they make you sympathise with the poor PC, not go "oh yeah, the Mac is much better"

The windows ad is just laughable. Seeing Vista for the first time is comparable to epochal moments in people's lives? Do me a favour.

> Apple fanboys should read a good book about computer
> history. Back in 1981, Apple II caught the Elk Cloner virus.
> Go take a look or do some google by yourselves:

two points:

1) in 1981, the Apple II wasn't running the Mac OS. it was running Apple DOS 3.3 -- hardly the same as compared to today's BSD UNIX variant that is OS X.

2) you had to go back *twenty-six* years to even cite an instance of a virus for an Apple computer? what should that be telling you?

scoff all you want... i'm happy and my Mac is clean... and i don't have to fcuk around with its innards if i don't want to. i download anything i want and install it without fear or reprisal. i don't crash. i don't have to restart. i just edit video for twelve to seventeen hours at a time and drink lots of coffee.

and i make my living doing what i do, so zero downtime means i'm financially comfortable and i sleep well. that would never happen if i were using windows.

"Apple fanboys should read a good book about computer history. Back in 1981, Apple II caught the Elk Cloner virus."

What possible connection could an Apple II virus written in 26 years ago have to do with Mac OS X security?

The Apple II is not a Mac... and last time I looked, the year was 2007.

The line cut from the Windows as:

Wow! ... that looks the same as the Mac OS!

; )

I don't get it, Vista looks completely different to OS X (much better than grey I must say, didn't Windows 95 do that look). Longhorn (Vista's codename) Alpha in 2001 had most of these features then Apple released OSX Tiger a few years later with search and other features that were in Longhorn (and XP also has indexed searching but it is crap) - notice that I didn't say Apple stole features because they are simply implementing what people want, but that doesn't mean that I should throw out my computer and spend $1000's on an overpriced Mac.

I found the ad nice to watch, much better than uncreative white background with slander featuring ugly people.

Someone said no one says wow, people I have explained Vista to and shown them some have said 'wow'.

Yup, Apple's ads are indeed "smarmy, condescending and sarcastic", just like Apple's obnoxious CEO Steve Smug.

An unrelated Vista news tidbit:

"Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Vista operating system spurred a 67 percent increase in personal- computer sales at U.S. retail stores in its first week on the market, according to research firm Current Analysis Inc."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=HPQ:US&sid=aQBEYyQhxF7c

"The line cut from the Windows as:

Wow! ... that looks the same as the Mac OS!"

I disagree. Aqua and its candy are not as functional as that of full Aero. Reasons:

- Flip-3D brings another dimension to the desktop (not just moving it to the side),
- live thumbnails on the start bar aid in finding what is going on in a window,
- the shell wide transparency lets you see what is under,
- the window transitions show what you just did to a window,
- the cleaned up GUI is all click-based (the address bar in the file explorer transforms to become a scroll list, the "orb" allows fewer clicks to shutdown and navigate the programs)
- the gadgets on the sidebar are always there, you do not have to go out of your work to see the weather, feeds, stocks, or whatever else has been written up

The Vista Aero helps you be more productive, whereas Aqua and Mac are showier and you have to beat around it to get anything serious done. I use both, and personally I would choose Vista over Mac for that reason alone. The archaic one-button mouse (or purchased Mighty), the useless magnifying quick launch, the choice of menus for the entire OS instead of more advanced graphical "ribbon"-like icons, the inability to customize as I can in Vista (chop down Aero completely and go back to 95-era theme, disable the gadget side-bar with a few clicks, and others too numerous to list).

So no, they only similarity is this time Microsoft actually decided to work on the GUI.

Wow, that's it? Where's the rest of it? I thought there was more.

Wow. These "inspirational" ads remind me of the "Think Different" ads: address the spirit, as opposed to the specific technological advantages.

If memory serves, Apple-bashers ridiculed those ads because they were all about feelings and didn't address specific advantages of the platform. So now we're supposed to be impressed because Microsoft is differentiating itself by reading from a 10-year-old Apple playbook?

Well, my PC son got an iMac for his elderly inlaws. He got it all up and running, including downloading and installing NeoOffice, without a hitch (OK, he called me to find out how to open .doc attachments automatically in NeoOffice; the instruction took less than a minute and his answer was.. "Holy SH**!)).

His comment? Next machine will be a Mac.

His daughter (my granddaughter) has a laptop that's going South. She wants a MacBook now, because an hour on her grandma's new iMac was enough to convince her about OSX's superiority.

One user at a time is all it takes. Truth be told, since you can run BOTH OS on Macs, the old excuse about not being able to run work apps on a Mac is now circling down the drain.

To be honest, the "Wow" ad is worlds better than the lamo Zune ads. It's better than any ad Microsoft has run since...well, I can't remember since no one seems to ever remember Microsoft ads.

However, the John Thompson above is correct - the ad is severely undermined because the actors saying "Wow" do it without any emotion or BELIEVABLE conviction. They look and sound like actors who've been instructed by Microsoft marketing suits to say "WOW" instead of "Wow...!"

As for comparison to Apple's current TV ads....the two are stylistically different, but guess what? People REMEMBER the Apple ads. They talk about it. They fight about it. They parody it. And a year later or three years later, they will still be talking about it.

Can you say that for Microsoft's new ad? It will be forgotten the moment Microsoft stop paying for it.

New Vista ad follows:

Vista UAC: "You need to provide administrator credentials to move this folder" Wow

Vista UAC: "You need to provide administrator credentials to rename this file" Wow

Vista UAC: "A program needs your permission to continue - User Account Control stops unauthorized changes to your computer. If you started this program, please continue." Wow

Steve "Monkeyboy" Ballmer's "Developers Developers Developers Developers" Remix music video starts playing in Windows Media Player - WOW!

.... Microsoft Windows Vista, the "Wow" starts now

Actually, it's the overuse of the word "WOW" in the ad that makes it less effective. The most powerful aspect of the ads are the actual images of incredible moments - the rocket launch, the Berlin Wall falling, etc.

For people to audibly go "WOW" each time...it's like Microsoft is saying it doesn't really believe its own message, i.e. that those moments are what makes you, the viewer, automatically go "Wow."

MICROSOFT HAS TO SAY "WOW" FOR YOU, CLUBBING THE VIEWER OVER THE HEAD TO MAKE THE POINT THAT THESE ARE "WOW" MOMENTS.

The ad would have been much more effective if none of the actors said anything, but the viewer could see only their reactions. That would make the VIEWER say "Wow" themselves, not listening to someone else say it. Thus, the ad becomes yet another example of Microsoft getting in your face with a message - just like Vista!

Macs dont get viruses because they have small maketshare?

Ok. Time for a history lesson.

Mac System 7, early nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses.
Mac OS8, mid nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses.
Mac OS9, late nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses.

Mac OSX, 21st Century = 0 viruses + much larger marketshare than Mac OS9,8 or System 7.

In short, the argument that Mac OSX doesnt get viruses because of marketshare, is not backed up by history. But, like our president, I guess reality wont stop you from believing your delusional thoughts.

Personally I think Microsoft's WOW moment was 10 years ago. And a cripled one at that. Vista is finally what Bill Gates has promised since Win95. Now we get this GUI upgrade which won't run on all PCs (due to HW requirements). As I've said before. No WINFS, no Monad (yet), no extra goodies for Visual Studio (plus no Visual Studio 2002 and 2003). A nagging user control installed to fix user permission issues that should have been solved 10 years ago in the Win2K development phase. Never letting this huge proliferation of sofware that will break under stricter user policies.

As to terawave's comment you only address the GUI part.

- Flip-3D brings another dimension to the desktop (not just moving it to the side),

I wonder if he types in 3D too! Personally a 3D desktop is cool, but I don't see it making me more productive. Plus Linux has had that sort of stuff for over a year now.

- live thumbnails on the start bar aid in finding what is going on in a window,

Expose is the same except you don't need to go to the thumbnail you click F9 and see the windows. This to me is more productive because:
a) thumbnails take up screen space, which is better used displaying the current work window
b) if my hands are on the keyboard I don't have to move one over to do a mouse gesture
c) it isn't distracting

BTW, KDE on Linux has had this since about two years (at least). It is called Kasbar.

- the shell wide transparency lets you see what is under,

If I want to see what is under shouldn't I just go under. I do use transparency, but only with work on shell screens and of course menus. For everything else I find it distracting. Seeing things move under your current work might seem cute, but it is also distracting.

- the window transitions show what you just did to a window,

A Window transition? Transitions take time don't they? Isn't that by definition counter productive?

- the cleaned up GUI is all click-based (the address bar in the file explorer transforms to become a scroll list, the "orb" allows fewer clicks to shutdown and navigate the programs)

The whole concept of click is misguided. Apple has something that is trully productive. A common key combination for everything. That way you save time from moving to the mouse and back to the keyboard. This standard is across all applications and I notice it most when I run non native Apple applications on X11. Each application on Linux that I run on my Mac can have a different set of combos for actions in the menu. This calls for mouse use on the menus. Which is more time consuming in terms of learning curve and actual execution.

- the gadgets on the sidebar are always there, you do not have to go out of your work to see the weather, feeds, stocks, or whatever else has been written up

The moment you move your eyes from the current window you're out of work. Personally the fact that those gadgets are there is counter productive. As commented above they can be distracting and use up valuable space.

For me a Mac is more produtive because it has a common command interface (key combos).

The one button mouse I though was a problem really isn't because as my right hand moves to the mouse I can't type so I might as well have my left hand ready to press control and get right click/ left click capabilities. When I use two fingers on the pad I can scroll vertically or horizontally without special stripe areas on the pad for that. Pull one finger up and I just move the mouse.

My Mac has the best hibernate and recover of all laptops I've used. I'm at gate B21 bording starts I close it. Ring goes the plane and the belts on sign goes off and I open it and get back to it in a matter of seconds. Windows machines will stall or take longer to recover from sleep etc. There are times when the Mac runs for 30 days without a shutdown.

Hardware detection is so much better. Specially printers. At work I just hook it up and I see the printers. Period. No need to install drivers or set them up manually ever. Just plug the cable and I'm in. Wireless support is so much better. You can't believe (well maybe you can) how much time I've wasted trying to get Windows laptops to connect to a wireless network. Other network connectivity is also easy and very intuitive.

What can I say. Productivity for me isn't measured by all the stuff my computer can do or have on the screen. It is measured by all that I can do on the computer. In that Mac shines.

I have been using Intel personal computers since the pre-Windows days of DOS, and have never had a successful virus attack against any of my computers. All it took was current anti-virus software, and a little common sense.

Based on my personal experience, I am unmoved by Apple's Virus Propaganda Campaign.

Currently, I am using an HP computer that has Just Worked perfectly since 2002. Never a repair, or a virus, or an operating system problem; and never a need to reinstall Windows.

Of course there are no viruses on Macs. There is no third-party software that runs on Mac in the first place...and virouses are software....

JohnJ, are you also unmoved by the other aspects of Apple's Campaign, like upgrades, hardware support, connectivity, multimedia ease of use???

Evan... please. Go to MSDN and get the latest FUD service pack. I think they're on SP5 now.

If Mac evangelists like Geronimo only knew what unpleasant gits they sound like to everyone else...they might change tactics and do something positive to shift that 2% market share figure that just. won't. budge.

Keep trying, Geronimo!

Brian, you git, check your stats. If you are going to try and fry someone make sure you are truly informed.

"There are a few people that are buying it just because it's available,'' Kay said. ``Vista is a mild stimulus for the market."

Another quote from the Bloomberg piece mentioned earlier.

Can it get any more lukewarm?

Anon. E. Mouse wrote: Mac System 7, early nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses. Mac OS8, mid nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses. Mac OS9, late nineties = THOUSANDS of viruses. Mac OSX, 21st Century = 0 viruses + much larger marketshare than Mac OS9,8 or System 7.

Okay let's be real here. The Mac OS' UNIX underpinnings and escalating security privileges prevent most viruses, worms, and trojan horses (WVTs) from running without serious human engineering. Thus the 4 proof-of-concept WVTs that have been created for OS X will never live in the wild (unlike the hundreds of thousands of Windows WVTs).

However, in the 23 year history of the Mac OS there have only been 40 Mac-specific WVTs. Not thousands.

Outside of cross-platform Office 6.x & '98 macro viruses and Hypercard stack viruses (did anyone actually use Hypercard still by the late 90s?) there were exactly ZERO viruses that ran on OS 9 or OS 8.5.

There was exactly 1 WVT that ran on OS 8 and that was the QuickTime AutoStart worm.

Of the remaining 39 WVTs only 1 was System 7 specific and 7 would only run on OSes 1.x-6.x.

Don't even start arguing about what desktop is best. There is nothing to argue. Beryl on linux blows EVERYONE out of the water, it makes both Vista and Mac OSX look like stoneage tablets. Look it up on Youtube for videos.

If you're going to debate the merits of an OS, do it on something other than the desktop, because neither MS nor Apple can compete in that area.

Well, as a "Mac Professional", I have to say it's not a bad ad. It's certainly more "uplifting" than the existing set of Apple ads, which are really more "tongue-in-cheek".

In fact...that ad reminds me a lot of another Ad campaign someone did once...Oh yeah! Apple's "Think Different" campaign from 10 years ago. Not to say that I think that's a bad thing.

Although, I do have to note that Apple certainly never directly compared themselves or their products to any of the people featured in Think Different.

Unlike Microsoft comparing Vista to the Moon Landing, The fall of the Berlin Wall and being able to pull a tablecloth off without disturbing the water, none of which Vista lives up to, in my opinion. But that IS just my opinion. :)

As far as the virus issue goes, it's a semantic one. People get bent out of shape because people say that "Macs can't get Viruses. They are right to get bent out of shape about that, because it's wrong.

Mac's DON'T get viruses. Subtle difference.

It certainly is possible - nay certain that in the future that there will be Mac OS virus. But it's certain that RIGHT NOW - there are no "in the wild" viruses that hit Mac OS X.

You can argue about it any way you like, but right now that is the fact of life. Don't like it? Tough.

TexG, you're right on that.

Folks take a look at these links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfw_TDkEtQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZyl9is3EA

and view some others while you're at it.

Then while you're still on youtube look up Windows Vista. Get ready to be impressed, not.

I upgraded from Kubuntu Dapper to Edgy and installed Beryl this weekend. Took me two hours and twenty five minutes. That was 20 minutes to install, two hours to download 250 megs worth up updates and patches and 5 minutes to install Beryl. As for my personal info. Well it is all in my home directory so I was basically up and running after the install.

Total cost about 5 bucks. That would be for the movie and the chips while Kubuntu updated. Oh yea and gas to get it and drop it off. PC? HP Pavilion a210m (XP2400 w/ 768 Megs RAM) with a NVidia 5200 FX. Basically a 3 year old PC. Enough said.

I can think of no compelling reason to use Windows in any form. Unimpressive is the only word that comes to mind.

Mac v PC ads (literally in this case) appeal to different audiences because they are different audiences.

On the on hand you've got a near-monopoly with 96% marketshare. On the other a long-shot underdog with 2-3% depending on who you ask.

Advertising is a tool. You use it to achieve a specific result. To that end consider the goals of the Apple ads. The ads are not designed to appeal to ALL Windows users. They are design to appeal to the frustrated, disenfranchised and bewildered Windows owners; the bottom 5%. The goal is to chip off a tiny sliver, to get them to the retail stores or online store to see what's being offered and where the army of front-line sales people swipe their credit card.

If Apple can convert half of those lost souls they double their market share, add $10B to their top line and boost the stock price from $80 to $140. They have everything to gain, nothing to lose and the prize is huge. They don't care if the entrenched Windows user likes the ads or not but regardless you are talking about them and about Apple and about the Mac and about the Mac OS X operating system which considering they only sell 1 of 50 PCs is a HUGE feat.

Microsoft on the other hand has nothing to gain and everything to lose. Talking about Apple would be the best marketing Apple couldn't buy. The ad is bland, smells like inspiration but tastes like chicken. It can't be anything but. The goal for Microsoft is to convince people using other versions of Windows to upgrade to Vista by planting the seed that if they do they will be wowed by the bling.

Does it create buzz? Create demand? Motivate the 90% (less the 5% Apple is after) of PC owners to rush out and plunk down their money? Does it convince the 5% Apple wants to give Vista a try?

I can't answer that as I'm former frustrated, disenfranchised and bewildered Windows user who is now a content Mac user and don't care. The ads don't motivate me to give it a look but I doubt they are designed with me in mind. It's great that the ad is polite, uplifting and hopeful but it's also forgettable (after I finish this post I'll have to watch it again as I already forgot what it was about). I suspect as a tool to drive sales and top line growth of MSFT from whatever market it's pitching to I'm not so sure.

In short the Apple ads are better ads because they are more effective ads, content aside. The ads have had a significant and measurable impact on the top line growth of AAPL and are worth far more than what they paid to produce and air them. I don't think the MSFT ad will have any impact on the top line and therefore are about as effective as flushing the cash down the pooper. We'll have to see if People Ready businesses are ready to shell out hard cash so they can say wow.

To clarify a point I made:

"Microsoft on the other hand has nothing to gain and everything to lose. Talking about Apple would be the best marketing Apple couldn't buy. The ad is bland, smells like inspiration but tastes like chicken. It can't be anything but. The goal for Microsoft is to convince people using other versions of Windows to upgrade to Vista by planting the seed that if they do they will be wowed by the bling."

Microsoft is in a difficult spot. They want people to upgrade but they don't want to convince people using XP that the NEED to upgrade. Each user they shake lose from XP they risk sending to their competitors. The ads need to be low profile, in your own sweet time messages. Again this leads to the goal of the ads. Advertising messages are never left to chance. They are very carefully crafted to deliver the exact message they want to deliver and nothing else.

For Microsft the message is: "The future is bright. When you're ready for it you can find it in Vista."

For Apple the message is: "If your PC sucks we have a better option for you to look at which is easy and hassle-free."

WOW!

That's what the help desk staff say when they see the phones light up the day after the vista upgrade!

The ad starts off well but labours the point. By the time it gets to the end you are bored. And then there is no punchline - just some pretty graphics.

Good marketing can help move a good product. But is Vista a good product? I have had 30 years in this industry, run a business on 8 Microsoft servers, am MCSE certified (NT4 admittedly) and 2 years ago I bought my first Mac. Now I am moving my entire business to Apple.

Why?

1. Microsoft promote complexity as a virtue. Certifications are made difficult to achieve so as to make them valuable. This results in an environment which is enormously complex and expensive to maintain for a smallish business - even an IT business. Apple promote simplicity.
2. Microsoft support is good, but expensive. And Microsoft charge for everything, even when a Microsoft bug is the problem. It should not be this way, but I have had to complain to my credit card company 4 times when MS insisted I pay for the resolution of problems which were documented MS anomalies or bugs. Apple products dont need so much support - and the free community support is really helpful.
3. Microsoft promote complecity in user interface as a virtue. I always hated XP - menus on which half the options had disappeared because i didnt use them frequently - menus which displayed slowly because someone decided it was cool to make them fade into view. I hated XP. HATED XP. But I love my Mac - its very intuitive and unobtrusive.
4. Viruses and other exploits. Its just too hard to keep a business running on Microsoft. My servers are always installing stuff and rebooting - this plays havoc with my systems but i dont have the resources to manage all this manually. I installed NAV on my Mac when I got it (out of habit). After 12mths when the renewal was due I checked the reports. ZERO viruses and ZERO threats. Since then I dont run anything. Try doing that with Windows...
5. Well i could go on for a while here. The bottom line is that Microsoft just became the enemy over time - the arrogance didnt help. But I think my experience with CRM as a MS partner was the last straw. CRM 1.0 wouldnt install at all - I gave up after four attempts on various machines. I made the mistake of loading CRM 3.0 on a production server. It blitzed my website and I couldnt figure out how to remove it. I called Microsoft to find out that no support was available from MS and I was referred to a partner i had never heard of. Now I am running Sugar OpenSource. It is free, pretty basic, but good enough for my purposes. It installed on the MacPro in 4 minutes - along with Apache, mySQL and PHP. All in the one download and all without any configuration required. Now for a Microsoft boy that was simply amazing. Imagine installing IIS, SQL Server and CRM in 4 minutes with defauilt settings and then being able to log on and start adding data immediately. !!!

Well, then i bought an iPod. The beauty and simplicity of the Apple way of doing things was so delightful I bought a Powerbook a few months later - even though i was not sure it would even work in my office. It did. And, you know, I just adore this machine. It has worked without missing a beat, and without a virus, for 2 years.

And now I have a Mac Pro, running opensource applications with which i am replacing IIS and Exchange and i am developing a new website in Ruby on Rails on my powerbook and it will end up on a new Apple X/Serve at some stage.

Anything from Apple so easy to install and run. And it just works. Just like the ad says. I remember the drama setting up my Compaq notebook for wireless. But the powerbook just found the network and asked if i wanted it to join it. I nearly fell off my chair. I loved it from that moment...

I look at all this from my perspective of 30 years in the industry and I see the beginning of the end of the Microsoft era. It will take a little while to sink in, but it is happening. It may not be Apple that takes the place of Microsoft - they will have a much bigger share, but Unix/Linux/opensource will play a big role too.

I have no interest in Vista. I think the lipstick looks nice, but if you listen closely you can clearly hear the pig grunting underneath...

Forget the Mac or Windows fundamentalism and zealotry for a moment and focus on the advertising.

The Vista ad is, for the most part, a stiff corporate message trying to create an emotion in the viewer and tie it to their product. Computer operating systems do not inspire the same "wow" factor as a personal best while running, or seeing a basketball prodigy dance around NBA material. If a computer operating system gives you that kind of emotion, you need to get out of the house.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give the ad an 8 for photography, a 3 for believability and a 2 for conveying the message of the product. It is however, better than the ad I saw that was targeted at partners are resellers that used the word "solution" no less than half a dozen times. But this ad suffers in the same sense that it doesn't tell me what Vista is going to do for me other than possibly, maybe, make me say "wow" at Microsoft's new eye candy. I guess that message is better than the realism that you need to upgrade because all the operating system products from Microsoft prior to Vista are garbage. Imagine how the marketers wrestled with how to tell viewers they would get better virus protection, better security and a better interface with this product; provided they had the hardware that could run it.

The Apple ads suffer really from the same issue in that the message of "what's in it for me" is obscure at times. However, the ads are quite entertaining on many levels, especially for anyone who has been through the pain of trying to upgrade a PC, hook up a printer or deal with malware. And it is quite enjoyable to see the sheer rage that some PC users seem to have over the ads, like it's a personal attack upon them. Really, we all know that PCs are a commodity product, quite crummy with a less than ideal operating system that nearly everyone uses. Lighten up!

I'd like to see an ad for Linux.

"It's free and you can do what ever you want with it ... Wow"

Every so often something happens that makes you say "Wow".

- Sure, but I don't think _anything_ on a computer screen has made me do that, and Vista certainly about to buck the trend. My reaction to Flip3d was far closer to "Where's the beef".

I saw the "wow" commercial with the pumpkin. The only reason I found it interesting was because now Nebraska has mountains... It usually takes a few million years for those to come about, Microsoft did it in a few decades...

No viruses?

Don't confuse "no viruses" with "no security holes".

See "Month of Apple Bugs"
http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/

I *love* the Apple Mac commercials! My favourite is the "Security" ad. It's so funny! And endearing.

The Vista ad is really stupid. It's as if Microsoft were telling you how to feel about their new product. They think they can tell YOU to be wowed by this operating system?! What an infantile marketing campaign!

The story of this game is a legendary one which uses a splendid environment along with new characters.I,as the sole writer and writer of this game , would like to sell the rights to this game to microsoft company. I dont have access to e-commerce and would like to have a meeting with the person in charge tonegotiate the details.I would like to thank you in advance.

Ya, my Wow is "Wow, vista sucks" and "Wow, I can't believe I hate this product more every day"