I thought this was one of the most humorous and compelling ads I’ve seen in quite a while. I ran across it on CNN.com. Mr. Mac asks Mr. Windows what’s up with the sign to which Mr. Windows answers he is trying to fix the bad press Vista has been receiving. He then begins to punch the red button that lights up “GIVE UP” and then “ON VISTA”. He keeps pounding the button with a malfunctioning “GIVE UP ON VISTA.”
While I’ve not made the switch to Vista or Mac but just stuck with XP even when adding a machine to my home network I did contemplate the transition. Microsoft has failed to do a compelling job in the marketplace to wholesale convince users that it’s worth it or time to make the switch. Mac remains cool in the eyes of users and Microsoft a necessary evil.
Perhaps my next move will to install Linux on my home machines. I still think Macs are overpriced. More and more I find open source development platforms to be effective and inexpensive solutions for clients. I’m curious if anyone faced with the option of upgrading to Vista has actually gone Mac or Linux.
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I tell friends and clients if they are buying a new machine there really is no reason not to make the switch and get Vista on the new box. Hardware compatibility for the peripherals is good.
I’ve been running Vista since the early beta and I have had no real issues with it. Sure, it requires a beefier machine as did XP over 2000, and 2000 over Me etc…
I would eventually like to get a Mac and due the parallels thing but I just can’t justify the cost. A comparable MacBook would run me over 2K.
As for Linux boxes, I’ve played around with them but too much trouble for me and a whole new thing to learn.
With that said, I really like the Gos that runs on the boxes that WalMart is starting to sell. I run it on my lab machines to do web app training. For someone looking to do just email and browsing (most people) it is darn near close to being an alternative I would recommend.
SB
oops – I really do know how to spell do (due)
SB
Scott, yeah I’m with you on the move to Mac. Sounds nice but the cost seems prohibitive when getting a beefy box for the kind of work we do. Maybe I’ll configure a dual-boot with Windows and Ubuntu or something; some way of doing a test run in Linux before making the major move.
You guys…Sheesh! Just say “Uncle” and give in. Mac ROCKS. Of course I say this sitting at my husband’s VAIO laptop on my kitchen counter right now because my son is upstairs rocking on iTunes. How do you mix a patched Dell with a graphics card so big it hangs out the back of the hard drive (cheap computer we altered)and an iPod? *sigh* I agree that Apple products are too expensive. But whenever you purchase something that has been “designed” you pay more for it. Phil, didn’t you write something about that recently? Yes. Plus, there’s a whole “I want to be a part of this lifestyle” marketing thing going on.
What bugs me about Microsoft is that at some point, when something becomes that big, qualify suffers regardless of the controls put in place. Something’s gotta give. But my husband disagrees because even though my Mac runs Office, he doesn’t like Excel on it. And at work, the software they run is not for Macs. He doesn’t want to have to think about how to use the software to do his job. He just needs to use it. In the world I lived in professionally, I always had to be ready to adapt, so I expect to have to change when I approach something new.
The ads are hilarious and I love them. And now that I’ve posted in your comments section, I’ll wish you a goodnight and a great week ahead.
I think that the big problems with Vista are:
1. Microsoft just didn’t give us a compelling reason to upgrade.
2. The industry didn’t buy in, for some reasons, on many of the changes. In other words, no one started developing for it until it had been released.
3. Everyone else if doing a fantastic job of spreading FUD about Vista.
I really think that is what the MAC commercials are. At first I thought they were funny, but when they started basing the arguments in fiction, I stopped enjoying them.
I’ve been using Vista for quite awhile, and I don’t see any reason why someone with a working XP system should go out and buy an upgrade, I also don’t see why anyone, without a specific need, should avoid it if they are getting a new computer.
I’m all for Macs and Linux, I just think that if you want to use something, you shouldn’t bash everyone who isn’t using what you decided to use.
Just my 2 cents.
Kelly, You are right, there is something to be said about well-designed products. You just have to be choosy I think as to what you sink your resources into. I would say that Apple has grown to a point where they are rather large and I’ve read a good number of dissatisfied customers with some of the products they churned-out as well. They are no small player themselves. It’s bound to happen to the best of them.
Mike, those are some good points. In the dog-eat-dog world of marketing they are going after Windows as the big dog and playing off mis-content users. I’m not sure it’s wholesale fiction as I’ve heard of issues with Vista, but at the least they are perhaps emphasizing the minority experience for gain. As slick as Apple products are, I guess they are not the nice guys after all. Perhaps in the end, both companies are the “dark side”.
In reference to what Mike said, I agree that knocking what others decide to buy gets old fast. In the world of females and clothing/hairstyles/makeup it’s constant. I just like to give you guys a hard time.
And Phil, you’re exactly right. Any big company will have the difficulties I described above. Yes, as much as I love my Mac, I’ve had problems with their product before. How do you spell crashed hard drive?
So being choosy is important. I’m being very choosy right now selecting my son’s electric guitar for Christmas.
Kelly, aren’t purchases sometimes a real hassle? No doubt getting the right gift is wonderful and I think a new guitar is a great gift, but the whole process gets to be so buggy sometimes. Yet, not doing the homework is equally or more buggy unless you just happen upon the right item which has occurred a time or two. In my mind computers are such a losing proposition. At least guitars can over time become collectors items worth more than you paid. Computers are like cars only worse. They only lose value until they make it to the trash heap.
The problem is that switching to Linux is about changing the OS but switching to Mac is about changing all the hardware too. I’m skeptical.