And so it begins…

There’s a critcal update for Windows 7, this, even before it was released.

From Rixstep:

“Do not install this critical update until you have (successfully) installed Windows 7. The code in the update may corrupt earlier Windows systems, destroying your own data and making it impossible to upgrade to the fabulous Windows 7.”

You know, leaving aside the seriousness of this bug, and the fact that it shows, yet again, that Windows is the swiss cheese of operating systems, doesn’t it strike you odd that Microsoft is asking it’s users not to install this update unless they’ve first installed Windows 7. This could corrupt their system.

WHY DOESN’T WINDOWS AUTOMATICALLY SENSE WHICH OS YOU’RE RUNNING AND ONLY PRESENT THE OPTIONS FOR THAT OS?

You know, like Mac OS always has done?

It’s no wonder some Windows installs go bad – the OS doesn’t even help the user make the right choices.

No such thing as bad PR?

Windows 7 doth approach, and Microsoft, in it’s wisdom have organised ‘Windows 7 parties’ to encourage the poor deluded majority to bet, once again, that this version of Windows is the one they will actually enjoy using.

The one that will at last, be intuitive, won’t crash much, will be free from viruses and malware, just like those other computers that they don’t like to mention very much.

The general reception that the Windows 7 party idea has had is predictably consistent; it’s an awful, cheesy, cliche and pain-inducing idea that only reinforces the idea that Microsoft are so totally uncool and unhip, that it’s a wonder their bums don’t fall off (to quote Zaphod Beeblebrox).

However one excuse for all the fallout has been, ‘there’s no such thing as bad PR.’ Meaning that it doesn’t matter that the idea is awful, it doesn’t matter that everyone is laughing at Microsoft, the number of column inches it generates is worth all the bad press.

However I do not agree.

Many years ago I worked alongside a person who I had great respect from in the creative and advertising industry. Our team was tasked with creating a straightforward campaign for a large supermarket chain to advertise a sale.

This advertising took many forms, but one part was bus-shelter posters.

Now being trained graphic designers we new that the thought process for the consumer was thus:

You hook in the consumer with a gimmick, an offer or an angle.

You then hold there attention with an attractive, easy to ‘consume’, flowing, logical design.

You then let them go, away from your adverts influence, with a thought, or memory of your offer.

The last part is the most important. The consumer will spend infinitely more time away from your ads influence, than being exposed to it. You don’t have long to get your message across and that message has to hit home first time, and it must stay with them when you ad is long gone.

This period is the time where your influence has to be positive so that the consumer can pass your message along to another person.

This is why ‘viral marketing’ is a difficult and dangerous approach. You have to get your message and every possible interpretation of that message absolutely right.

Anyway I digress a little- back to the supermarket’s ad.

We created what we thought best fulfilled those 3 critera, to hook, to hold & give right memory. However the client didn’t see it that way.

They wanted something much more direct, simple and gaudy. Put simply they wanted their ad on a dayglo green or orange background, so that it ’stood out’ and shouted their message.

It certainly would hook & hold, but the memory? My colleague commented that, “We’ve hooked them in, the ad will be noticed most certainly, they will even read the ad, but what memory are they left with? a cheap and nasty one.”

The client, whose product was most certainly not cheap and nasty, finally relented, but this experience made me think about the Windows 7 party.

It’s getting the column inches, and we’re certainly hooked and held, but what’s the memory we are left with? What are we saying to others about this approach?

Microsoft seems to think that any news is good news… I don’t think so.

Forward delete is an oxymoron…

Mac 101: Forward delete on a Mac laptop

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As part of my job, I come across dozens of Windows users every day. They have used Windows all their life and have little or know knowledge of the Mac.

These are, to coin a few phrases, the other 95%, the drones, the job security for hundred’s and thousands of IT Managers up and down the USofA.

Occasionally this ‘majority’ have to sit down and use a Mac for a period of time and it’s here where their ‘muscle memory’ of using the upside-down and back-to-front version of the Mac (i.e. Windows), comes into the realm of the way it was done first, and done correctly – the Mac.

One way in which this surfaces is the forward-delete key. This was first brought to my attention when a bemused PC user, typing a document, said, “where’s the delete key on this keyboard?’

My first reaction was that they couldn’t be blamed for not knowing. There’s nowhere on a mac keyboard that says ‘delete’. It’s the key with the left facing arrow, as a Mac user, I just know this through years of use.

However the PC-user, upon testing this said, “No, that’s the backspace key.”

“No it isn’t”, I remarked, “the backspace key on a Mac is the left arrow key, along with the up, down and right keys”.

Not understanding what ‘backspace’ meant, I then learned about ‘forward-delete’ from this PC-user. It’s always been on a Mac keyboard, but I’ve never used it, because it doesn’t make any sense to me. And neither does ‘backspace’.

To me, the word ‘backspace’ does not mean a destructive action. Backspace means, ‘to move back a space’, i.e. the left arrow key.

‘Delete’ means to delete something you have just done. i.e. You type a word, it is wrong, and you, going backwards using the delete key, delete that word. Where does the term, ‘forward’ make any sense in this?

You don’t place your insertion point at the beginning of the word and then when you press the delete key, expect it to move forward along the word, deleting it.

That’s counter-intuitive isn’t it?

I suppose this all comes down to what you’re used to, but ‘forward-delete’ to me doesn’t make any sense to me as a concept.

However as the ‘majority’ use it, I must be wrong, right?

90% of the crowd look up and sigh…

…and the other 10% have another chuckle at the expense of the deluded majority.

Offensive line not the only thing broken at Oklahoma game

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Microsoft’s retail stab in the dark…

Upon thinking about Microsoft entry into the retail space, a few thoughts occur.

Microsoft have a really deep seated envy of everything that Apple does. Now, they’ve always had this from the very first meeting about Windows 1.0, and in the past they could get away with it.

After all, despite all Apple’s efforts, they were not a mainstream company. Microsoft and their partners dominated and no-one outside Apple’s niche had ever heard of them.

All the great unwashed saw was ever greater ‘innovation’ coming from Redmond. They did not know that this innovation was a photocopied, me-too agenda based upon what Apple did.

This approach works fine, as long as Apple remains a niche.

Can you really say that Apple Inc. is at this current moment ‘a niche player’?

Group together everything that Apple does, the Mac, iPod, iPhone etc, and their approaching 10% market share (and even greater mind-share), I think not.

Why does this make a difference? Well, Microsoft can keep up the pretense of being an ‘innovator’ as long as no-one (or at least the majority) knows that Apple exists.

This is all the more difficult, and one very good reason this is getting harder, is because of those pesky Apple Retail Stores.

People used to listen to their ‘geeky friend’ on what computer to purchase, which was usually, if not always Windows.

That’s not the case now, they see an Apple Store, go in, and more often than not, purchase. I don’t know what their footfall conversion rate is (the % of customer who enter a store and either do or do not purchase something), but according to Apple 50% of those purchases are to Windows users.

So what is Microsoft to do? Well there’s only one thing to do, fight fire with fire.

But Microsoft has a problem, and it’s a problem that cannot be got around. The PC model is proprietary OS on open hardware. Apple’s model is open OS (sort, parts of etc), on proprietary hardware.

Now I don’t care what people say, Apple’s model gives us more reliable computers, Microsoft’s model gives problems – lot of them, with more chances to go wrong.

Apple’s model is naturally fits the retail environment. People enter Apple Stores for an experience. Yes, they take their computers in to be fixed, and Apple manages that quite well, as their model keeps those fixes down to an acceptable level.

Microsoft? Their model invites problems, how the hell are they going to manage all those PC users with viruses, spam, malware and faulty hardware because their ‘geeky friend’ made their computer?

This should be interesting to watch…

Microsoft to open retail stores?…

This is going to be fun to watch…

Imagine the scene: Microsoft opens it’s store, hoping that people will walk through the door and fully grasp that Microsoft software can help their digital life and will be wowed by everything they have to offer and they won’t go to that funny fruit store down the street.

However what will happen is that Joe Sixpack will walk through the door walk up to the counter and say, “Ug! Computer not work, you fix!” (Along with the 20 people behind them with similar complaints).

The patient (and butt-ugly) Microsoft genius with say, “I’m very sorry sir, but your issue is a hardware issue and I’m afraid Microsoft only deal with software, I can give you the number of the Dell support-line?”

Mr Sixpack will then say, “Ug! Dellman say your software got virus, you fix!”

The Genius eyes will then light up and say, “Aaaah, yes sir then we can help you, we sell virus killing software starting at $59.95 per month for our basic package.” He then hands him a leaflet.

Mr Sixpack numbly hands over his credit card, “just make computer work – me want pr0n!”

At the end of the month Microsoft will say that their software stores are a great success, having sold millions of software packages that help their customer get more from their computer purchase.

If anything, this will force more consumers into Apple stores because for the first time, Microsoft will meet the great-unwashed PC buying public – and their problems. I really don’t think Microsoft realise that aspect at all – they really are that arrogant and full of themselves.

The will not be able to cope – it will be a PR disaster. All Apple needs to do is air a well-timed Mac vs PC add that targets this sh*t storm, and watch them come through the doors.

Microsoft, please, please, please – carry on.

Initial thoughts on the Microsoft retort…

In thinking about what my views are on Microsoft’s $300 million ad campaign, I’ve a few points that will hopefully give some structure to my thoughts over the next few posts:

________________________________________________________

Firstly, why bother?

Apple has (at best) 5-7% worldwide market share. Microsoft and the PC brigade account for just about everything else. At the very, very best, if Apple continue with the proprietary hardware and (sort of) open OS model, they can hope for 10% tops, and I’m being optimistic.

Are Microsoft that desperate for total domination that they can’t stand a competitor to have a tenth of their market share? What difference will it make to there day to day business & profitability? Absolutely none.

So why? The only reason I can see is that this is not business – it’s personal.

________________________________________________________

Secondly, why did they change direction completely after 2 ads?

I work in advertising, I’ve been present and had decision making input when agencies pitch for work. I can say that if the usual rules apply (and I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t here), what we are seeing is ‘pitch 2′. 

When pitching it’s usual that three ideas are presented. The first idea is what the agency wants, the second is what the customer wants and the third is a combination of the first two. The agencies pitch will push for their choice, and it will be the one that has had the most work put into it.

The Seinfeld ads were the agencies choice, the ‘I’m a PC’ ads are what Microsoft wanted. The 3rd pitch we will never likely see (unless Microsoft pull the ads again!)

The Seinfeld ads are typical high-brow, high-concept crap that agencies love because it’ll get them mentioned in Creative Review and maybe win an award, whilst having f**k-all use for the customer.

The ‘I’m a PC’ ads are the one created grudgingly by the agency in case they couldn’t convince them to go with their choice.

The 3rd set of ads are never meant to be chosen, because the agency can use them to agree with the customer that it is something they don’t want, this makes it easier to convince the customer that they need to agree again with the agency and go with their choice.

The brief from Microsoft will be along these lines:

“See those Apple ads? They piss us off. They’re taking the piss out of us every single frickin’ time! That PC guy? That Bill Gates that is! They’re telling lies! – none of this crap is true! Well maybe some of it is, but we want revenge! We want you to create ads that answer those ads and blow them out of the water!”

And so they agency create 3 concepts, one for them, one for the client and another they can throw away. They did well to convince Microsoft of the Seinfeld ads – they deserve an award for just that!

___________________________________________________

Thirdly, what the hell are the Seinfeld ads all about?

Their seems little point now in explaining because a) they’re cancelled, and b) the agency probably doesn’t have any clear idea either, but I will attempt a breakdown.

But not yet – I need to watch them just a few more times… Lucky me…

Reaction to Microsoft’s answer to ‘GetaMac’

I’ve not published for a while as I have been knee-deep in the negotiations to convert my company’s website from a standard informational website in to a fully-fledged ecommerce site.

So I’ve let pass the current effort by Microsoft to counter the resurgence of the Mac with their own set of advertising, costing $300 million no less.

Being very busy, I don’t have the time to look into the metaphorical reasoning behind the Seinfield ads, but I assure you I will sooner or later.

I’m a marketing guy and I deal with peddling bullshit to consumers on a daily basis, and at first glance these ads seem amateurish at best.

In addition, I’m too late – they’ve been pulled already.

Microsoft have continued the assault on Apple with the ‘I’m a PC’ ads. Again however, the ads seem poorly thought out and clumsy in their execution.

But I’m not going to go into detail, but one thing I’ve noticed is the reception that any advertising effort by Redmond seems to generate in the media. It seems that the press is resoundingly negative in their judgement.

Why is this? Surely something can be said of these adverts that would give Microsoft some hope? Even myself at my most impartial, could, if pushed, muster some sort of positive morsel.

It seems to me that the tables have been turned.

Back in the 80’s & 90’s, the main motivating factor, the thing, above all that would sway someone’s opinion on whether to choose an IBM PC or a Macintosh, was their friendly (or not so friendly) neighbourhood geek.

The spotty nerd at work, the weirdo that fixed the computers, the clumsy nobby-no-mates that bored you senseless with talk of RAM, memory, DOS & hard disks.

And his recommendation was (you guessed it), the DOS (and Windows) PC. He scoffed at the Mac, calling it a toy, lacking in software, no powerful and something that nobody used.

And his recommendation stuck. For years. And years. We’ve been at the brunt-end of that decision ever since. The entire IT industry is geared towards pushing us to Windows and the PC.

Fast forward to the last few years. After years of crashes, viruses, trojans, malware and ever cheap computers, that seem to last little more than 18 months, the consumer who relied of their geeky friends recommendation just doesn’t believe them anymore.

So who do they believe? Well who’s left?

Their not going to listen to a Mac user either, because we get lumped together with those geeky weirdoes.

The only thing left is the media. They are listening to the media, the ad-men, all those artists who use Macs in all the creative departments up and down the land, all those PR agencies and marketing people who use predominantly the Mac.

The Mac’s time has come – for years the IT geeks recommended the PC to anybody who would listen, well those days are gone. Now that the consumer’s ear is turning towards the media, we will recommend nothing but the Mac.

Poetic justice for all the years of misery they’ve put us all through.

Man gets Mac OS X to work with his printer…

Seeing as a 147 word article about a man printing a document with his Vista computer is considered news nowadays, I decided to partake my own experience along similar lines.

Today I had a document that I needed to print using my recently installed Leopard OS, on a printer I bought 3 years ago.

I selected ‘page setup’ and selected my printer.

I then selected ‘print’ from the menu, clicked ‘print’ in the dialog box.

A minute later the document printed.

The end.

I’m sorry, this is just too funny for words…

Yahoo! say buh-bye to Microsoft and team with Google.

“Yahoo said it expects the deal to generate $250m to $450m in operating cash flow during the first 12 months, and that it represents an annual revenue opportunity for Yahoo of $800m. The deal is for an initial period of four years, with an option for Yahoo to extend it for a further six years.”

Google (with Steve Jobs smirking in the background) was reported as saying: “This is big, bigger than the biggest thing ever (other than me).”

Microsoft was reported as doing nothing much, except staring wide-eyed like a rabbit in the middle of the road, waiting to be run over.

“As part of the deal, the companies also plan to make their instant-messaging services interoperate, Decker said.”

Bye-bye Microsoft Instant Messenger, and within a decade – bye-bye Microsoft.

God I just love the world at the moment…

My god, these people still exist..?

Live with it: Mac is not the greatest

Oh dear, I thought we’d already discussed this a million times on every forum in the known universe.

The public has spoken, and they want Mac’s, not PC’s – live with it.

I thought that people like this would just, y’know, go back to their server rooms or something, but it seems that every now and again, between chocolate bars, squeezing spots and the hosing down and reinstallation of Windows, they post flame-bait like this.

They can say anything they like, because they are journalists with a PC-bias, and we are just Mac-users who just want to tell everyone that there’s a better way.

We can’t say anything in retaliation because if we dare to speak up, we’re pigeonholed as blind cult followers.

All those stories you hear about Windows users switching to Mac and then wondering why they didn’t do it years ago, well that’s just lies put about by these ‘weird’ Mac people.

But you can’t win with situations like this, so I suggest to everyone that please, please, please when the next Windows-spod pokes his head from around the server-room door, and tries to convince you that all these Macs are a waste of time and you ought to be on Windows, just ignore him.

Please don’t reply to his article, even if it’s well meaning – he’ll just use it as ammunition against us.

If you want to post a retort, then start your own blog if you have to so you don’t give him the traffic that he most sorely needs.

In another few years these people will quieten down, after the people they work for/with start bringing in iPhones, and telling everyone they’ve just bought a Mac as well, and that they’d wished they’d done it years ago.

Carpet bombing flaw in Safari is not a problem because…

 

Link from Slashdot to arcticle at The Register

So let me get this straight, a flaw in Safari, could allow a malicious attacker to download files (1, 2 or thousands) to your Windows desktop without your perrmission.

But the flaw doesn’t allow execution.

Because Apple’s not that stupid.

You know, to allow just ‘any’ file to just execute without permission.

So what’s the problem? Other than it being a ‘design’ flaw? It’s certainly not a security flaw is it? the files cannot be executed and therefore cause untold damage can they?

Ah, right but those files can…

By a flaw in Windows.

Not Safari, then.

So it’s Microsoft’s problem then is it?

That’s right it is.

And when will Microsoft fix this flaw?

No word on that. Yet.

I’m sure they’ll get round to fixing it asap, once they’ve blamed Apple for drawing attention to their SECURITY flaw, by a DESIGN flaw that Apple, quite rightly, didn’t really think would cause too much of a problem, because no company is stupid to allow files to execute by themselves.

Except Microsoft. Again.

 

Apparently, we’re weird because we like computers to look nice…

 

Apparently, we’re weird because we like computers to look nice…

Link: I’m going to write about people who I completely misunderstand.

This recent posting postulates the question, “Mac users don’t like others touching their stuff.”

The reasoning behind it is that because we pay so much (apparently) for our kit, we don’t like other people using it and supposedly breaking it.

But, as usual PC pundits fail to see the wider issue.

It’s because I don’t want ignorant PC users who see technology as a useless commodity, covered in stickers, touching my pristine Mac’s/iPod’s/iPhone.

It’s got nothing to do with how much I paid for it, it’s to do with the way in which Windows users treat their technology.

If I get another PC user coming up to my flawlessly clean LCD screen and smudge it with his or her greasy finger, I’ll scream.

I walk through our Windows IT department daily and see ugly tin boxes, covered in dust, stickers, pen marks, yesterday’s lunch wrappers and worse.

When the electrician’s come to my company and test all the electrical equipment, they have to put an ugly ‘tested’ sticker on everything. PC users are quite happy to have this sticker anywhere on their PC, I have almost punched said electrician for considering to stick it on the ‘front’ of my G5 Tower.

I had to loan a little iBook to a PC user once, I received it back a month later and it was filthy, and had what looked like jam on the LCD screen. I actually felt sorry for the poor thing and spent over an hour giving it a good clean.

PC users don’t care. PC users pay next to nothing for basement-spec PC’s. PC users think nothing of the hardware.

Am I weird? Probably, but I have to work with these computers all day, and I also have to be creatively active at a moments notice.

I, like most creative people realise that ideas best surface in a clean, ordered environment, where the equipment I use has had time spent on it’s look and feel (both hardware and software).

This is why we don’t like PC users, ‘using’ our equipment – they just don’t think that this is important.

 

So Microsoft shills have found another anti-Apple story…

 

Climate Counts does 10 minutes research.

One of Microsoft PR’s stories finds a clueless journalist.

You know, it astounds me sometimes the lengths to which Microsoft’s PR arm will go to planting stories that slowly chip away at Apple rise to dominance.

Climate Counts have done 10 minutes research and looked around on the internet to see if Apple is leading the fight in saving the climate.

Despite the fact that Apple make 4-6% of the world’s computers, and therefore they’re impact is quite minimal, and the fact that if Apple led the way it would  seriously impact on they’re ability to actually be a successful company that made profits and therefore stayed solvent, the amount of headlines they create far exceeds their size, so the bright lights are shone upon them more often.

For the record, Microsoft did better (marginally), but that because (obviously) they in the main make software, not hardware.

But the story from Computerworld is the culmination of a series of phone calls that started in Redmond, through their PR agency, which ends up with a weblink ending up in someone’s inbox, which then turns into a ‘newstory’.

I work in PR, I know how this works. We plant ’stories’ all the time with newspapers to the detriment of our competitors. Some are picked up by clueless journalists, some don’t. It costs us nothing either way.

I don’t blame Climate Counts, they are a pointless agency who seriously think that pieces of paper which show what a company is ‘trying’ or ‘aiming’ to do about climate change, will somehow help the climate.

The only thing that will help climate change are difficult and serious discussions with countries like China, Russia the USA (amongst many others), whose ignorance about global warming is damaging the planet, and people like you and me, who will have to stop travelling by plane and give up our cars for good.

Well we ‘aint ‘gonna do that are we? I need my car for work, and I deserve to spend 2 hours on a plane once a year for a well earned rest.

But I digress. I care about the planet, people who write anti-Apple, Microsoft sponsored drivel under the guise that they care about the planet is in very poor taste.

 

P.S.

Expect an informative and insightful take up of this ’story’ from the ‘totally impartial and not at all a 1997-based, Microsoft-loving, Apple-hating’ tech-writer, Jack Schofield at the Guardian’s tech blogs in the next few days…

 

More Windows problems…

 

Currently I have a PC in my studio that is connected to a USB printer, and this printer in Windows is being shared to the network.

I also have a couple of Mac’s that access this shared printer, and occasionally use it if the main workhorse A3 laser printer is busy.

This has worked fine on the Mac side, but occasionally, about once a month, the Mac’s connection to the printer doesn’t work.

The standard way to fix this is:

Test the PC to see if it still prints, 100% of the time it doesn’t, so we call in our in-house Windows IT spods to recreate the printer and share it again.

The Mac’s then work normally again, with no reconfiguration at all, they simply pick up the new printer and they’re good to go.

The mantra is, “If the PC prints, then the Mac will print also. Automatically.” This is why I use the Mac, it just works.

 

However, last week this wasn’t the case. The Mantra didn’t work.

As usual the Mac stopped printing to the shared USB printer. However this time, the PC printed fine.

So I asked the Windows IT spods to recreate the printer anyway. They did, it still didn’t work.

So I recreated the shared printer on the Mac and this is where we got to the bottom of the problem.

When you connect to a shared Windos printer on the Mac, it asks you for the login information for the PC. We knew this info, and we put this info in correctly, however the PC wasn’t accepting it, giving a ‘NT ACCESS DENIED” error, whatever that is.

So we thought the problem was with the Mac, and after half an hour trying different things, I gave up, telling the Mac-user to print to the A3 printer instead in the meantime.

I thought that was that, except next day the Windows PC wouldn’t log in to it’s desktop at all. The same log in info now wasn’t working on the PC either.

The spods came in, took it away, seemingly recreating the user with a new account & login.

Guess what, when I tried recreating the shared PC printer on the Mac – it worked fine.

So the problem was the PC simply deciding that it had had enough with that account and the only solution was to create a new one, which in turn solved our printer problem.

One day, Windows simply decides it’s not going to work anymore and needs massaging back to workability, and a whole career has been created around this concept.

I can see now why WIndows IT people are needed – and why they are scared sh*tless of the Mac.

 

Safari for Windows… why?

 

What’s always struck me about Apple since Steve Jobs’ return, is they never do anything without a very good reason. There’s no half-hearted attempts at any enterprise, once they commit themselves, there’s no ‘try’ there is only ‘do’.

There are no sacred cows, they think the unthinkable, and they will quite happily cut off a leg to save the patient.

So what is the ‘very good reason’ for Safari on Windows, what benefit does it give them?

Why did Apple release Safari for Windows in the first place?

Why does Apple actively put engineer hours behind it keeping it updated?

Why is Apple aggressively pushing Safari onto Windows users?

Why does Apple bend over backwards (or a least slightly lean over), when those same Windows users complain that the way in which it’s aggressively distributed, seemingly spurring Apple to change it to appease them? This is unheard of from ‘focus-group free’ Apple.

Apple would only put man (and woman) hours behind Safari for Windows, if it benefited them in some way now, or in the future. Look at iTunes for Windows – it makes Apple a fortune.

So is this about the money? Is it simply so all those Windows users will use the Google search bar, and therefore make Apple even more dough? I’d like to think it’s more than just that.

Apple’s overall game plan is to sell Mac computers, and other Apple hardware. It’s where they make the most money. The move to Unix, Intel, creating iTunes for Windows are all about exposing Windows users to the Apple brand and enticing them over – the halo effect if you will.

But Safari for Windows isn’t hardware – it’s software. So is this about giving Windows users a better browsing experience, to entice them over to the Mac?

Well I think it’s all this and more.

In the future, once the pipe is big enough, cloud computing will be with us all, at least for consumers and business, for content creators such as myself, the pipe will NEVER be big enough for cloud computing.

All your data will reside on the internet, and the conduit for all that data is a browser, and if Apple has it’s way, that browser will be Safari, for both Windows & the Macintosh.

So does that mean .Mac for Windows? You heard it here first.

But, in true Apple style, it won’t be the same on both platforms. Windows users will get the Windows .Mac, and the Mac users will get the .Mac that’s tied closely and seamlessly to Apple hardware, giving Windows users another reason to switch.

 

So the evil twin of the Mac has been created…

Engadet has reviewed it here, and here’s a summary of their findings:

• The graphics card appears to be an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT, but it doesn’t show up in ASP, so we have to confirm. Psystar’s store says it’s supposed to be a 256MB card, but we have 512MB — strange.

• It’s LOUD. Crazy loud. OS X doesn’t seem to interface with the fan controller, so it runs at full tilt all the time. It doesn’t really come across on the video, but it’s loud enough so that it’s hard to talk on the phone when the machine is running. There’s no way we could deal with this thing on a daily basis.

• The DHCP lease drops every fifteen minutes or so and you have to manually renew it in prefs.

• Apple System Profiler doesn’t know how to read the configurations of several systems, notably memory and audio. The Audio screen just says there’s no built-in audio, while the Memory page returns an error.

•The included copy of Leopard was out of the shrinkwrap, but there’s no way to install it — it shows up in Startup Disk but it won’t restart, and it’s not recognized at boot.

That’s just first impressions – expect things to get worse.

Ooooh, can’t you just feel the quality?

So, in summary, it switches on and runs, but there are some annoying glitches, errors and parts that just flat out don’t work which I’m (not) sure that Psystar will get around to fixing very soon.

Who would buy this? Hold on, doesn’t that summary sound just like Windows?

I’m sure Windows users who have spent their entire life thinking they get ‘value’ from their ‘cheap as chips’ PC’s, will feel right at home.

The beginning of the end..?

Bad news for Microsoft.

Yes, I know I’m an Apple fanboy, and yes I know it’s hard not to gloat, and yes I also know that Microsoft will always be around in some form or another, but are we really beginning to see the behemoth stumble?

Vista AND XP below expectations, sales slumping by 24%, a 4.6% drop in the share price, and sales of ONLY $4 billion (I guess there’s still a few fools out there still buying Microsoft).

 

However, this also happended today:

Apple releases Common Criteria Tools for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

A set of tools that map out the security features of Leopard, so that enterprise customers can buy in confidence.

Is this it, is Apple really serious in going for the Microsoft juggler(jugular)? Seems so.

While Microsoft is juggling, having several dozen balls in the air at the same time, Apple is trying to pull the rug out from under them.

And let me just remind all the Apple-faithful, it’s 2 YEARS, at the earliest, until Microsoft releases Windows 7, the OS that’s going to solve all your problems (apparently).

(again)

(even though Vista was supposed to do that)

(and XP)

(and Me)

(and 2000)

(and 98)

(and 95) – you get the picture.

If Apple can keep up selling 2.6 million Mac’s a quarter, with 50% going to new users, that’s an extra 10.4 million Windows converted, minimum.

Are there going to be any Windows users left to buy Windows 7?

Microsoft PlaysforSure, doesn’t play for sure anymore (for sure)…

Here’s the bad news.

It’s amazing that this has not been reported more widely in the press. After countless arguements that Microsoft’s DRM was the future, and you’d be mad to go with iTunes, now comes the news that puts Microsoft’s take on the user/provider firmly into sharp relief.

Put simply; you know all that music that you spent your hard earned cash on from any one of a number of ‘PlaysForSure’ partner of Microsoft’s?

Well, they want it back please and no, you don’t get your money back.

Can someone please explain to me again, why Apple isn’t at 95% market share and companies like Microsoft at 5%?

Why do Windows users put up with being slapped in the face constantly – do you think they actually like it?

Can anyone really trust Microsoft again?

I’m glad that all my online music purchases are from iTunes, because at least I know that Apple will still be around in 10 years time.

It’s strange that back in the 90’s the ’still being around in 10 years time’ was the reason given by a lot of IT Managers when giving a reason for choosing Windows over the Mac.

How times have changed, it’s a pity a lot of IT managers haven’t.

The Apple-hater’s wet dream continues…

 

Think before you click.

Think before you click (again).

Let me start by putting something into perspective that a lot of Mac supporters, and people who are neutral tech observers don’t realise.

There are people (bloggers, journalists & users) out there who have Apple hatred in their DNA.

I won’t go into the reasons why, but briefly, they hate everything Apple stands for. They hate the logo, they hate Steve Jobs, they hate the hardware, they hate OSX, they hate the iPhone, iPod and especially the users. 

Apple has a long history of bucking trends, and proving people wrong and they have upset a lot of people along the way, some get over it, some definitely do not.

With this in mind, my attention has been brought upon the recent controversy of Psystar, and this has opened the ‘debate’ on whether Apple really ought to release Mac OSX to work on open hardware.

There’s also the side-issue put forward by some pundit that they could legally be forced to.

Now, I don’t care about Psystar. I think that Apple will shut them down, and if they can’t they’ll release an update that trashes the hardware.

This in turn will either force those users back to Windows, (no problem, because they weren’t going to buy Apple hardware anyway, so no lost sale there), or it will pique their interest and encourage them to buy Apple hardware.

So whatever happens, it won’t hurt Apple, in fact, in might help them.

But, coming back to those pundits who have that DNA-fault, they are constantly on the lookout for news that will, under their encouragement, allow them to fulfill their wet-dream.

That dream being that Apple will disappear, be absorbed or destroyed. They will no longer have to consider them, report on them or have to even say the word ‘Apple’ ever again.

They will of course write page upon page of drivel, baiting the old-Apple users and force them to realise that they were right all along. Apple is dead, Microsoft have triumphed. Yes, they are that petty and childish.

This latest development with Psystar, is just another facet of that dream. The PC-pundits see this as an opportunity to kill Apple, or at least push us all to that conclusion.

They feel that if Psystar is successful it will start a snowball that will encourage Dell, HP etc to join in and simply release hardware that can run OSX.

And they know full well that Apple cannot exist on that model. Without hardware sales, Apple is gone, it does not exist anymore.

Certainly Apple as a software company would not have the disruptive effect it has at the moment. Indeed, Apple would fade to a shadow of it’s former self, effectively a niche software provider, if not dead completely.

I suppose in their twisted minds, they want everyone to be the same. They are jealous that Apple users time and time again prove them wrong again on all fronts.

We are the scratch they can’t reach, we are the irritating song they can’t get out of their heads, we are always there, in the background, constantly reminding them that they have made the wrong computing choice.

I suppose that what they’re saying is, is that if we won’t join them on the Windows side, then they want our OS to be as buggy as their’s (by being on open hardware), because there’s a very good reason why Mac’s ‘just work’ it’s because Apple control the hardware & software.

That’s another aspect that they can’t swallow, that proprietary software (Windows) on open hardware is buggy and unmanageable. Open(ish) software (Mac OSX) on closed hardware is much more reliable and easy to manage.

So, over the next few months, until this all dies down, if you’re reading articles about whether Apple should become a software company, or the fact the Apple is days away from being sued and being forced to sell the software on open hardware, just remember what this is all about.

They want us to not exist. Let’s keep proving them wrong.

Superenthused?…

So Bill Gates is wheeled out before the press in order to distract everyone from the complete disaster that is Vista. (For the definition of disaster, see here.)

After the first negative reviews of Vista came in, Microsoft was careful to say that the next version of Windows (given the creative-free title of ‘7′), would be 3 years away, but we all know that in Microsoft-years, that means at least 5 years, probably 7.

But, even when I strip away the layer upon layer of pro-Apple skin that encompasses my entire body, when I look at this as objectively as I can, Vista has been a laughing stock.

The company I work for has completely ignored Vista – totally.

The companies I deal with on a daily basis act like it doesn’t exist.

Put simply – if it wasn’t for Microsoft’s cash hoard, they wouldn’t exist either.

So along comes Bill Gates to assure everyone (again) that the next version of Windows will be the one we’ve all been waiting for, the one that will work, the one that he’s been promising since, since, well forever…

Hang on, hasn’t Microsoft been doing this all along? Every release of Windows has been awful, without fail. It’s full of bugs, it doesn’t work as advertised and to get it working, it assumes you have an army of IT specialists, on-site to make sure that once they do get it working, nobody touches or changes anything, in case it all comes crashing down like the fragile deck of cards that it is.

So….. Windows 7. It’ll be great, it’ll work on the desktop, it’ll work on mobile devices, it’ll also have, wait for it… multi-touch.

Just like all the other versions were supposed to have (apart from multi-touch of course).

Sigh…

Of course, being a Mac user I couldn’t care less, but don’t Windows users feel, you know, deep down inside, just a little bit, you know… conned?

Of course Microsoft have always done this. It’s a standing joke in the tech industry that Microsoft waits for Apple to innovate in their small niche space and then arrogantly takes that innovation and applies to their Windows monopoly.

Your average Windows user, who doesn’t even know Apple exists, only sees ‘Microsoft at the forefront of the tech industry, yet again.’

However Microsoft’s ploy only works if Apple remains in its niche. Now that Apple has a greater consumer presence and it’s market share is on the rise, those average Windows users are beginning to smell a rat.

That joke isn’t funny anymore, and the FUD that Microsoft relies on is being challenged at last.

We’ve reached 21% (10% worldwide) – so it’s plan B…

 

 

Think before you click.

 

I’ve spoken in previous article’s how Apple’s plan to completely dominate the computing landscape is well underway.

 

Various initiatives such as the move to Intel, the fleshing out of Apple’s software, the iPod and iPhone halo effect, are all part of their plan, and that plan is going very well.

 

21% consumer market share and 10% worldwide is nothing to sniff at – we’re winning the war against the great unwashed PC masses.

 

They, for various reasons, continue to stick with the outdated model of proprietary OS on open hardware, but constantly complain about the shortcomings of that model – it’s reliability.

 

Although we’re making great strides, this dinosaur will be difficult to kill, too many people’s jobs, lives and whole personalities are propped up by the Windows monopoly.

 

They have tried in the past to discourage the ignorant masses from choosing the Mac, but those reasons are becoming more difficult to justify.

 

The Windows OS, is not getting any better with each release – indeed quite the opposite, and they couldn’t care less about Vista.

 

The Windows OS, is still prone to viruses and malware and they’re fed up of constantly having to call their geeky friend or pay through the nose for an expert to fix their PC.

 

They have however noticed that the Mac OS, just gets better and better.

 

More of their (non-geeky) friends are recommending it.

 

They’ve been to an Apple store and been very impressed.

 

And guess what? They are ignoring their geeky friends advice and actually buying a Mac.

 

In the eyes of those whose very existence depend on the Windows monopoly continuing ad infinitum, this cannot continue, but the old tricks aren’t working anymore.

 

And so we come to plan B.

 

Call in all the favours, gather in all the shills, and start planting stories of companies switching away from the Mac – astroturfing, something that Microsoft are very good at.

 

So, please don’t click on this link, your life will not be any the richer because of it. Just see it for what it is.

 

The dinosaur to getting scared and is finally starting to contemplate a future that doesn’t include it’s influence.

 

Expect lots more articles such as this to follow…

There’s a very good reason why ‘it just works’…

 

More evidence (if any more were needed) that Windows users are delusional: 

 

Think before you click. 

The reason why they constantly spout this, “if only Apple would release Mac OS X for generic PC’s” crap is because they fail to understand the reason why Apple’s Mac’s are fundamentally more reliable than PC’s.

 

IT’S BECAUSE THE HARDWARE IS TIED TO THE SOFTWARE AND VICE VERSA. IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE IT ‘JUST WORK’.  

 

Windows users believe that if the OS maker (Microsoft) could just get the spec requirements right then a proprietary OS on open hardware could be made to be reliable.  

 

This is why they’ve stuck with Windows for so long, because they really do believe that Microsoft will, sooner or later get it right, if they would just spend more time bug fixing, working with partners etc.

 

Well, they can’t get it right, history has proved this and it’s finally looking, slowly at least, that some of them are starting to understand this basic concept:

 

IF YOU WANT A RELIABLE DEVICE, YOU MUST MAKE THE WHOLE WIDGET. 

 

And, in some cases this means maybe paying a little more, but believe me, having had several Mac’s at home, and controlling half a dozen Mac’s at work, with no significant down time in 6 years, it’s worth it.

In response to this pile of drivel…

  

Think before you click please 

Every reason over the years that stood in the way of a Windows user to switch has been shot down.

Can’t find anywhere to buy Mac’s? – Sorted with the new Apple Stores.

Mac’s use non-standard chips – sorted with Intel.

Mac’s haven’t got the exact software I need – sorted with dual booting or full-speed emulation.

No games – PC’s are on the way out for gaming, buy an XBox/PS3/Wii.

No, there’s only one thing left to shoot down, and that’s the army (and I mean ARMY), of Windows IT support people who still, to this day, recommend Windows over the Mac. We’re making some inroads with these morons and some are seeing the light, but we’ve only scratched the surface and there’s a long way to go.

I feel that we’ll have to wait until the die-hards retire or drop dead through over prolonged exposure to Stockholme Syndrone until we see the tipping point and Apple’s 1/2 point increases in market share start to accelerate.

The Windows maze… where do I begin?

I’ve long thought that the complexities of the Windows world were, in part, exaggerated by Apple users and their media (I’ve even been guilty of it myself), but I’m here to tell you now, it’s worse than everyone’s ever thought. 

I’m now in charge of the company’s website. I relaunched it in the middle of last year and when faced with the complete rewrite that was needed, I decided that the best approach was a Content Management System (CMS) for the website so that anyone with a basic grasp of computers could update it. I certainly don’t have time to administer the website using Dreamweaver, so the plan was to buy in a CMS so that the less web-ware members of my staff could update the site in my absence. 

The journey through this has been a difficult one with various problems too numerous to mention, except one. One that has shown me that the complexities of the Windows world are not exaggerated. 

At the heart of the website is a registration system that allows a web-user to fill in a standard html form, upload a couple of graphics and then submit this to a choice of a dozen or so destinations. In the background this submission is then uploaded to a centrally stored database, and then automatically emailed to 1 of 10 users of the system. Once received, these users then contact the web-user and process their registration. 

Except it doesn’t work. In fact in the 10 months or so since the website launched, it’s never worked.Of course, actually finding this out was an arduous task in itself.

Suffice to say after tracking the problem it appears it boils down to this: The web-users form is received centrally, perfectly. It’s when this form is emailed through my company’s webserver, we have a problem. It just never gets there. Doesn’t even register as spam, it just doesn’t arrive. 

Changing the destination to a ‘@googlemail.com’ domain – it works fine.

It’s something to do with the website’s backend software communicating to our email server, they just don’t get along. Of course the one set of Windows users (who run the back-end website software for us), blame the other set of Windows users (who run our email server). I have the envious task of arranging a meeting between these 2 groups to hammer out a solution. 

In the meantime, I, a lowly Mac-user, not versed in the intricate voodoo of email systems, has come up with a solution. All submissions from the website go to a ‘@googlemail.com’ email address, I set up for this purpose. They then come through to Apple Mail, where a Apple Mail set of rules, then examines the email, determines which destination it’s meant for and then forwards it on. This works fine. 

But why doesn’t it one Windows based email system, work with another? It seems to me that these ‘experts’ haven’t a clue, at a low-level, how Windows actually works, and that is a scary thought, and it has taken a single G5 Mac and Apple Mail, to sort out the problem (at least in the short term).

The sticker car (sorry I mean guy)…

So Bob Keef was the guy who, faced with the chance to ask Steve Jobs any question, anything whatsoever decides to ask why it is that Apple’s beautifully designed, amazing looking, sleek, fine-lined range of computers aren’t covered in advertising stickers á la Chick Hicks from Pixar’s great movie ‘Cars’.

Leaving aside the obvious observations that the character Chick Hicks is a souless piece of engineering with no finer points to his personality other than cold hard commercial greed (a bit like company’s who make computers that are covered in stickers), does this not totally sum up the gulf that divides those people who ‘get’ Apple and what they are trying to do and say, and those that don’t?

To see him capitulate and squirm online over the reaction, makes good reading, but he really, really does not understand, not even a glimmer of a faint whisper of a hope grasp, what all the fuss is about.

Steve really shouldn’t have given this question the time of day, his response really should have been, “Isn’t it obvious?” but I guess he had to say something.

However the most succinct way to explain all this is with the Cars analogy. Look at the following to pictures of 2 characters in the Cars movie. After giving it some thought, which would you like to be seen driving?

The car on the right may sell to those either forced to buy it, or who have no taste (PC users), but the car on the left is the sane choice.

The car on the left may not be a best seller – but I know which one I would like to drive.

The UK Apple ads…

I was out jogging last night with my new iPod Shuffle. The iPod Shuffle I bought just before Apple released the new coloured iPod Shuffle, with the new style headphones…

Hmmm…

Anyway, that isn’t the point of this article. It’s what I saw whilst out running that caught my attention. There upon the side of a bus shelter was a UK version of the ‘I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC’ adverts.

Apple of late has completely gone against character, and started actually advertising the Mac for a change. These ads started in the US, spread over to China, and now here in the UK we are blessed with ‘UK-centric’ versions of these ads.

I’ve already spoken of the US ads before, but these new UK ads do need to be commented on further, not on whether they work, or are well put together, but on the very subtle differences between our versions, and the US ones.

Firstly there’s the cultural differences, the Mac guy says ‘hello’, instead of ‘hi’, for instance, and there’s a healthy smattering of UK colloquialisms. This shows that a lot of thought has been given to making these ads work in a UK setting, instead of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ marketing the UK has got used to from global brands.

If I hear ‘zoom-zoom’, or ‘auto-emocion’ one more time I’ll scream.

Secondly are the changes to the scripts. Where the ads are the same, (in ‘Viruses’ for instance), the US Mac states that those 114,000 viruses do not affect the Mac, whereas the UK Mac says that those same viruses do not affect Mac OS X.

This difference is important. It shows that Apple is refining the text of each advert, making them more explicit in their meaning. For the first time, they’re highlighting the difference between the software, not just the hardware. All this is gearing up for Leopard I expect.

After running past this advert on the bus shelter, and being more than a little surprised, it struck me that we are witnessing something of a change in Apple. This is the first time I’ve ever, EVER seen a bus shelter advert for the Mac in the UK, and by the looks of it, it’s a nationwide campaign.

Such a high-profile campaign as this, to be given a UK push is unheard of. Coupled with the anti-Vista jibes on the Apple website, it seems that Steve Jobs is finally ready. Now he has a first-class, portable OS, and first-class hardware in place, he’s ready to go for it – he’s ready to attack Microsoft.

There’s a technique in marketing which states that there is no point in launching a huge advertising campaign, unless the product you are selling (and the customer experience that surrounds it) is the best you can provide. If your product is second rate, then the extra attention that your advertising will give you, will actually damage your sales and image, doing more harm than good.

Apple has been playing the waiting game, waiting until all the pieces are in place, before they launch their long-overdue attack on the Microsoft monopoly.

If this continues, (and I can only see Apple getting more aggressive against Microsoft when Leopard launches, with all it’s tie-ins to the iPhone, the inevitable new iPods, & TV), Microsoft will then be forced to launch it’s final nuke, the one it’s been threatening Apple with for years, the one that started all this.

They will cancel Microsoft Office for Mac – with some pointless reason attached of course.

Many years ago, Phil Schiller (the then CEO of Apple), gave away the crown jewel of Apple (the Mac GUI), because Microsoft threatened to pull Mac Office. This allowed Microsoft to get away with launching the travesty that was Windows 95, and it all went downhill for the Mac after that.

I wouldn’t worry though, by that time it will be too late for Microsoft. Apple will have the Intel version of Office released, which should last Apple at least 3 years before it would need to be updated anyway.

That will be the year 2010. By which time the tech landscape could be very different indeed.

Showing the opposing view…

Recently I noticed an article entitled, “Is the iPod getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace?” on the Mobile Magazine’s website. It struck me at first as the usual FUD-spreading tripe that comes from the Apple-despising press, but upon further reading something occurred to me.

The article can be summarised in that the author found it unfair that the iPod was successful, and dismissed this success as somehow undeserved.

I obviously wanted to reply, but could not at first marshal my thoughts in such a way as to put across my point, but then it struck me. Please read on. What follows is the original article, followed by my reply. I think you’ll agree that it succinctly brings in to contrast the pointlessness of the article.

Is the iPod getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace?
As part of my regular duties for Mobile Magazine, I was poking around the other tech blogs on the internet, looking for interesting things to write about. I came across this post and it got me thinking: is Apple getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace, and that’s why Stevie Jobs holds three-quarters of the MP3 player market?

Think about it. Tech heads are a relative minority in the population, whereas people with a very minimal knowledge of technology probably make up the majority. Case in point: many people think that the iPod is the be all and end all of MP3 players. In fact, you’ll catch many people asking “What kind of iPod is that?” when you flash them a Sandisk Sansa or a Creative Zen. A large portion of the public think that “MP3 players” are a lesser form of the “iPod”, when in fact the iPod is an MP3 player (as I’m sure you know, given that you are reading this). This is following in the same tradition that taught people to refer to DVD players as simply a “DVD”. That irked me for the longest time.

What’s more, when you go to several online retailers, you’ll notice categories that read “iPods and MP3 players”, but never “Zunes and media players” or “Sansas and portable music players.” The iPod holds its own special shelf oftentimes too. I think it comes down to a chicken-or-egg question though: Are retailers simply responding to the average Joe who can only think of the iPod when it comes to portable music, or is it because stores do this that Joe Public thinks this way.

I’m beginning to think it’s the former and we can’t exactly blame Best Buy for featuring the iPod so prominently. After all, they just want to grab those sales. So, who can we blame? I’m looking at you, Cupertino.

Is Windows getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace?

As part of my regular duties for Mobile Magazine, I was poking around the other tech blogs on the internet, looking for interesting things to write about. I came across this post and it got me thinking: is Microsoft getting an unfair advantage in the marketplace, and that’s why Bill Gates holds three-quarters of the OS market?

Think about it. Tech heads are a relative minority in the population, whereas people with a very minimal knowledge of technology probably make up the majority. Case in point: many people think that the Windows OS is the be all and end all of OS’s. In fact, you’ll catch many people asking “What kind of Windows is that?” when you flash them a Macintosh. A large portion of the public think that “Windows” is a lesser form of the “Computer”, when in fact the Mac is an computer (as I’m sure you know, given that you are reading this). This is following in the same tradition that taught people to refer to DVD players as simply a “DVD”. That irked me for the longest time.

What’s more, when you go to several online retailers, you’ll notice categories that read “Windows computers”, but never Macintoshes & Windows”. The Windows PC holds its own special shelf oftentimes too. I think it comes down to a chicken-or-egg question though: Are retailers simply responding to the average Joe who can only think of Windows when it comes to a PC, or is it because stores do this that Joe Public thinks this way.

I’m beginning to think it’s the former and we can’t exactly blame Best Buy for featuring the Windows PC so prominently. After all, they just want to grab those sales. So, who can we blame? I’m looking at you, Microsoft.

Do you understand where Mac users are coming from now?

I think it’s poetic justice that Apple, at last are dominating a market that isn’t skewed in Microsoft’s favor because of an army of ‘tech heads’ that a)only recommend Microsoft and b)cannot stand it if Apple succeed in anything.

Sometimes the best way of getting your point across is to simply hold a mirror up to the situation at hand, showing the opposing view, but using their own words to illustrate your point.

The Zune…

Well. The Zune. What can be said that hasn’t already been said a thousand times?

It’s not very good.

It’s too big. It’s too brown. It’s too restrictive in its DRM. It’s too confusing to use (Microsoft points?). It’s too difficult to install. It’s just too, well, Microsoft.
To Mac users, this isn’t surprising. We all know that, given a level playing field, (not one where they can leverage their monopoly), Microsoft just cannot do anything well.

Everything they have ever produced has always stank to high heaven. Now, in the business world, this doesn’t matter. Geeks are very forgiving.

They will put up with the workarounds, hacks and make-do’s to get Microsoft products working, because a) their jobs depend on it, b) they actually enjoy being knee-deep in this shit, and c) because the alternative (using another OS), is just too frightening to bear.
But in the consumer world, Microsoft cannot get away with it. When, (as one reviewer was forced to do) you have to manually create and install a .DLL file, just to get the Zune software working, you realise that there is something deeply, deeply wrong at Microsoft.

In principal, they are still a computer company, and by computer company, I mean a company that sells to geeks, first and foremost.

They see, and treat your average joe consumer with contempt, just in the same way as the Windows IT tech support at the company you, dear reader, work at, do also.

Everything Microsoft does is soiled with this central, rotten core. “Our software doesn’t work perfectly, but don’t worry, the geek in the family/IT department will sort it out”.

Well, this central premise doesn’t seem to be working anymore for Microsoft. The Zune’s sales are not only disappointing, they’re terrible. It’s funny to see all the so-called independent blogs that Microsoft secretly set up, clamouring for any good news. Several of them are no longer being updated.

Apple, on the other hand, have always been the ‘company for the rest of us,” and their time has now come.

Time to buy Apple shares again.

The hatred of Justin Long…

In case you’ve being living under a rock for the past year, Justin Long is the ‘I’m A Mac’ guy in the recent spate of Apple adverts. He plays opposite John Hodgeman (I’m A PC’).

Now before I get into the gist of this article, I need to point out to those of you who just don’t get these ads, what their angle is. I come from a marketing background, so hear me out.

Apple Computer want to portray to the buying public the benefits of buying an Apple Macintosh Computer, over buying a Windows-based computer.

The problems in doing this are twofold:

1) As soon as joe public sees an advert with a complicated tech-device therein, their brain switches off. It’s just too difficult to portray the positive aspects of the Mac and the negative aspects of the PC in 30 seconds, and to hold your viewers attention.

2) Microsoft have done such a good job of lowering everybody’s expectations in what to expect from a PC, to the point that people just see them as a tool they replace every couple of years, that Apple has an uphill battle in getting people to feel passionate about computers, in the way that we all as Mac users already do. In order to switch a user, you have to make them care about their computing experience again, and make them realise that there is an alternative to the cycle of buying a computer, use it until it’s full of viruses, and then replace it with a new one or give it to your geeky friend to sort out.

So, what do you do to make computers more appealing? How do you subtly put across the benefits of a Mac, and the shortcomings of a PC, without going down the route of option 1 (simply showing a Mac with bullet points next to it?)?

You anthropomorphise them.

You turn the Mac and PC into a person. And every aspect of that person is personified in the computer. So the way the computer behaves becomes their personality, the way the computer looks becomes the person’s clothing, you get the idea.

Now with all of this in mind, it’s been interesting to see people’s reaction to the adverts.

First of all, a large percentage of PC viewers did not grasp the anthropomorphic stance of the ads, and were offended by them. The 2 people in the adverts denote the computers, not the users. Now you cannot blame the viewer for this, Apple obviously did not get their message across well enough, and they must try harder.

Secondly, the side effect of the PC being the butt of many jokes, made some viewers feel sorry for him, and because they did not get the fact that this person was NOT a manifestation of a USER, but the manifestation of a COMPUTER, they identified with him – they felt his pain.

And who inflicted this pain? Well, the only other protagonist in the advert – the Mac, or in their eyes, the Mac user.

This then explains some of the totally unwarranted verbal attacks on Justin Long. On a recent episode of TWIT, they discussed the apparent sacking of Justin Long by Apple, because he was coming under fire, and was seen as arrogant, smug and cruel.

Now this sacking has since been discarded as an incorrect rumour, but their discussion continued. One thing they all agreed was that Apple found it okay that Justin Long was coming over in this way, because that’s what all Mac users are like – smug, arrogant & cruel.

I was listening to this in the car at the time, and I physically staggered. How can anyone feel this way, and generalise over a group of people who they have never met?

Does Justin Long come over like this? I wanted to find out so I took a quick look at a selection of Apple ads on their website.

Well, after looking at them, and re-reading the scripts, I could find little or no reference to anything that Justin Long says that could be construed as being smug, arrogant or cruel. In fact, most of the time he comes across as quite understanding, kind and very neutral – to the point of being a little boring.

So why do PC users feel this way?

Well, I think it comes down to pride. Whether you get the anthropomorphic angle of these ads or not, what they are saying is, is that you, as a PC user have made the wrong choice in choosing Windows.

PC users are a delicate bunch, and I think Apple has not realised this, (or maybe they have and are just going for the jugular). As I have said in a previous post, whole careers, whole lives and whole personalities are built around the Windows monopoly.

Criticising their choice in Windows opens their flesh and bares the rawest of raw nerves, and strikes at the core of everything they believe in.

Justin Long has said little or nothing inflammatory, nothing rude, or condescending, go on – check for yourself. Nothing that would illicit the hassle he is getting.

I think what we are seeing, in the reaction by Windows users to these adverts, is a kind of reverse emotional response.

They see the truth, unvarnished, of what using a Windows PC is like, and they cannot accept it. They feel hurt and betrayed be Microsoft, but again, they cannot accept it – to walk away from Microsoft is too much of an upheaval for them.

So what do they do? they look for a scapegoat, someone to blame, someone who is responsible for all that pain, and, identifying with John Hodgeman, they blame Justin Long, and spout vitriol at him whenever they can.

Windows PC users are really screwed up, and they really do need to Think Different.