Slashdot and AP exposed Microsoft for using one of their hired PR folks as the “author” of a Mac-to-Microsoft switch ad (to counter Apple’s Switch from Windows to Macintosh ads). Microsoft pulled it, and it’s now gone from the Google cache, too. Nothing at AdAdge.com (yet) either. Anyone know where I can find a copy of it?
This cached google link worked for me:
Note that the photo used in the article is from a stock photo site.
Damn, it worked in preview, I’ll try again.
Weird. Google keeps automatically forwarding me to Microsoft’s site. I had to stop it in mid-action, then open the source in Composer to see it. How funny.
I know. Classic.
Just an aside: Microsoft and Apple sure have a funny relationship. I’m glad I don’t have to be a company liaison for either one.
Umm… weren’t both of the companies going off about how great the new Microsoft Office for the Mac was about a year ago? (Granted, it ain’t free with Mac, but when you offer the product for the other platform anyway … the argument loses its steam.)
Anyway, enough non-factual issues. Thanks for helping me sort through the web weirdness, folks.
You can Google the phrase “To my surprise, the process of switching was as easy as the marketing hype had promised” which ought to bring up the original hit, whose URL was www.microsoft.com/insider/opsystems/windowsxp_setup.asp , now a Page Not Found.
Or you can Google the phrase “Windows XP relieved my fears about switching” with quotation marks around it, which forces Google to search for that exact phrase, because otherwise you get a bunch of miscellaneous hits.
Then look at the cache.
Wow! What a unique set of features!
[sub]If you are upgrading from Netscape 2.0, that is.[/sub]
Anyone know where I can find the AP article exposing this? Thanks:)
Those commercials always baffled me. Mac users like to say they use macs instead of PCs because they are smarter, but then they run these ads that more or less say, “Are you a total dumbass at operating a computer? Then try a Mac!”
Then again, they did give us Ellen “beep beep beep” Feiss. Mac user, student, Fark cliche.
Nevermind, I found the article:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,55785,00.html
And, on a side note, I’ve must admit I think the ad campaign by Mac is great. The fact that it’s irking so many PC users testifies to that…I’m not saying Mac is necessarily better or worse than PC, but a good ad’s a good ad.
I bought my first Mac this past April. I went from knowing nothing about Mac OS to owning a Titanium Powerbook with OS-X.
This machine stutters, locks and crashes. Yes, even the snot-nosed high-falootin’ fabled OS-X. It’s crashed twice, I’ve sat here reading the gibberish code that lands on what’s left of the screen to the people at the Apple Store. The first time, the gal literally said, ’ Oh my GOD, I’ve read that stuff, you really DID Crash OS-X huh? ’ How very professional of them all…
Damned thing locks up MUCH More often than my P.C. does. And yeah yeah, I run Disk Warrior. Doesn’t mean crap. Stupid campaign IMHO- shoving a granola munching Birkenstock treading pot-smoking anti-anti faux agenda down the throats of users who really just want a machine that works. The machine and the OS does NOT WORK.
Pathetic. And, I’m stuck with it because Final Cut Pro III is ‘native’ to OS-X.
I wasn’t surprised that the fake testimonial was found out, from the O.P. It’s also no shock that Microsoft has been striking back. Then again, maybe I ought to shill for Microsoft. I own both systems, and this new hotsy totsy Mac OS-X is a load of garbage.
Feh.
Cartooniverse
Cartooniverse, I understand your frustration, but I have been running several versions of OSX (in succession, not at once) on an older G4 tower for a few months now, and I have not had nearly as many problems as I used to with OS9. Just saying that your experience is unusual. I hope you get your problems cleared up, but the operating system does work, for thousands of people.
Or, to be more in line with the O.P., perhaps I ought to write my own ad campaign.
Black background. Totally black. Blacker than Spinal Tap’s last record jacket. The very antithesis of the all white Mac ads.
Cartooniverse, sitting on a stool. A tear running down his face. Hair mussed. Fingernail beds bleeding. A broken Macintosh keyboard lays across his lap.
:rolleyes:
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Cartooniverse. I got a copy of OSX, and had nothing but problems. It was slow, it crashed, and I ended up switching back to the 9.2 oS. My brother got OSX Jaguar a few months ago (that’s the upgrade from OSX) and he swears by it. He says he’s had no problems, that it’s fast, and that it fixed all the bugs from the previous OS. Check it out…it may fix your troubles:)
If your computer is just crashing at random intervals, then I don’t think OSX is to blame. Could be bad memory somewhere. I would say the hardware was faulty and return it for a replacement.
JAPrufrock, it dismays me that the company that wants to be the ANTI-MICROSOFT launches a new supposedly crash-proof OS, only to inform me ( I bought the machine in April ) that I am not due an upgrade. I have to pay full price for it. OR, I can keep using the now admittedly deeply flawed Mac OS-X.
Checking it out isn’t the issue. Public perception and highly deceptive advertising practices are.
So, how do I reconicle what ** JAP and dynal_73** have just said? I cannot simply return the hardware and as for a replacement, I bought it in April. Apple isn’t interested in long-term hardware OR software support, apparently. They’re too busy slamming Microsoft in their new campaign for not offering long-term support…
…ahem.
( Sorry for the hijack 
)
As a former Apple rep…well, my computer never crashed, though it did slow down sometimes in OSX. Of course, I was running a bare minimum system.
And yeah, the computers are more expensive, and yeah, the OS isn’t perfect, and yeah, AppleWorks kinda sucks in comparison to Office. But I’ve used XP and OSX for some time now, and I really do miss my Mac machine. I love XP; it hardly ever crashes (it does hate some of my programs though), but I miss the Mac.
Addressing the problems you’ve had – did you get the Protection Plan when you got your Mac? If not, have you had it for less than 3 months? If either of those is true, CALL THE MAC LINE. Me old friends will do good by you. In that first 90 days, they will spend as much time on the phone as they can with you and, if it ends up being a problem with the hardware you ordered from them, they’ll fix it. No cost. Now, after the 90 days, hardware repairs are at a flat rate of…what is it, $379? A lot – you can buy a fairly crappy but still usable PC for that. But PowerBooks are a bitc…are tough to work on, and the parts are expensive. And they will FIX it. Or if it’s extra memory doing it, they’ll tell you to get more (if it was the mem that came with the computer, they’ll replace it).
As for the pricey upgrade, well…when I was working there I didn’t like that either. But I don’t remember XP being free to all W98 users, either. checks Microsoft website Whaddaya know, $199 for an upgrade to XP, assuming you have at least W98. That’s what, $60 more than the price of Jaguar? That seems pretty fair for a company that’s still barely making a profit…
Hey, if you tell me what your problem is, I might be able to tell you how to fix it. 
Whoops, error in research. Upgrade price of XP Pro is $199. Home version (read: neutered) is $99 for the upgrade. So yeah, savings of $30 on the upgrade. Ooooh.
Reiterated – yeah, the computers are fricking EXPENSIVE. I wish they weren’t. I don’t really know why they are, but I do know they pay their reps and their engineers and what have you pretty well, and their hold time is SHORT, usually.