sorry but the current campaign is lost and pointless. CPB usually does good work but when they bomb, they bomb BIG.

"I've been made into a stereotype."

Oh no, not the victim card! This sounds like one giant FAIL.

Apple for the win.

Despite all the hype I never even saw the first Jerry Seinfeld ad, and I'm not all that disappointed about that fact.

@IphtashuFitz: Save your respect for Seinfeld and don't watch it.

At the end of the day, Appl is both HW and SW, so they are selling a package. Microsoft is selling an OS, and these commercials are essentially supporting all the manufactures / users that build PC's running Windows.

I'm curious how much Appl has spent in marketing dollars to increase their share, while the PC market has been moving along with little more than some adverts from HP.

Dude! You're getting a Dell!

If these commercials are anywhere near as bad as those idiotic BK commercials... I don't know. I can't remember the last CPB commercial that was actually interesting.

How is the shark cage guy a PC, is he doing a microsoft excel spreadsheet in there

Are they sure that 'trapped underwater in a cage, while the sharks are (literally) circling' is what they were aiming for?

Interesting choice, that.

Great commercial! You're right, Microsoft, having a PC is like being trapped in a metal cage. Underwater. With sharks.

@lightaugust: The diver is the OS. The 3,257 sharks circling are Thursday's viruses about to feast on him.
Interesting, indeed.

Microsoft, you lose the war when you got greedy and decided to do the whole monopoly thing.

You can't get out of jail until you role a double.

I have to say that I really want a Mac because it's kinda like linux (with terminal and all) and it will run my iphone!

Linux can't do that yet. That makes me sad.

@Carl3000: Agreed, they don't even show a PC. At least in the apple/pc commercials, they show screen shots and sometimes the product.

As for Deepak Chopra, whenever I hear his name, I instantly hear Julia Sweeny in my head saying "Deepak Chopra is full of sh!t", from one of her performances.

Just another case of Microsoft poorly imitating an Apple concept because they can't come up with something original on their own. (And given that I use Windows more than I use a Mac, I really wish they would get their act together.)

Apple should do a commercial with a diver swimming with whale sharks holding a sign saying "I'm a Mac." (Either that or diving the Great Barrier Reef surrounded by tropical fish.)

I told 'em not to do it. Would've been more interesting to replay the subservient chicken angle.

But as the NYT pointed out they can't sit idly by and let Apple attack, but they can't be heavy handed. To quote Bart Simpson, "Well... you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."

Have a good day, all.

@linus: You are yelling at Microsoft for a monopoly, when there isn't such a thing with Linux and OSX out there, but do you realize Apple has a monopoly also only allowing their operating system to run on their computers? Well unless you have a hackintosh or something. Apple is one of the most proprietary companies out there, Microsoft atleast tries to play nice with other companies because it knows it needs them.

@gqcarrick: You can run Linux and PC operating systems on a Mac. And MacOSX comes FREE with the computer you buy.

Last month I finally caved and tried out a new PC with Vista Home Premium pre-loaded. It worked fine for two weeks, then pulled an OS update that caused IE to lock up the system so bad a forced shutdown was the only way to recover. Even after that, the only way I could get IE to play nice was in safe mode... NOT COOL.

Took that PC back to the store; I'm much happier back on XP.

And of course, it's worth noting that Crispin Porter is an all-Mac shop, as I understand it... so even these "I'm a PC" ads were created using Apple hardware and software.

@gqcarrick: How can you claim that Apple is a monopoly? Apple is a computer company who sells an integrated product, just like Sony with their Playstation and Nintendo with their Wii and other models.

On the other hand, Microsoft had a monopoly in the past, going so far as to demand that only Windows be sold on any of a given brand's hardware; a significant difference.

Microsoft's problem today is that they are almost forced to accomodate any quality of hardware a manufacturer chooses to use in their computers, where Apple at least tries to control the hardware quality and as a result the user experience on that hardware.
And if you don't think that makes a difference, explain to me why certain Windows application developers today publish a minimum hardware specification and refuse to support that software in any machine that does not meet those specs?

All of you people saying "PC" and "Apple/Mac" are taking Apples bait with the TV commercials. News flash! Apple sells PC's, Apple is a PC hardware and software company. The only thing that separates Windows From OS X
are how they were coded. You put Linux on a PC, it is still a PC. You do the same with Windows or Mac OS X and it is also the same. When did it change? When did Apple branded computers suddenly become something other than a PC?

@processfive:
Ooooh! If this is true, this could go the same way as the old "Intel Inside" ads back in the 90's, where the beautiful "flying Intel chip" graphic was created on PPC Macs.

@Jabberslops:

[quote]When did Apple branded computers suddenly become something other than a PC?[/quote]

When PC became synonomous with the Windows operating system back in 1984.

@ironchef "FREE with the computer you buy?!?!" First, if you buy and OEM computer from HP/Dell/etc., you usually get a version of Windows with it. Secondly, as a Mac owner, the operating system is anything but free. Have you seen the price of Apple computers compared to PCs, and you still have to pay to upgrade the operating system.

I'm a big mac user, and an even bigger engineering geek, but I kinda liked the Seinfeld/Gates commercials. It won't make me buy a PC, but it made me laugh.

I like MS, they don't charge the apple tax, and they make their development tools easy and free. They revolutionized the world, and now everyone has a PC at work.

Apple makes a good product, and turned into a popularity contest. Their attacks on MS Windows is kind of lame, considering Windows works on any hardware, and apple can restrict support to hardware they certify. Apple restricts their developer network. I would certainly be a much less productive member of society w/o windows.

They aren't perfect, but they make a good product, and sell it for a good price. I bought 3 PC's the other day with Windows XP Pro, each costing $175. Find me new apple that costs 175. You cant even buy an ipod for that.

what a poor decision - they're playing right into apple's hands.

i don't mean to knock apple (or linux) - both are really cool operating systems. but let's look at the reality - both have significant drawbacks in comparison to windows.

nothing beat's apple's fluidity, but they're 2-5x more expensive than comparable PCs & you may find yourself using boot-camp or wmware for the programs that simply don't have mac alternatives. linux is incredible in its power & speed, but it's simply not accessible enough for the average user. it's potential is awesome, but it's simply not packaged for joe public.

i mean, we all know this...is this marketing agency that dumb that the obvious escapes them?

@gqcarrick: Google "monopoly" and get back to us? Thanks!

Microsoft is really throwing money at marketing lately. I think the "Windows Mojave" commercials are a great way to shut up all the Vista haters, and this campaign seems like a good way to turn the Mac ads around. I'll agree with the rest of the world though, in that the Gates/Seinfeld commercials are just plain awful.

@skwigger: Last I checked comparable Apple and PC set-ups were roughly the same price.

[www.tomshardware.com]

@ironchef: yeah, i have to second skwigger here. part of the added cost of an apple IS the operating system, so it's not really free. you could easily build a mac pro with comparable (or better) components for <$1000. so what does the other $1800 go to?

@mac-phisto: Sigh. I'll say this once since it'll be posted multiple times by the PC fanboys.
Once you winnow out the ghetto configs, and buy a comparable system (the vast consensus on the last Dell Is Hell story was, Dell Business (avoid their Consumer division like the plague), with Gold Support and when you choose the Dell config to match what comes standard on a Mac, Macs are equal or cheaper. Especially considering the attractive, useful software that comes bundled (iLife, the security stuff, etc), versus the demo/bloatware that comes on Windows.
Leaving alone the design - if you use a computer most of your day, wouldn't you want a thing of beauty to look at? Life's too short for ugly, people.

Can you buy a $500 laptop bigger than a phonebook, requires you to spend a day clearing off crap that's infested your stock hard drive, then buy extra stuff to make barely functional and that doesn't run the current OS? Sure.

Do you think that your time - or peace of mind - has any dollar value whatever? Hell the hell no.

@Jabberslops: I think the PC/Mac distinction was only raised back when the two giants didn't run on cross-compatible hardware or do what you describe. Now they can (sort of) so the distinction is moot, although it was inane to begin with. What remains is the post-culture that thinks Windows=PC and Mac=Cult.

Debate=Pointless marketing hype.

@Jabberslops: "The only thing that separates Windows From OS X are how they were coded"

Wow. Just... wow. You really don't know what you're talking about, do you?

Until you really have a solid understanding of operating systems and computer architecture in general, I'd suggest staying out of platform-superiority discussions.

Windows sucks, and the only reason it's successful is that most people simply aren't very demanding with their computers.

Is anyone going to defend that assinine "You have unused icons on your desktop" bubble that keeps popping up?

That prettymuch encapsulates Microsoft's philosophy about operating systems:

Help the user just enough to confuse or annoy them.

I switched to linux as my main operating system almost a decade ago and I haven't looked back.

When I want to install the latest software, it's a couple of clicks away in my package manager, when you want to install something on windows, you have to download some bloated self extracting binary shareware piece of crap.

You can always always spot the dozens of "leftover" installer packages on any windows user's desktop.

It's little things like that, that Microsoft hasn't tried to fix for the last 10 years that are so annoying.

@eelmonger: Yeah, those commercials are pretty good. I especially like how they get them talking bad about Vista first :-p I work in a computer repair place/help desk for my university and soooo many people come in for help and while we talk end up totally trashing Vista. There is no nice way to say that your system is messed up from all the shady stuff you got off of limewire or that your "friend who is good with computers" who deleted a bunch of program folders instead of actually uninstalling them is the reason your shit is so slow and having issues. I have my own issues with Vista (linux FTW!) but I don't like it bashed by people who don't even know what they are talking about :/

I've used windows for as long as I can remember. The organization & everything just makes sense. I sit down in front of a mac and I have no idea how to do anything. For all their talk about how "intuitive" macs are, they are anything BUT intuitive for me.

That said, windows has just thrown my brand loyalty (I hate the corporation but will stick with what makes sense to me) out the window with the latest version of office. I feel like I may as well be using a mac when I'm stuck using Office 2007... So why stick with Windows?

@Trai_Dep: i guess this is what you mean by a "ghetto build" (frankly, i'm not sure, b/c i frequently refer to dell/compaq/gateway as ghetto pc's), but beating the price is actually very, very easy. here's a quick example --> [www.newegg.com]

add 2-yr protection plan for $100 & take your pick on a monitor. since i'm saving so much money, why not splurge on one of these --> [www.newegg.com] & you might as well add some sound too --> [www.newegg.com]

total build: $1680 vs. $2800. beats the crap out of your mac pro in speed, audio, video - it even has pretty lights. the only thing it doesn't have is mac os x (perhaps gawker can help me with that).

@randomangela47: How much time did you actually spend with a Mac? It's really easy to use. Really, really easy to use. I use a Mac at work and at home, and the ability to zoom out to see all of your windows saves the day when it comes to workflow efficiency. I can totally understand if everything you do is entirely Windows-based, like if your workplace does X application only in Windows, you're just used to how things are - but Mac is really extremely easy and functional to use. It just takes a tiny amount of getting used to.

Dumb to let your ad strategy be dictated by somebody else's fabulously successful campaign. Anybody who recognizes these ads' origin is therefore going to be reminded of Apple and told that Microsoft feels defensive about Apple. This is dumb, dumb strategy.

@randomangela47: you know i also hated office 2007 when i first started using it, but it's starting to grow on me. it's set up really stupid - what microsoft thinks are the "most used" functions are not at all what i need access to all the time - do they even know what their customers use their programs for??!? once i customized the "quick access toolbar", it got a lot better. i also like that they expanded the usefulness of the right-click.

on the downside, i don't think i'll ever figure out mail-merge or forms in this iteration & i still find myself fighting the system with auto-formatting & auto-tabs (i've been doing that for a decade now, so no change there).

anyway, i feel your pain...

I just love some of the stuff they throw into those Mac Ads. "Macs don't get viruses!" Yeah, because if you're going to write a virus that takes out a lot of people, you code it to the more popular computer. My favorite is; "Microsoft Office will work on a Mac!" Yeah, really? It works on a PC, too.

When you have to advetise that your computer does the same thing as the other guy's, you're in trouble.

And quit complaining about Vista. I've been using it since April and I've never had ANY issues. Maybe it dails if you jam your computer up your ass, but I've never tried that, so I wouldn't know. But be that as it may, a computer doesn't belong in an ass, so it's a moot point.

@Bladefist: OS X is a trillion times better than XP or Vista. People buy Macs for the OS, not the hardware.

Also, I just bought a pocket calculator for $5! You can't even buy an iPod for that much! Holds about as true in terms of functionality.

@gqcarrick: What a joke - old FUD. How can they be proprietary when all of the parts they use are standard "PC" parts.

They just put them together so much better, actually choose the better vendors instead of the bottom-of-the barrel ones (like Dell), and have a kickin' OS to run on them. They don't want that effort screwed up by allowing just anybody to add crap to their machines.

The "you can build a comparable Windows box for cheaper" argument is kind of pointless... Sure, if you want to buy all the parts, and then figure out how to put it all together, and you trust yourself not to screw it up that badly (and trust me... I've seen some interesting parts placements by first timers...) then have at.. build your own PC. For the other 95% of the population that doesn't feel comfortable building their own box, they order one pre-built... and yes, those comparable, pre-built boxes are (*gasp*) comparably priced to macs.

A PC is a personal computer, a mac is a PC with a macintosh operation system on it. Most people have a PC with windows on it. Nobody discusses the PC with linux on it.

I'm prepared to be shouted down by Apple fans, but here goes: With the cost of the Mac why can't they ship it with a 3 button mouse? Why, oh why? Or did I miss the last change over and they've finally stopped pushing their idiotic one button mouse? (Every Mac owner I know went out and bought better meeses.)

I've been eyeballing the Mac for some time for myself. But haven't made the switch. Maybe the beginning of next year or something.

As far as Microsoft goes, they got into trouble with the Vista Compatible doonbongle. Remember when Vista first came out they said all you needed was 1GB of memory. Now they recommend a minimum of 2GB. Too many PCs were built that couldn't handle the OS. Created a reputation that it was Vista's problem when it was just as much the manufacturer trying to keep last year's price points.

@lannister80: You'll need to explain how it's better, and in the context of my argument, how it creates jobs, and is fiscally responsible for individuals and businesses to purchase.

Last I checked, a computer did more then an iPod, so that kills that argument. I explained the OS was good due to strict hardware requirements. That doesn't help people who build their own machines. Yea I know you can hack OS X to work on a pc.

Typical apple fan boy arguments ain't gonna do it, give me something to think about.