Microsoft? Not a fan. Well, maybe a little. Some of their stuff works great. But Windows? It's cumbersome. I haven't tried Windows 8 yet, but maybe it's okay. Kinda doubt it.
Anyway, I went Mac in 2007 and have been happy ever since. Was MS-DOS since 2.20 and Windows since 2.03, but finally made the switch. Happy with my Mac, happy with my iPhone (though not with my carrier), and I'm not interested in going back to Windows, or with getting a Windows Phone.
Having said that, recently Microsoft posted a series of videos poking fun at Apple's new iPhones. But, the Redmond company caught flack about them and took them down. I'm kinda disappointed they caved. The videos were kinda clever. Here's one:
[YouTube]
Now, a lot of the criticism I saw was directed at the confusion over the CEO character (seen only from behind). They weren't sure if it was supposed to be Tim Cook because it sometimes looked like Steve Jobs. What they missed is ... the entire point.
Though the ad begins in "2013" it's clearly a compare/contrast between Apple under Cook and Apple under Jobs. Notice how the characters talking to the CEO change shirts and hair styles. The grey shirts represent current-day, under Cook, and the black shirts represent Apple under Jobs.
They two developers are shown unsuccessfully selling Jobs on the idea of plastic, colored phones, and getting that passed off as innovation in the current day.
I liked the ad. Microsoft did a good job. It seems that some people don't appreciate Microsoft's sense of humor any better than I appreciate their operating systems.
Good job, Microsoft. On the videos.
Windows 8 REALLY SUCKS!!!! Windows 7 SO-SO but acceptable.
ReplyDeleteAwesome commercial, but even I - a comedy genius - was a little puzzled by the flashbacks. I never noticed that the CEO's head was slightly balder. I was too busy looking at the employees. Also, I wasn't sure if the changing t-shirt colors meant "earlier time" or "alter egos" or "inner dialogue".
ReplyDeleteA noticeable change in the room, or the words "years earlier" or something might've helped make that clearer.
So, I wouldn't rate the commercial "brilliant", because it lacked some clarity in the presentation, but the point made by the dialogue was clear and devastating.
As for MS OSs... I have one computer that runs Win7 - I use it as a set-top box on my TV so that I have to interface with the OS as little as possible. All 3 of my laptops run XP, which Microsoft never significantly improved upon, and which, itself, was only a modest step up from Win2K.
Windows 7 Media Center? That's an awesome HTPC interface. There is nothing running on OS X that comes even close. There are even scripts you can find that will let you add Hulu Desktop (with plays the free Hulu stuff, not just the Hulu Plus content) to the WMC. Of course, if you are using a keyboard and mouse/trackpad/trackball to control it already, you can just launch normal. Yep, I'm a huge fan of TV from the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI'm okay with Windows XP, but the support ending next year (12½ years after it launched) makes it truly dead-end. And the path Windows took in 2006 with Vista? That's why I went Mac.