New 'Get a Mac' ads don't acknowledge 'PC Hunter' talking points

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We were worried that Apple would somehow try to respond to the PC Hunter advertising by switching their message.  They didn't.  They are staying on their message.  Our favorite?  Legal Copy: (more below)

Also see them at Apple

Update: 'Clockwork Orange' Alex has transcribed the Legal copy which we've pasted below - thanks!:

Please note that when you first receive your PC there is some suggested work that needs to be done before PCs can perform at their peak. These steps include, but are not limited to, downgrading and installing necessary drivers for peripherals. These drivers may include printers, scanners, cameras, storage devices, music players, and other media devices. There may be more depending on your needs. It is also recommended that first time users remove all unneeded bloatware and remove all optional components. To remove unwanted bloatware first open uninstaller, select applications to remove, and uninstall. To remove optional components, click start, go to all programs and open control panel, select remove components, select components you want to remove, select next, when done, select finish. Once initial prep is complete, PCs may then be easy to use under certain controlled conditions and when properly maintained. In order for PCs to achieve optimal performance on a regular basis and for long periods of time, routine maintenance should include (but is not limited to) the following: download and install updated anti-virus software, check for system updates, clean out registry, defragment hard drive, free up disk space, remove temporary Internet files, empty the recycle bin, remove unnecessary programs, run error check utility and fix file system errors. It is recommended that a maintenance schedule is developed and adhered to in order to make sure your PC is running safe and secure. Update your software, do a virus scan, and run error check utility once a week. Search for and download software and driver updates, free up disk space, and defragment hard drive at least once a month. Empty the recycle bin and remove unnecessary programs once every three months. Back up all your files once a year. Please see instruction manual for more details. Failure to perform these functions may result in the following: freezes, viruses, slow performance, and/or error messages. If problems persist after routine maintenance is performed, please contact your local IT professional who may or may not refer you to your software or hardware manager depending on where the problem originated. Important information about easy to use PCs: PCs may become more difficult to use if the following occurs: sluggish operating system, viruses, and error messages, crashing, and freezing. Unfortunately, freezing and/or crashing are sometimes unavoidable. To avoid sluggish operating systems, crashing and freezing, it is recommended that you clean up your system registry, defragment your hard drive, free up your disk space, and perform other routine maintenance tasks. To clean out your system registry, first backup your data, backup your registry, purchase, download, and install Registry Repair program, then quit all programs, scan registry, determine safe registry items to repair/delete/remove, select ok, and repeat if necessary. To defragment your hard drive, click start, and go to all programs>accessories>system tools>and open disk defragmenter, then select C: drive, select defragment and wait. To free up disk space on your PC, click start, go to all programs>accessories>system tools>and open disk cleanup. Scan will automatically start. From scan results, select files to be removed, select ok. Restarting your PC may then be necessary upon completion of system registry clean up, hard drive defragmentation, and disk space clean out. Please note: trying to remove registry items on your own is not recommended. It is often difficult to determine which items correspond to which applications, and by attempting to remove items yourself, you might accidentally remove a valid registry item, causing software crashes and errors. If a system registry becomes corrupt because you made a mistake when cleaning out the registry, follow these steps: back up data, back up registry, purchase, download, and install Registry Repair program, quit all programs, scan registry, determine safe registry items to repair/delete/remove, then select ok and repeat if necessary. Also, easy to use PCs can experience difficulty if malware, viruses, or spyware infect your PC’s system. There are 1.5 million signature-based malware detections with 20,000 new ones discovered everyday (based on 2008 reporting). Although some viruses are unavoidable, there are some preventative measures that you can take. When you first get your PC, configure your security settings (including things like Internet firewall, automatic updating, anti-virus, anti-spyware and other malware protection, other Internet security settings, and user account control). Eventually you may have to download and install security patches for your operating system and then as security updates become available download and install again. If your PC does get infected with malware talk with your IT professional first about the risks and benefits of treating the problem as your own. Do not try to remove a virus unless your IT professional has taught you and you understand everything. Ask them if you have any questions. Please see accompanying important information about virus protection on your hardware and software manufacturer’s website. Anyone can sit down and edit photos on their PC as long as their computer is running properly. Please note that proper maintenance, specifically disk defragmentation can take anywhere from minutes to hours to run depending on the size of your hard drive and how fragmented it is. Therefore, editing photos might be postponed if you choose to run maintenance on your computer prior to this act. Please note: your camera driver must be installed on your PC in order to review and edit your photos. Your camera will not work with your PC if the software/drivers are not downloaded first. Editing photos on a PC may be difficult for children under a certain age, or for people who are unfamiliar with how a PC works and how to download camera software and drivers. Also, no PC connected to the Internet is one hundred percent immune to viruses, spyware, adware, or other forms of malware. Once a year, PC users should back up a year’s worth of photos and files to a CD or DVD. Power PC users should start fresh and back up all their files and applications on an external hard drive, then use your original system installer disks to erase, rebuild, and reinstall your operating system from scratch. Therefore, if your PC is not one hundred percent trouble free at least you won’t lose all of your files. PC does not claim ownership of problems that occur from materials or software that you downloaded off the Internet. If your warranty has expired, and your PC is not one hundred percent trouble free, you are not eligible for a refund or replacement under the terms of the warranty. In addition, we cannot help you with software or hardware obtained without a warranty, such as software provided “as is” or for free.” Again, if problems persist, please contact your IT professional.

Comments (28)

Where is Time Traveler?

not on youtube yet (that's how fast we are!) we'll post it shortly

tis 3 ads is a lot better than windows ads

OK, I seriously have no life. Here's the text, transcribed into text for your copy/pasting pleasure.

http://pastebin.ca/1397047

Wow dude, thanks.  Posting.

These ads are getting pretty tired at this point. The first two are cute, the photo one is kinda lame (plenty of great free photo tools on Windows), and the Time Traveler one is just god awful.

Not so keen on Time Traveller or Legal Copy, but I like the other two. :D

lame

These ads are gold. They are really so good. Apple ads are funny and cool and truthful. Windows ads are stupid and half true.

You believe the Windows commercials are half true? Well congrats, because Macs have ridiculously high prices and S*** for brain software. So your right, because Microsoft never mentioned the s*** for brain software in their ads.

these popups with 'subscribe now' in the corners of youtube videos are getting annoying

I will second that. The ads at the bottom of videos are damn irritating too.

"the photo one is kinda lame (plenty of great free photo tools on Windows)"

AFAIK, not with the capability to recognize specific faces (which was what the ad was about). I thought the commercial was funny, as PC was smart enough to come up with a good solution.

Bert

These are getting pretty tired. I want a good OS that is secure and widely supported and doesn't break. No matter who makes it. Currently Windows is that for me. Getting Justin Long to make fun of someone in a suit isn't doing it for me. And it hasn't been for over a year. They need a new angle.

I love the light-hearted and humorous nature to these ads. Whereas Microsoft's ads make them look like they're out of touch and trying to fool people, Apple's ads entertain people while planting anti-Windows/pro-Mac seeds in their minds. No one's going to run out and buy a Mac right away after seeing these, but they'll certainly be more likely to visit the Apple Store after seeing them steadily over the past 3 years.

I want a good OS that is secure and widely supported and doesn't break... Windows is that for me

One out of three isn't bad.

I like the photo one, because for once apple is actually talking about the merits of its OS instead of dogging the competition. I don't really care how bad a pc sucks, i want to know how much better a mac is(and there's tons of features they could advertise to prove it).

Stacks said:

" I don't really care how bad a PC sucks, I want to know how much better a mac is (and there's tons of features they could advertise to prove it)."

This isn't about features, Stacks. Sure, the Apple hardware is cute, but most of what makes a Mac better is intangible. A Mac is less problematic than a PC. Partly, this because its hardware and software are designed to work together.

The Mac is more predictable and consistent. It is less likely to cause irrevocable problems if you make a mistake. Hence, Mac users are more carefree and experimental. A Mac user is not required to memorize any workarounds, because what he wants to do--just works. A PC has a massive overhead that it dumps on its users to memorize.

Small to medium sized business owners say that converting their business to Macs gave their employees 20% more productivity. The Mac OS helps you to get your work done without intruding incessantly and breaking into your thought processes. How much is 20% of your business life worth? How much is being relaxed and confident about your computer worth?

None of those things are about features. They are processes. They are about the most natural and human way of getting things done on a computer. Apple was first and got to patent the best ways of operation. Microsoft came second and had to create a backward way of doing things which now seems usual to you. This means that there is an unlearning curve which every PC convert must go through. Some people are just too rigid to learn new tricks, though.

What Apple is doing with its Ads is appealing to two groups: young people who never had a computer before and PC users who are disgusted and frustrated with how Windows works. So, Apple must project that it is cool, tolerant and caring while PC is a dull awkward, underhanded buffoon. Most of the humor is from PC acting crazy, dishonest or stupid. PC is always doing a pratfall.

The Microsoft Ads attack one of those groups: the young people who never had a computer. It is saying that only price matters in a computer and that image and good looks are worthless. That ease of use, panache and enjoying your computer experience isn't worth a few hundred dollars more.

Enjoying or liking your computer isn't a feature: it's a benefit. Benefits can be dismissed as being mere opinions. They are, but opinions can be based on facts.

Historically, PC users have dismissed the Mac owners as fanboys. But, have you wondered why Mac users are so loyal? Perhaps, they are experiencing something which you are dismissing: that a computer doesn't have to be so hard to use.

This has to be the best explanation I've ever read...  

 

I've always lamely resorted to the "Matrix" explanation:  No one can be told what a Mac is.  You have to experience it for yourself!

Well i consider the intuitive design of the mac to be a feature. While i agree it's hard to describe because a well design UI is a synergistic result of many small nuances, i think that you can show it. The original iPhone ads did a good job of this, they presented a problem and then they solved it by using the interface. They didn't say "Hey look this is amazing, it's better than everything" they just showed how it happened and you inferred that it was easy and intuitive because the demo person did everything in a few motions. In general, i think a company is better off if it stands on its own merits instead of mud slinging, but i don't think that's a very corporate idea these days ;)

Skyler said:
"Well i consider the intuitive design of the mac to be a feature. "

I defy your ability to persuade a PC user of that. It is something that they have to experience for themselves.

"Stacks" thought of himself as an experienced computer user and that he had chosen his PC rather than being a novice who was lacking in the Mac Experience. He saw no reason to even give the Mac a try; he knew it all.

He was conditioned to expect certain things; he complained that the Apple ads didn't give him what he wanted. His use of the word "Features" was a dead give away. A Feature tends to be something concrete while a Benefit tends to be subjective. A poorly implemented feature can be on a checklist, but may give you nothing but pain. A well implemented benefit can give you moments of joy when something you expected to be difficult--just works, yet it would never end up on a checklist.

"While I agree it's hard to describe because a well design UI is a synergistic result of many small nuances, I think that you can show it. The original iPhone ads did a good job of this, they presented a problem and then they solved it by using the interface. They didn't say "Hey look this is amazing, it's better than everything" they just showed how it happened and you inferred that it was easy and intuitive because the demo person did everything in a few motions. "

The main advantage of the iPhone was that it had no intrenched standard to compete against, so people were more open to try something different. Even so, look at all the moans and groans about the missing keyboard. It was just as well that Apple's market was not to other Smart Phone users, but the people owning feature phones.

What's amazing is to watch a two year old child figure out the iPhone. You know it is intuitive when they can get it to work.

"In general, i think a company is better off if it stands on its own merits instead of mud slinging, but i don't think that's a very corporate idea these days ;)

Unfortunately, Apple needs to give Wintel customers a reason to switch. Usually, Apple has to rely on the fact that Wintel customers are unhappy with the Windows experience.

Since Microsoft is the standard, then Apple must knock the competition. It must point out the reasons which customers dislike about Microsoft Windows and then offer them an alternative. Simply listing the benefits of the Mac would get hoots of disbelief from the PC users. Apple tried for years to list features and got little headway. This is a much better way. It's soft sell and funny. It mostly presents PC as a fool. Who wants to associate with fools?

The point of an Advertisement is not to make a sale; it is to get people, on the verge of buying, to go look at the Mac. Or better yet, to ask their friends who own a Mac. Ads do not persuade, they soften any doubts that a buyer might have. The ads open the door, but the customer must walk in.

Well i consider the intuitive design of the mac to be a feature. While i agree it's hard to describe because a well design UI is a synergistic result of many small nuances, i think that you can show it. The original iPhone ads did a good job of this, they presented a problem and then they solved it by using the interface. They didn't say "Hey look this is amazing, it's better than everything" they just showed how it happened and you inferred that it was easy and intuitive because the demo person did everything in a few motions. In general, i think a company is better off if it stands on its own merits instead of mud slinging, but i don't think that's a very corporate idea these days ;)

I have a mac and it seems my version of iPhoto doesn't have the face recognition feature. Where do I get this for free?

 Listen to the ad...  "free on every NEW Mac."

 

 

You need iLife 09 for this feature which was announced at Macworld in January. Basically if you bought a Mac before January, you probably don't have it.

You need iLife 09.

I can't believe that Microsoft continually get away with making PC using absolute hell. These things were designed to make our lives much easier and they just don't. All the small print posted above is 100% correct and true, and I just don't get why 90% of computer users continue to put up with all this. Doesn't make any sense what so ever. I reckon if Apple roll out with a cheap(ish) netbook, Microsoft's last angle of attack will be well and trully gone. If people were clever enough to realise you get what you pay for, Apple would be storming. Give it a few years.

Sam said:
"I can't believe that Microsoft continually get away with making PC using absolute hell. "

These are matters of trust, Sam. When trust is finally broken, you can never get it back. It is a matter of expectations, too. People have swallowed numerous lies against Apple. They will defend these lies for a time, but there are game upsetting events in the works.

The first issue is software. Windows 7 should be out this summer. Many people are waiting with bated breath; expecting that Microsoft will finally get its act in gear and deliver an acceptable replacement for Windows XP. What if Microsoft fails again?

What if Apple delivers something extraordinary in Snow Leopard 10.6? Snow Leopard is a maintenance release; it is not supposed to have many new features. Apple is cutting the bulk of Leopard 10.5 to 40%. It is tuning its Cocoa API's for speed; while relegating the Carbon API's to 32 bit applications. It is introducing a new 64 bit kernel which works much more efficiently with Intel 64 bit Core hardware.

The word that I've heard is that Snow Leopard is over twice as fast on the same hardware and that applications share that increase in speed. One of the criticisms of Apple was that it was slow and never had the fastest hardware or run times. This may no longer be the case. Numerous tests say that even Windows Vista runs the fastest on Mac hardware. Gamers ears should perk up from hearing that.

The hardware is the other issue. Intel's CPU's and NVEDIA's 9400 GPU's are quite fast on the newest Macs; this is now been extended across the entire Mac line up.

New software designed to help developers in Snow Leopard utilize multiple threads and multiple cores (Grand Central) would be very interesting if it works. NVEDIA is cooperating with Apple to utilize the 16 cores in its 9400 GPU through CUDA and OpenCL. It is not yet clear to me what the benefits will be. Will Applications run faster or render better? The point is that Microsoft is way behind the curve on this.

I consider Snow Leopard a base building period for Apple: it clears away the past and gives the Mac a place to jump from.

"These things were designed to make our lives much easier and they just don't. All the small print posted above is 100% correct and true, and I just don't get why 90% of computer users continue to put up with all this. Doesn't make any sense what so ever. "

It's hard to know if Microsoft's Market Share figures are real. What I've heard is that about a third of Microsoft's Market share is really not used as computers, but are front ends for mainframes, displays, cash registers and data key entry, etc. The point is that most of this equipment is over six years old and is nearing the end of its useful life. What happens when cheap single function devises using the Atom computer-on-a-chip embedded with linux replaces them? Microsoft could easily lose hundreds of millions of units of market share in a few years.

Once the psychology has been broken, then Microsoft becomes vulnerable. Who likes a loser? Many people who have been staying with Microsoft due to its 90% monopoly will start to doubt. Microsoft's decline could be very rapid.

Microsoft loads into its Market Share figures anything which has a Windows version OS even if it is a PDA, set top box, phone , etc. Apple is not allowed the same rules. The iPhone and iTouch are actually running a limited version of the Mac OS. That is 30 million plus computers that aren't being counted toward Apple's market share.

"I reckon if Apple roll out with a cheap(ish) netbook, Microsoft's last angle of attack will be well and truly gone. "

I don't really see a netbook for Apple. Apple isn't renown for being a copycat; it tends to build on technologies it owns. I expect that Apple is more likely to up size the iTouch to just smaller than a pocket book size. A 6.6 inch screen in 16/10 format at a screen resolution of 240 dots per inch would deliver 1344 by 840 pixels in a very acceptable devise that would fit into a purse or back pocket. It could be an e-reader, personal movie viewer and personal game. The important part is that it would only cost about $100 more than the current iTouch.

"If people were clever enough to realize you get what you pay for, Apple would be storming. Give it a few years."

Apple is an innovator. It tries to lead the technology. How it does this is not in the typical Wintel way--with the cheapest hardware possible. It tends to produce systems, rather than just new hardware. The combination confers benefits that the customer weren't expecting but grew to love.