May 05
This is totally off topic for Usability, but I need to ran about the new Mac advertisings…
There is the legendary 1984 ad:
Now there are the new Macintosh ads. They’re really great.
Viruses
Restarting
Better
iLife
Network
WSJ
June 14th, 2006 at 4:43 am
Apple is just plain unprofessional when they bring out ads like these. I was almost going to buy a mac but now have decided against it as did many others I know. I am sure my windows machines are the best and do all I need to do and more.
And Apple is:
1. Wrong that they are more campatible with digital cameras or other devices. In fact the opposite is true.
2. Wrong when they say that they crash less.
3. Wrong when they say they are more secure. Mac just doesn’t have the numbers to attract any hackers.
I hope Steve Jobbs wakes up and starts respecting our intelligence.
August 15th, 2006 at 4:03 am
Manish , your comments are actually wrong as you even disagree with yourself on the third point. I’ve got both, two dekstop PCs, a PC laptop and have recently bought a Mac - and I can tell you now, what a good purchase I’ve made, OS X and the Mac itself make PCs look like a very outdated product. Yes, PCs can be good, high end machines can be built - but Windows will still be Windows and compared to Mac OS X it is outdated. I’m not biased, I have no reason to, and when I have both machines infront of me I will choose the Mac because it is overally much better. Only one downside to the Mac is that it doesn’t support DirectX which is what most PC games run on, so a gamer isn’t gonna get a Mac, but for business, design and development, Mac is a much better platform.
1. Unlike a PC, Macs have much better driver support so you won’t have to fly around the net looking for the driver. This is the only point you are right on however as more hardware is geared towards working with the PC rather than a Mac, but if you get mac compatible stuff it is much less hassle to set up.
2. My Mac so far never crashed after a few months of use. There is no task bar trying to shut down applications, because everything works. It’s not me being an Apple fanboy, I’m just saying what I’ve experienced so far
Windows = taskbar shuttign down frenzy when apps decide to die on you.
3. Mac is more secure as you’ve just pointed out. There are no viruses for a Mac - because it is a niche market as you say - but it is still true, and surfing the net without having to run NoScript in Firefox is a great feeling.
I agree with you on that the ads could do with a little more professionalism, but this is a personal preference. They see Macs as a product for younger generation so the ads are geared this way - it’s their choice, which may be wrong or right - but irrelevant to the actual performance of the Mac, which I highlighted above.
August 20th, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Dmitri,
We can get into this debate and keep on throwing our personal impressions at each other. But the fact remains that nothing is better than the other in all respects.
Some people like Mac. Some don’t. Some like Unix, some don’t. Some like C++ and some like Java. Yet others feel that VB is the best.
But there is no bottomline and a decision can never be taken that will be “absolute”.
So, my objection is to the false propaganda. I have never seen a device which I could not simply plug and play on Win XP. Right from digital cameras to USB drives to CD writes and printers etc. I am not sure which Japanese Camera the Mac Ads refer to but it cannot be real.
I have never seen my Win XP crach on me in the past 3 years of my use with it. Applications crach, but never the OS itself. And don’t go telling me that OS defines the App, because I can write a program that can make anything crash. I am not sure what version of windows you have.
And, as for the viruses, we can only say that Mac has not been exposed yet. Whether it is secure or not, cannot be determined.
So my point was, Steve Jobbs cannot sell the Mac on its own merit. He may not have any USP at all. So he let his ad-men pick up the most widely used OS and trash it unfairly. All in all a tactic in bad taste.
But I appreciate your comments. They made me think about my position a little more.
Thanks.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am
I currently use Windows XP but do intend to switch to a Mac come October when Leopard is out. With very little experience on a Mac, I am not qualified to compare the two, but I have to point out that there are some serious Mac addicts willing to lap up every morsel that Jobs dishes out; not to mention wager their lives on every feature that these ads highlight. There are very few, if any, Windows addicts out there.
These ads are straightforward and to the point, pitting Macs against PCs. It gives viewers a VERY clear idea what the Mac is all about, feature by feature. From that standpoint, these are strong ads, albeit a little controversial. But that is just the point, as a viewer, I am more confident that since Apple is willing to compare their product in this manner that it must have some truth in them (since their reputation is on the line). This controversy, IMHO, creates more buzz, which is what advertising is all about.
For my own sake, and for the money I will be shelling out, I hope the ads back Apple’s claims up. I have a feeling they must, or Apple would not be where they are today…