
Digging Deeper - naish
http://daringfireball.net/2008/09/digging_deeper
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ivank
I think Microsoft is trying to convince us that it's okay to be "regular".
It's targeted at the market that doesn't necessarily want their computer to be
"special". So, all Microsoft has to do is keep reminding us that Windows users
are the majority. It's not an Apple-reinforcing disaster as this article
implies.

~~~
litewulf
I actually think its more a reinforcement of the "Windows can do anything"
manta. All those "regular" people do all sorts of different and constructive
things.

One thing that really amused me is how charity-friendly the ads seemed. It
really seemed a stark contrast to the clinically white sets of the Apple ads
and the total personal focus of their characters.

~~~
unalone
Windows wouldn't be able to pull off the complete focus that Apple does. Their
products don't merit that necessarily.

That's why there's such an inconsistency between the views that I see here and
the views that I'm finding on all of the (Apple-leaning) blogs that I read
daily. It's not because Mac users like to just blatantly bias themselves
against Microsoft. It's because I think that Apple users have a much more
sterile attitude towards the products that they use. They care only about how
powerful their computers are, how beautiful they look, and how quickly they
can get their work done. It's like the commenter said here a long time ago.
Picture Dell running an ad like Apple does, with a Dell computer revolving in
a white space. It's preposterous. They couldn't get away with it.

So Microsoft runs these ads. The reaction I've seen overwhelmingly here is
that they're doing a great job of making Microsoft seem like a likable
everyday company, and that that's a brilliant ad campaign. The Apple users, on
the other hand, think that Microsoft is admitting inferiority by doing this,
and that the fact that they're not directly attacking Apple's product (or
promoting their own) is a sign of absolute, terrible weakness. It's a
difference in mindsets. Personally, I agree with the Apple side's mindset,
because I dislike ads that don't actively push their product. I consider that
dishonest. That said, this site's making me realize just who those ads are
being aimed at.

It's funny that you mentioned charity. I always saw Apple as a very
Objectivist company in terms of their attitude towards their products, and
Microsoft as the obvious mass-market opponents that get depicted in Ayn Rand
novels. A big part of that difference is always that the villains in Rand
support charity quite publicly and the Rand characters focus only on one
thing: their work.

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amackera
I think that the point of the ads is that many different people from many
walks of life own PCs - with the implication that Apple only attracts a
certain type of person to their products. The ads don't make Microsoft seem
"generic," instead they portray the company as catering to many different
kinds of people.

It doesn't make me want to support Microsoft any more than I have to, but I
don't think the ads are "jaw-droppingly bad."

~~~
unalone
It's jaw-droppingly bad if your point of view is that ads are supposed to sell
their product. That's not a big mindset, and so Microsoft's ads are being
pretty accepted by people, but Gruber's very deliberate in that mindset.

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mattmaroon
He's wrong because he's digging far deeper than the average viewer. The
average viewer sees it as Mac vs Windows, just like Coke vs Pepsi. Hodgman is
Windows, and the other dude is OSX.

~~~
ericwaller
I'm not so sure of that. Of the people I know who might be considered average
viewers, the choice seems to be "should I get a regular laptop? or should I
get a mac?"

Apple's got the advantage that it can sell features, like video chat.
Microsoft has to sell an operating system (even if they include video chat
software, they can't guarantee there will be a camera for it).

I think this is how they've developed the popular notion of "should I upgrade
to a mac this time around?"

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brandnewlow
Just saw the new Microsoft ad on SNL...you know what? I thought it was a great
ad. famous people. normal people. Interesting people. I paid attention the
whole time and was surprised by some of them. How is that not a good ad?

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quasimojo
i just hate this guy. i mean, how the fuck can you go on and on and on about
apple day in and day fucking out. jesus man, develop some interests.

~~~
unalone
His blog also talks a lot about typography. He discusses his thoughts on
movies and writers. He links to interesting videos he comes across.

He's excused for being an Apple blogger by the fact that he's interesting and
a good writer. If you don't want to read him, then don't.

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omouse
_They’re not dressed as computers, they’re dressed as people. It’s
postmodernism taken to a very silly and profoundly unserious commercial end._

Yeah, when that happens you know you have a problem with the person analyzing
the ad, or the ad itself...

