07/22/2008, 9:05am, EDT
Tuesday, July 22ndMS counter-Apple ads start, admit early flaws
Microsoft has begun the early phase of its new ad campaign designed to counter Apple's control of Vista's image, according to ZDNet. The first fruit of the ad is a web ad campaign that aims to combat what Microsoft believes are misconceptions about its most recent version of Windows, suggesting that those who believe Vista fundamentally flawed are those who would also have believed the world was flat. The campaign is so far subtle and makes no direct references to challengers.
However, the ads now link to a recently established Vista progress page that now acknowledges early mistakes with the software, stating that compatibility and performance were problems early on but claiming that Vista Service Pack 1 and other updates have since mended the operating system.
"We know a few of you were disappointed by your early encounter," the company says. "Printers didn't work. Games felt sluggish. You told us—loudly at times—that the latest Windows wasn't always living up to your high expectations for a Microsoft product."
The company also directly attacks Mac OS X, claiming that Leopard has 89 percent more vulnerabilities than Vista by citing a report on the number of discovered flaws from the US Department of Homeland Security's National Vulnerability Database. The list stems from early 2008 and doesn't appear to reflect either subsequent Mac OS X updates or Windows XP Service Pack 3, which rolls up many of the post-SP2 updates and is widely believed to signficantly close the claimed security gap between XP and Vista.
Microsoft further downplays notions that Vista is "just a prettier version of Windows XP" and points both to new media and security features as well as perception; about 71 percent of customers using Vista like it more than whatever their previous operating system might have been, the company claims without citing a source. It also argues that those who actually used Vista are "two to three times" more likely to have a positive outlook for the software.
The ad campaign is believed to expand in the near future and will likely spread to other mediums outside of the web, though how and in what direction hasn't been outlined by the Redmond, Washington-based developer.
Filed under: industry, software
Other story tags: Microsoft, Leopard, Vista
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Should read...
At one point, everyone thought computers ran Windows.
Get the facts about operating systems.
wrong.
that boat. and that caption don't match.
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The modern belief that especially medieval Christianity believed in a flat earth has been referred to as The Myth of the Flat Earth. In 1945, it was listed by the Historical Association (of Britain) as the second of 20 in a pamphlet on common errors in history. Recent scholarship has argued that "with extraordinary [sic] few exceptions no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the earth was flat" and that the prevailing view was of a spherical earth.
Jeffrey Russell states that the modern view that people of the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat is said to have entered the popular imagination in the 19th century, thanks largely to the publication of Washington Irving's fantasy The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1828."
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... that boat doesn't look like one from 300BC.
just sayin...
Image
First impressions looking at that ad:
"I think we had a large painting of that over our sofa."
"Pirates!!!"
"That lone ship is about to sink."
I'll stick with OS X.
010111 gets a cookie!
Well done, sir and / or madam.
security theatre
The term for what Microsoft calls the "increased security" of Vista is "security theatre". Its like street theatre: a lot of in-your-face noise and distractions that don't address the fundamental flaws in the design of Windows that have been the biggest security threat on the net in the past decade.
designed to ?
"Microsoft has begun the early phase of its new ad campaign designed to Apple's control of Vista's image, according to ZDNet."
More great editing by MacNN.
You've got to be kidding!
That's the lamest ad I've seen in a long time. Microsoft needs to get a female spokesperson. Mercury has Jill "Ya gotta put Mercury on your list" Wagner, Progressive Insurance has the quirky but energetic Flo and Cadillac has the risque tag line, "When you turn you car on, does it return the favor." So Microsoft, go get the Pussy Cat dolls, have them jump around for 30 seconds singing about Vista and maybe, just maybe you'll sell some product.
Dinosaurs
Of course Vista is not just "improved" XP. That's because Vista is not an improvement over XP at all. It's more similar to a copy of Windows Millennium, (the Mistake Edition), with distracting GUI and annoying nominal "security" nags.
How about, At one time, dinasaurs dominated the earth?
Microsoft -- the dinosaurs with losing ground with its poorly designed bloatware, as computer users smarten up and realize that there are better options.
Way to insult
many of your staunchest Microsoft supporters again! Vistas release being the first insult, of course. Too bad many of those people think Vista is an unnecessarily nosey pig.
Hilarious...
Well, certainly looks like this campaign is off to a good start (grin). Can't wait to see how it'll continue - the parody nearly writes itself, and most of it will be written by Microsoft's ad agency.