Microsoft parks "I'm a PC" recording booth outside Apple Store - Page 5

Apple is shown to be having the affect of the large anchor stores, and certainly could sway some malls to prevent that, but unless their contract does state that certain types of competition can't be within x of the store then they have no legal recourse. I figure they have something written in there about Dell kiosks, as I have never seen a Dell kiosk anywhere near an Apple Store entrance.

I don't know if you would find it fun or not.

It was a picture of a guy with no pants on, and his wang was in the tailpipe of a truck.

You're right, that doesn't sound like fun. I had figured it was an argument that got emotional and out of hand.

how so.

cause how I see Apple marketing their products is several fold

1. having ads that address two issues a. what the computer/ipod/phone/whatever can do in a fun and snazzy way, b. taking those 'issues' that folks have with computers and showing how many of them Apple has conquered and how

2. having a website that is more than spec sheets and a few driver downloads, there's video and text tutorials, cool features like Set to Screen, an easy to find support page, discussion boards etc.

3. having dedicated retail stores where the sales staff isn't pushy, is willing to answer questions, show you cool stuff etc. plus you get hands on training and tech support.

what is Microsoft doing lately

1. ads that address one issue "Apple thinks we are all the same, we are not"
2. have you seen their website. blah corporate and finding help is an adventure
3. well there's nothing to counter that. unless you count the stereo guy that is covering in computers at the local circuit city.

Microsoft has done NOTHING to counter Apple's less than pretty comments and can't sue cause everything is basically true. Having Gates or whomever film a pointed heart to heart that blantantly says "okay here's the honest truth. We've had some stumbles, we've made some mistakes. but we are pledging to fix the mess we created. We owe all our devoted Windows users that much. So that is our promise to all of you. And we will keep our promise" would do more for them than all the cute antics and portapotty video booths. And be a heck of a lot cheaper.

just the opposite. it takes a better computer to be able to dual boot cause it has to be able to deal with more factors where things don't overlap.

First off, without defending firewire, the #1 protocol that Apple introduced, if what you were saying was true, it isn't, they would have moved from 1394 to HDMI, they didn't.

Please, have some dignity.

Let me explain something.

First Macbook had a OpenGL benchmark of 71%, still no games, but you could run MOTION, FCP and the likes.

Then the 2nd gen MB ran at 141%, then 150%, all the way up to 171% when Leopard came out. It was everywhere (BAREFEATS, and more) that a MB could be used as a cheap solution for PRO apps, so, why would Apple turn around and release the X300 that brought the benchmark way down to 70% again? Why?

Please explain?

You couldn't play games on it. But it went from 171% to 70%! Why?

Because Apple didn't want the PRO to use it, period.

Stop being a fan boy and realize this. Most camera's are 1394, let alone audio interfaces.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire_camera

Apple made it standard, pushed iLife into mainstream, CREATIVES went from teaching FCP, Motion to iLife, then Apple cripples it. USB is a step backward. Second, the new MBP uses the same chasis, therefore the cost is similar yet has a much higher mark up.

Think about it. Firewire with the present GPU on new macbook = final cut and motion use, but no, Jobs to paranoid to let that happen.

Only a matter of time (especially given the market hype of iPhone starting to take a seat to newer phones within 12 months).

Another argument can be made that iMac = great machine but no matte screen. They used to be matte but now are all glossy and color correction can't be done.


Matte will come out in time for MBP, all models and I think FIREWIRE will come back to all machines once Apple starts losing and has to explain their dropped market share, dropped earnings on products. More than not, many are upset about the lack of firewire and I am talking about consumer as the PRO user makes up less than 1% of the market as now, the MOM AND POP users have firewire cameras.


If apple truly wanted to be revolutionary and not paranoid, all macbooks would have firewire and dedicated GPU, but alas, as with everything Apple, there is always a catch. Only a matter of time before the market dictates what Apple has to release.

PS. Make all machines FIREWIRE and PROS will buy as secondary, not their top machine.

Apple needs to stop doing things like this. For example, why release Memory for PROS that require special heat sinks? Well, its due to the user coming from the PC world and knowing how to swap out ram whereas most typical mac users do not know how to do this. If you do, you're labeled a genius? Gimme a break. RAM (4GB) can be had for less than $100. But if you want pro, you have to buy their propriety ram seated ram. What a scam.

You started off making little sense and then unraveled any sort of focus from there so i can only answer the first part or your diatribe.

HDMI is not a replacement to FW.



Are you talking abut the ECC RAM that is required for the Xeon-based Mac Pros? Future Mac Pros won't require ECC so the RAM will be faster and we may lose the heatsinks if the heat is down far enough. If you really think the inclusion of heatsinks are to make the RAM somehow 'proprietary' despite the RAM pins being standard and that many vendors make the RAM with the included heatsinks, and not to actually remove heat from the RAM then I have no way of having a civil conversation with you.

Rubbish. Pretty much all computers can multi-boot. Apple offers the nicest way once installed, though it is still a bit complicated installation-wise.

For points 1 and 2, the point is Apple used to go on about no Virus's and how Mac OS X just worked. Times have changed and Apple no longer advertises is but Microsoft doesn't do anything to to point out that this is the case.

For point 3, every report I've read in the last year for competitions to hack a machine the fastest where there has been a Mac and Vista machine, the Mac has gone first. Not to mention there has been loads of security flaws for the Mac reported in the last year.

For 4, true they missed the boat on this one but Apple did screw up big time with it.

For 5 yeah I heard of firmware update 2.1 but everyone I know with an iPhone still says the signal quality is rubbish compared to the phone they had before.

Reminds me of the Fieldrunners app. Bizarre!!

#1,2: Times have changed, huh? I admin an environment of PC and Macs and the Macs run no virus protection software at all and I have yet to see any problems. In the same time, the PCs "protected" with Norton AV are being taken down from time-to-time and require a good manual patching up. Times may have changed, but not by much.

#3: "Every report"? Send me some sources. Because of my line of work, I keep my ear to the ground in terms of Mac security and I've heard nothing. I'd be very interested in these "reports." Oh, and if you're referring to that stoopid Tipping Point hacking contest, you may as well give it up. All three platforms, Mac, Windows and Linux, resisted remote attacks until the "hackers" were given some measure of physical access to the machines in the form of a proxy user willing to do whatever the contestant directed them to do. The Mac went down first only because the Windows hackers didn't realize they were hacking Vista and assumed XP. The person who brought down the Windows box said he had the hack on the same day as the Mac was brought down but didn't have time to implement it. And btw, those were browser exploits, not operating system issues so it really didn't prove much of anything. In fact, that whole sham of a contest proved exactly nothing other than all three major platforms are pretty secure when it comes to remote hacking and that all bets are off when you have some physical control over the machine.

#4: Apple did screw up MobileMe, but at least they know that and are working to fix it instead of renaming it MohaveMe and throwing millions of dollars behind an ad campaign to patch up its image.

#5: I have an iPhone. Have yet to experience a dropped signal. Besides, I'd say that has a lot more to do with AT&T's coverage than the iPhone per se.

Unless the lady in the picture is only 6 inches tall, there's at least 10 feet between the front of the store and the booth.

I figure that is a good place for those who are about to switch to Mac or have just switched to Mac to send a message to Microsoft.

I'm a PC and I'm so tired of all the hassles with Windows that I am here outside the Apple store about to switch.

that sort of thing.

This is really strange and sounds like desperate measures to me. Comparative marketing is generally bad although Apple seems to get away with it using humour. But for MS to do it is just ridiculous and I think it will harm them. Regardless, the Apple Ads must be hurting them.

What they should do at that store is put a big sign in the window that says, "I can be a PC, too... If you insist."

.... The Apple store closest to my house is the closest to Redmond. If they place on of those by that apple store I will go into one of them and say, "I'm a Mac...". Apple should go and build an Apple store right next to Microsoft. Than I could get to an Apple Store much quicker.

Are you talking about the Lynnwood store or Bellevue store. I got my iMac from the Lynnwood store at Alderwood Mall. That is about the nicest one I have seen.

I have to agree, Apple changing its advertising is likely more a result of the fact that it gets sued near constantly over even the stupidest things. And all this talk of Mac viruses is really ridiculous. While they certainly exist, for the average user, they're pretty much non-existent.

My MobileMe account was definitely in crappy shape for the first month or so, but those problems are long since over and as he said, Apple took full responsibility and offered three free extra months of service. To me, that's an excellent apology from a company I wasn't even super displeased with.

And please stop talking about second hand knowledge of the iPhone. I live in Georgia and when I'm in the Atlanta area where AT&T has the best service, my reception is amazing, when I'm in the few other areas in the state that AT&T offers 3G, my service is just so so. That says nothing about the iPhone hardware or software and it also says nothing about Windows Mobile, the vast majority of whose phones I find run on Verizon at the moment.

Apple itself has been promoting Boot Camp on its own website. All OS's have shortcomings and OS X's is obviously that some software will not run under that OS - hence the need for Dual booting into Windows and virtualisation software. I think that's one of the major reasons people don't buy Macs - because they believe, now wrongly, that they will have to lose their investment (both mental and financial) in Windows software. It's an extremely good idea to advertise the fact that with Macs you can have the best of both worlds.

You have to remember that for the vast majority of people out there, the Mac universe is still a complete mystery. Sure they've heard of them - but that's where it stops. I consider myself pretty computer savvy. But references to the Linux OS is see from time to time leave me cold because I have no need or interest in it. Ergo I have very little knowledge of that OS. It's the same for people who have known nothing else but Windows.

I also think that there's an air of snootiness and superiority that many Mac users possess and that is a complete turnoff for potential Mac customers. It doesn't look good to continuously trumpet the Mac cause no matter what is said and done by Apple and, similarly, it doesn't pay to continuously bash Windows and Microsoft no matter what they do. Sometimes they deserve it, but sometimes they actually do a pretty good job and I think it's healthy for both sides to acknowledge that.

Like it or not, Apple still needs Microsoft for many reasons.

iMaPc - P = iMac

Do you own a Mac, or an iPhone?
Do you plan to buy a Mac or an iPhone?
If not, then what's your point, don't you have anything better to do?
If you'd like to learn something, start by asking questions and drop the criticism.

The malls and shopping centers I worked with were extremely careful in locating businesses, they either kept them together, or set them apart, one thing for sure, they would never allow any of this kind of in your face campaigns, it throws off the harmony of their mall.

They required us to hand over some pictures or artwork of the carts, reasons as to why we needed to put one up, why we cose this mall, our expected profits from this location, they even went as far as asking for samples and packaging designs. I'm not kidding I was involved in setting up several booths in Tysons Corner Mall and Fair Oaks Mall in VA, and the offices are extremely careful as not to disrupt the malls ecosystem in any way. So this thing really surprises me.
I wonder if it's even real or if someone photoshopped a MS booth to look like it was sitting in front of an Apple store.

waste of money and ego to do that, because most people will simply say "i was a pc then vista happened now i'm a happy mac person, thanks MS"

how about a plan to use this to voice our pleasure with mac, everyone go to the kiosk and make mac happen.

or tell them to spend more money on vista "awareness" that will sure drive more to mac,

or show them the "i'm a pc and mac" commercial about how little MS is using to fix vista

Hey remember this



or this:

My first impression was that the attractive lady in the Apple store has a much higher IQ than the daredevil on the MS bike.

I wouldn't be surprised SB was in the booth standing on his hands trying to say " I'm a PCccccc"
(that's life between walls).

I agree on this, the relationship between FW and HDMI is tangential at best, using FW for video transmission is just one use, and HDMI can't do anything else that HDMI can. My bet is that hiimamac really doesn't know jack about anything technical, and is really confusing HDMI and eSATA because the connectors are vaguely similar.


ECC isn't why it needs heat sinks, it's the FBDIMM system. Conventional ECC memory is just memory with an extra memory chip per row, the difference between ECC and non-ECC for some memory cards is whether or not there is a chip in the 9th position. An FBDIMM has a bus arbitration chip that runs very hot, most DIMMs, ECC or otherwise, don't have anything like that.

Also, isn't that daredevil panel sending the wrong message? It can be easily misconstrued as "I cheat death, therefore I run Windows".

Microsoft is lame for doing this...

For 1 and 2, maybe people get bored if apple keep saying there is no virus for mac... I mean im bored arguing about virus

For 3, thats true, they did hack mac first in that competition. it is probably less secure than vista. But i think last week after microsoft posted an update for vista, two hours later, there are codes surfacing in the internet that exploits the update.

For 4, i think they just missed the boat about 5 minutes and it came back. It has been working fine now. And i dont see anyone else doing anything about it. Remember, missing the boat matters only when there is competition for the same service, and apparently not one did anything to take advantage of this. It is safe to say Apple fix the problem before competition comes.

for 5, I dont think apple has ever said that their phone is the best as a phone. Maybe the phone is nothing compared to nokia or BB or some other carrier. and yet, iPhone sales beat BB's phoneS in the smart phone market.. So whats ur point? I feel bad for the people who has sputtering signal but thats not entirely Apple's fault. The carrier might be at fault.

Life without FireWalls... oh wait...

This is moderately funny, even for Redmond... but the real news is that I'm a PC ads are really not getting any traction. Is it just me, or do most of the people in the ads look like losers?

This is great - Microsoft and their dim witted marketing folks are spending their $300M to indirectly advertise for Apple! Think about it. Why would any sane person want to be a PC? Sure some people who stop in the kiosk to record a session saying "I'm a pc" probably do like their Windows experience but chances are they have never even looked at a Mac. Lemmings all. But when you see the "I'm a pc" commercial on TV and ask yourself "why would anyone want to be a pc?" which bring the response "oh yeah, this is Microsoft trying to slam Apple. Microsoft must be on the ropes". Hence Microsoft advertising for Apple. Bring on that MS BS!!!http://forums.appleinsider.com/images/smilies/lol.gif

MORE hilarity from Microsoft! This $300 million ad campaign only gets more and more amusingly pathetic.

Why am I laughing? Because the Macintosh has ALWAYS been 'PC'. The Macintosh has always been able to say "I'm a PC."

It's a marketing term.
No one owns it.
It's generic.

Question: So when was the phrase 'Personal Computer' first published?
Answer: November 3, 1962 in a New York Times article quoting computer engineer John W. Mauchly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...sonal_computer

Question: What computer was FIRST advertised as a 'Personal Computer' (aka 'PC')?
[This is sure to bring the trolls out of the rat holes. Heehee!]

A) The IBM 5150
B) The MITS Altair 8800
C) The Commodore PET 2001
D) The Apple II
E) The Hewlett Packard 9100A

Time line:
1) Hewlett Packard designed an advertising campaign for the 9100A in 1968 that described it as a 'Personal Computer.' But they scrapped the ad before it was ever published. So the 9100A gets a big BZZZZZZZZT!
2) The Altair 8800 came out in 1975 but was NEVER described as a 'Personal Computer.' That gets a big BZZZZZZZZZZT!
3) The Commodore PET 2001 came out in 1977 and advertised itself as a "Personal Computer." So this gets a big DINGDINGDING!
4) Apple also advertised their first Apple II model later in 1977 as a "Personal Computer." Therefore, this gets a lower volume DINGDINGDING!
5) IBM advertised their first 'Personal Computer', called the 5150, or 'PC', in 1981. So that gets a long and loud BZZZZZZZZZT!

Sorry kids. IBM didn't use the term 'Personal Computer' or 'PC' until 4 full years after it had already been established by Commodore and Apple in 1977.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History...sonal_computer

So what current computer company has more right to use the term PC?

IBM? Obviously not! They were LATE to the game!. They also sold off their PC divisions years ago. They don't even care.

Microsoft? They have only quoted the term already being used by IBM and subsequent clone manufacturers.

Answer: Apple.

So it makes EXCELLENT sense to stick a Kiosk saying "I'm A PC" outside every Apple store in the world. Like DUH!

HAHAHAHAHA! Poor Microsoft. They're bound to get it right one of these days... Aren't they?

No actually, Vista
(oops! I said that naughty word! Microsoft is gonna get me!)
has been proven repeatedly to be less secure than Mac OS X in several contexts.

However, there have been plenty of vulnerabilities in Mac OS X. The single least secure part of the OS has turned out to be QuickTime, and sadly many of those vulnerabilities port over to the Windows version. Sux. Nonetheless, Apple have been rapidly stamping them out as they come to light, at least much faster than they use to. The pressure on Apple since the Symantec security FUD-fest of 2005 has paid off richly. It's kind of a shame Apple had to be flamed into improving their protocols. But at least it's working.

As for the bogus results from the 'Crack-A-Mac' contest of this past year, here's the facts:

1) The crack for the Mac had already been discovered and tested before the contest even began. This is because the crackers had a full copy of the version of the OS being used in the contest. Note that the crack required a saboteur to act as a clueless luser in order to allow social engineered malware to enter and break the machine's security. That's called 'wetware failure', NOT computer failure. But certainly a flaw in Mac OS X enabled the wetware failure.

2) A crack for Vista had ALSO been discovered and tested before the contest began. However, when the crackers arrived at the contest they found that they were not provided with the version of Vista they had cracked. Instead they were given Vista with SP1 installed. The crack they wanted to use had already been patched. Darn. So they had to start from scratch to (A) Discover a new crack (B) Implement it. This obviously took a long time. Nearly 24 hours of constant work actually.

CONCLUSION: The results of this contest have been endlessly quoted OUT OF CONTEXT, resulting in rampant ignorance about which OS is more secure than the other. The result is actually a draw between Vista and Mac OS X. Surprise!

And who was the REAL winner?! LINUX.

@ DerekCurrie,

Nice posts. Welcome to AI.

Nice work Derek, but let's keep in mind that Windows Vista Home Edition has nonsense security. To get a version of VISTA that matches OS X, or gets close, one must purchase the Professional edition.

As to your first post... GOOOoooo COMMODORE! Yaay.

MS lets get real, here's what will happen, they go to the kiosk then go to the apple store, this will drive more to apple, and you will see it pulled. they should have another kiosk, "i am a mac AND a pc"
what...is MS thinking after a person comes out of the apple store they will be so discouraged they go to windows and vista????

that kiosk is run on windows and vista, that will only crash and send the handlers to mac. i wonder how many kiosk handlers go to the apple store asking for a job? oh yea, they probably have a non compete clause in their employment agreement

Interesting move, we'll see if anyone is a fan of it.

Edited by macapptraining - 4/15/13 at 10:00am

What I find strange is why MS has only targeted one Apple Store? Has anyone else spotted any other MS kiosks elsewhere. Perhaps they are trying to see peoples' reaction, as to whether to roll out other kiosks, seeing as so far their advertising has not had the desired effect. They may be trying different tactics to see which one has the best effect. Pathetic.