New Microsoft Windows 8 ad turns Apple's Siri against her maker

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
A recently aired Microsoft ad pits a tablet running the company's Windows 8 against the iPad, with the spot featuring an unlikely narrator: Apple's Siri virtual assistant.

The commercial, first spotted by The Verge, initially appears to mimic an Apple ad, complete with upbeat music and copious amounts of white space around the product. Things soon turn sour, however, as one notices the white iPad is not paired with the usual iPad mini, but instead a black tablet running Windows 8.





In the ad, titled "Less talking, more doing," Siri appears to be struggling with a few functions that are highlight features for Microsoft's Windows 8-running tablet. Live updating tiles, multitasking and powerpoint are mentioned as things Siri, and by proxy the iPad, can't do.

As a callback to Apple's ad from 2012, which first introduced the iPad mini, Siri says, "Should we just play Chopsticks?." The original Apple ad showed an iPad user playing "Heart and Soul" on a virtual piano in Garage Band, accompanied by the smaller iPad mini.

At the end of the commercial, pricing for each device is prominently displayed, in this case a $699 64-gigabyte iPad and a similarly equipped $449 Asus VivoTab Smart.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 147
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Wow that's the best Microsoft has?
  • Reply 2 of 147
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member


    Don't really care for Live Tiles so you can keep that.  


     


    Keynote is just fine and I'm sure they tried to make it as unflattering as possible.  


     


    Multitasking in the same space as another app is a so-so feature if your apps save state then it isn't a big deal.  There's not many cases where I, personally, would see myself absolutely needing this feature.  For productivity tools sure that would be great.

  • Reply 3 of 147
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member


    I guess we can scratch Office for iOS off the list. No PowerPoint for you!

  • Reply 4 of 147
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Wait, multitasking?



    The fancy (hideous) new Windows 8 apps don't even run unless they're in the foreground. And when they're in the foreground, they're fullscreen, making it impossible to multitask.


     


    Never mind that the entire operating system completely locks up when you're copying a file. COPYING A FILE. There is no multitasking in Windows.

  • Reply 5 of 147
    ingelaingela Posts: 217member
    Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.
  • Reply 6 of 147
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,122member
    What the commercial is missing is a voice that talks super fast at the end stating that regular windows tablet software will not run on the windows RT version and vice versa.
  • Reply 7 of 147
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    ingela wrote: »
    Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.
    Why is it a great ad? The worst past is the person horribly mangling chopsticks or whatever it is at the end. I'm no pianist but even I could play it better than the person in the ad did.
  • Reply 8 of 147
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    rogifan wrote: »
    Wow that's the best Microsoft has?

    So it seems. Can't wait for when they have to pull it or apple will sue for use of protected IP without permission or some such
  • Reply 9 of 147
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    I think the average consumer would see that commercial and think having a piano on a tablet is fun and ignore everything else. Score one for the iPad.
  • Reply 10 of 147
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    jd_in_sb wrote: »
    I think the average consumer would see that commercial and think having a piano on a tablet is fun and ignore everything else. Score one for the iPad.
    Exactly, the average consumer wants to use tablets to do fun things not edit power point documents.
  • Reply 11 of 147
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    It's interesting how Apple's iPad ads are very emotional. They show people using the device. Interacting with it. Being social with it. You see iPad users turn the display and have it immediately change. This is something you can't even do with Windows RT without going through about 20 total steps that include accessing the Classic Windows 8 UI so you can change the orientation. It's simply not designed to be used in portrait mode. I think that's a shortcoming that not only makes their whole "no compromises" between tablet and desktop laughable, but makes their whole attempt at a tablet OS laughable. I would have much rather seen Windows Mobile 8 made into a proper tablet OS over what I've seen with Windows RT.

    ingela wrote: »
    Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.

    The only way this is hitting one of the Park* is if you are saying this is on par with Samsung's attack on Apple. There are simply too many iPad users to see through this fares.


    * Too esoteric? Park is the 3rd most common Korean surname.
  • Reply 12 of 147
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ingela View Post



    Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.


    Why is it a great ad? The worst past is the person horribly mangling chopsticks or whatever it is at the end. I'm no pianist but even I could play it better than the person in the ad did.


    Not an MS lover, But the mangled chopsticks was "the point".


    You actually did know that, right? (I hope)

  • Reply 13 of 147
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member


    Pretty good ad, showcases a few advantages that Windows 8 has in a clear and clever way.


     


    Can't imagine Powerpoint being anywhere near as easy to use as that though, and it obviously skims straight over the fact that there aren't many apps out for the new Start screen yet.  And if it was W8Pro then there should be a battery life warning and a fan kicking up noise in the background.


     


    Nevertheless, well played Microsoft, a decent burn when you don't have much to work with.

  • Reply 14 of 147
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    The only way this is hitting one of the Park* is if you are saying this is on par with Samsung's attack on Apple. There are simply too many iPad users to see through this fares.





    * Too esoteric? Park is the 3rd most common Korean surname.


    This ad is not targeted at iPad users. It's targeted at Android tablet owners or those who have not made a choice yet, which remains the majority. So, I'd argue that they met their objective with a nice touch of levity and irony. The real irony, of course, is how the tables have been turned.


     


    Good one about Park.

  • Reply 15 of 147
    juiljuil Posts: 75member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ingela View Post



    Hate to say it, it's a great ad. Kudos to MS for finally hitting one out of the park.


     


    Hate to say it, your trolling skills aren’t too sharp I see...


     


    "Out of the park" you say, but you provide absolutely no justificatory comments as to why this would be a "homer" - as if the ad by itself would be self-evident of that fact... but it’s not. This is a comparison advertisement using Apple’s aesthetics to try to steal a bit of Apple's thunder, and that hardly qualifies as "major league" stuff (to keep with your baseball reference). Their primary message is mostly, hey I’m just like an iPad (and if you would go so far as to believe me > even better). But for some reason I can’t seem to present myself to the world without mentioning (and even outright showing) an iPad.


     


    Kind of pathetic if you ask me.

  • Reply 16 of 147
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Exactly, the average consumer wants to use tablets to do fun things not edit power point documents.


     


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jd_in_sb View Post



    I think the average consumer would see that commercial and think having a piano on a tablet is fun and ignore everything else. Score one for the iPad.


     


    Good for you two - sticking to your guns and be damned with objectivity. Why ever admit that another company can pull off something cool once in a while?

  • Reply 17 of 147
    stelligentstelligent Posts: 2,680member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Juil View Post


     


    Hate to say it, your trolling skills aren’t too sharp I see...


     


    "Out of the park" you say, but you provide absolutely no justificatory comments as to why this would be a "homer" - as if the ad by itself would be self-evident of that fact... but it’s not. This is a comparison advertisement using Apple’s aesthetics to try to steal a bit of Apple's thunder, and that hardly qualifies as "major league" stuff (to keep with your baseball reference). Their primary message is mostly, hey I’m just like an iPad (and if you would go so far as to believe me > even better). But for some reason I can’t seem to present myself to the world without mentioning (and even outright showing) an iPad.


     


    Kind of pathetic if you ask me.



    Kind of pathetic? You mean like "I am a Mac/I am a PC" kind of pathetic?


     


    And, guess what, to some of us not wearing blinders, this commercial is indeed self-evident as a hit. Even if you disagree, he is entitled to his opinion, isn't he? Just as you're entitled to your blinders?

  • Reply 18 of 147
    ipilyaipilya Posts: 195member
    I think its a tasteful advert that is quite comparable to previous ones from Apple. While I have no desire to ever return to the world of Microsoft (10 years now), I think there are good aspects that will delight people who want to stay within the MS ecosystem. I think that this advert will help motivate those people.

  • Reply 19 of 147
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Originally Posted by stelligent View Post

    …to some of us not wearing blinders, this commercial is indeed self-evident as a hit. 


     


    That's funny, because it… isn't.


     


    Enjoy your blinders. Or your Ballmers, rather.

  • Reply 20 of 147
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member


    My wife took exception to the fact that the ad was "picking on Siri."

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