Microsoft site attempts to discourage PC users from switching to Mac

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  • Reply 21 of 239
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,673member
    First big problem, it's on Microsoft's web site. Chances are if people are at the Windows 7 page already, they were going to buy a Windows computer. On the other hand, with iPod and iPhone being so popular, people can discover Macs by going to Apple's site or an Apple store for other reasons.



    Second, there's no need for Microsoft to "sell" Windows when just about everyone on the planet has already used it. All they're doing is drawing attention to a competitor. Instead of concentrating on Apple, they should be talking about how Windows 7 is better than Vista or XP and why people should upgrade. Anyone with half a brain would immediately go to Apple's site and check out what they had to say about their own wares. Even negative exposure is still exposure and besides, Macs are still an option even for the Windows crowd.
  • Reply 22 of 239
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Why do people value the act of choosing over the utility of the choice? Just like you have the freedom to choose from any private healthcare you want but none of them actually provide you with any value.
  • Reply 23 of 239
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Apple wins when they talk about PCs. Microsoft loses when they talk about Macs. Period.
  • Reply 24 of 239
    joe hsjoe hs Posts: 488member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    Second, there's no need for Microsoft to "sell" Windows when just about everyone on the planet has already used it. All they're doing is drawing attention to a competitor. Instead of concentrating on Apple, they should be talking about how Windows 7 is better than Vista or XP and why people should upgrade. Anyone with half a brain would immediately go to Apple's site and check out what they had to say about their own wares. Even negative exposure is still exposure and besides, Macs are still an option even for the Windows crowd.



    Couldn't agree more, M$ bashing macs on their own site will only make people more curious about them and look on apples own site to gather as much information as they can find.
  • Reply 25 of 239
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "You can't get a Mac that ships with a Blu-ray player, TV tuner, Memory Stick reader, or built-in 3G wireless," the site says. "You can with PCs running Windows 7."



    Because it's more important to have everything, including the kitchen sink, and barely have it work well than to have a smaller subset that runs very well.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The site repeatedly and prominently mentions the Mac in each of its sections, with such statements as that "Macs can take time to learn," "Macs don't work as well at work or school," and "Macs don't let you choose."



    I guess these students didn't get that memo: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/08/...acs-on-campus/



    True that Macs can take time to learn. Users will have to learn how to use a Mac as the tool that it is instead of having to constantly be on the alert with a windows PC to prevent another virus hit, program crashes, driver conflicts, and the never-ending dialog-prompts. Very true indeed.



    Disclaimer: I do use Windows XP, and Windows 7 in a VMware virtual environment on OSX.
  • Reply 26 of 239
    davesmalldavesmall Posts: 118member
    A few weeks ago a friend bought an iPhone and asked me for help getting up to speed with iTunes, installing Apps, and using his iPhone.



    He had a brand new Dell Latitude laptop that had about a 15" display and was reportedly loaded.



    The first thing I noticed was that his employer's IT department had installed 9 year old Windows XP. He told me that's what everyone in the company uses. I rolled my eyes.



    As i worked with iTunes i couldn't help but notice what a cheap piece of plastic crap the Dell is. The quality of the display sucks. The case just looks really cheap. I was completely unimpressed. Seeing it there side by side with my new MacBook Pro 17" with crisp display was telling.



    Then I watched him as he checked his email. That was a laugh. His Neanderthal IT department (this is a Fortune 100 company) has loaded him up with firewalls and access limitations that he has to fight his way through to do anything. I could feel his pain.



    That was my quick glimpse into the real world of PCs.
  • Reply 27 of 239
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    Given the overwhelming/deserved success of Windows 7, in addition to MS Office still standing as the de-facto productivity suite on the planet, they really don't need to do too much 'persuading'



    Even still, it's a fine way to debunk all of the (often) false propaganda spread via the 'I'm A Mac' ads
  • Reply 28 of 239
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    ... Second, there's no need for Microsoft to "sell" Windows when just about everyone on the planet has already used it. ...



    Microsoft is defending their only successful product (not including Office, though Office revenue comes mostly from Windows users.) Ballmer failed with Windows Vista, failed with Windows Mobile 6.x, failed with the HP Slate, failed with KIN, and so far it looks like Windows 7 Phone will fail too. (No copy / paste, for example, even after Apple has already been dragged over the coals for that.)



    Courier was abandoned, Xbox has lost billions and is only now operating at a break even run rate, and Microsoft's Online Services Division (which includes Bing) is bleeding $700 million per quarter. And Windows 7, despite pent-up demand after 9 years of XP and 3 years of Vista, has only just now passed Vista's dismal market share after more than a year on the market. (I wonder how many Windows 7 installations are running in "XP Mode.")



    Ballmer refuses to believe that any new market, whether it's smart phones or tablets or set-top boxes, needs anything more than a variant of Windows. In fact, when financial analysts asked Ballmer how he plans to counter the iPad, he actually said "The operating system is called Windows." He doesn't understand why 9 years of Tablet PCs, UMPCs, Pocket PCs, and all manner of Wintel crapgadgets have totally failed. And he doesn't seem to care that he doesn't understand.



    This is Ballmer's last year. After Windows 7 Phone fails, he's done. Gates will come back from retirement.
  • Reply 29 of 239
    joshajosha Posts: 901member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Microsoft has launched a new website that tells users PCs have Blu-ray, more software choices, and a greater array of hardware options when compared with Apple's Mac platform.



    When I didn't need BR I used to think it would be nice on my next Mac. After getting an HDTV and a BR player, I'm not needing BR on my Mac. My Sony BR player does that job just fine. Thinking it would be nice to copy BR disks I looked for BR disk prices. No THX, I can wait until needed.

  • Reply 30 of 239
    Some quotes that caught my attention



    "With PCs outselling Macs 10 to 1, the reality is that most computer software is developed to run on PCs."

    They are admitting, outright, that they have a monopoly and they are dead set on keeping it that way.



    "Most of the world's most popular computer games aren't available for Macs. And Macs can't connect to an Xbox 360. PCs are ready to play."

    Ignoring that the two largest single game developers, Blizzard and Valve, releasing each of their games on Mac, while the two largest publishers, EA and Activision, are porting many of their top sellers to the platform (including, notably, The Sims and Guitar Hero). As for Xbox connectivity, I've never been able to successfully share media from a Windows computer to my 360. Connect360 worked perfectly. uShare on my old FreeBSD-based server worked perfectly. My Linux-based D-Link NAS shares perfectly. Windows failed.



    Also, that Twitter feed is a bunch of hand-picked tweets, many as old as the OS itself. Despite the appearance, it is not in real time.



    And Windows is easier to use than Mac... if you already know Windows. That's like saying I learning to drive a Corvette C6 because I know how to drive a C5. Put a Mac and a Windows machine in front of a person who's never used a computer before, then make judgements.
  • Reply 31 of 239
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mbarriault View Post


    Some quotes that caught my attention



    And Windows is easier to use than Mac... if you already know Windows. That's like saying I learning to drive a Corvette C6 because I know how to drive a C5. Put a Mac and a Windows machine in front of a person who's never used a computer before, then make judgements.



    I've personally dealt with this very situation several times (doing volunteer work with both the homeless and the elderly), and the truth is they're equally as perplexing in most cases, but due to Windows 7 having somewhat more clearly defined/labeled shortcuts/icons, those with no computer experience whatsoever typically find it/Windows a bit easier to understand... as well as more fun overall.



    Again, that's merely my 'personal' experience.
  • Reply 32 of 239
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DaHarder View Post


    I've personally dealt with this very situation several times (doing volunteer work with both the homeless and the elderly), and the truth is they're equally as perplexing in most cases, but due to Windows 7 having somewhat more clearly defined/labeled shortcuts/icons, those with no computer experience whatsoever typically find it/Windows a bit easier to understand... as well as more fun overall.



    Again, that's merely my 'personal' experience.



    And that's an observation based on objective reasoning, and one I support. It could very well be that Windows 7 is easier to learn and understand than Snow Leopard - but that's not Microsoft's argument. They're arguing that it's easier because people already know it, and they shouldn't even be bothering to try to learn something new.
  • Reply 33 of 239
    shadashshadash Posts: 470member
    This article had nothing to do with Android. Is this still trolling if it is pro-Apple, or is this okay?



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davesw View Post


    VIRUS

    SPYWARE

    TROJAN

    BOTNET

    CRAPPY USER EXPERIENCE

    CRASHES

    BUGS

    CRAPPY APPS









    Yes I'm talking about Android. the Windows of Mobile.



  • Reply 34 of 239
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rmanke View Post


    It says on Microsoft site that "spreadsheets may not calculate properly" on the Mac.



    Are they serious that they are trying to convince people there are bugs in their own software?



    If my MS Office on the Mac can't calculate properly I guess I should find another spreadsheet?



    I guess I need to switch back to Windows so I can be confident that my spreadsheet can calculate properly.



    This is F.U.D. to the N'th degree.



    From the site:

    "If you use Apple's productivity suite, sharing files with PC users can be tricky. Your documents might not look right and your spreadsheets might not calculate correctly"



    I believe they mean if you use Apple Numbers and import an Excel file things may not work properly.
  • Reply 35 of 239
    rbonner,



    I've been playing SC2 since the day it came out on my mid 2010 15" macbook pro core i7 using nearly all graphics settings at high. There are a few I set to medium because I was experiencing a little slow down with a high number of units or during some automated scenes, but there is essentially no visible difference when using a 24" 1920x1080 screen compared to high. The only setting we can not do well is the highest for textures because (they say) it requires a gig of video memory.



    To me, this is really impressive for a laptop. My first laptop was a piece of crap toshiba 2.4 gigahertz P4. It overheated on me twice while playing games and the exhaust smells like burnt plastic (that was like 6 years ago). For some reason nearly all PC laptop manufacturers think it's a great idea to put the CPU fans (that bring air INTO the case) on the bottom of the laptop...the location that is nearly 100% of the time one or two millimeters from a surface that prevents airflow or maintains a high surface temperature.



    Also, I'm a computational biologist and nearly 100% of people in the field use a mac because it is UNIX based. I mainly program in PERL and use many C-based programs. I've never been able to get much of the software to run properly in DOS for WinXP and I don't know if 7 has a terminal any more. I have Win7 on my mac mini and was frustrated the first time I tried to connect it to my hidden wireless network; I couldn't even connect to it because by default Microsoft doesn't allow you to connect to hidden networks, you have to enable it to do so.



    I also noticed that every time I booted 7 there was at least one new security update and once while playing a game, my computer automatically shut down to install it because by default, as soon as it downloads an update, you have four minutes before Windows automatically shuts down (and you can only set it to remind you in a maximum of 4 hours). For an operating system that's been around for about 20 years (though I don't remember if Win7 was built from the ground up), it's pretty sad to have to release updates every day.



    Lastly, when I first installed Win7 on my mini it didn't ask for the Activation Key until about a week later it told me that I was using an unauthorized version (or something to that effect), which, if I remember correctly, prevented me from getting any new updates. I literally had to use the Win7 search engine to just locate the program I had to open to enter the Activation Key.
  • Reply 36 of 239
    I realized that these apply more to most PCs on the market than any Mac you can currently buy.



    Most PCs Don't have Blu-Ray drives

    Most PCs Don't have TV tuner's built in

    Most PCs Don't ship with Office installed on them

    Most PCs Don't have a powerful enough video card to play many games

    Most PCs Don't really give you an option on color other than black

    Most PCs Don't ship with Windows Ultimate so they cannot encrypt the hard disk

    Most PCs Don't have touch screens

    Most PCs Don't ship with built-in wireless



    ALL of these points can be accomplished very easily and very inexpensively on a Mac.
  • Reply 37 of 239
    I dont even use a bluray in my livingroom where believe I should be using it.
  • Reply 38 of 239
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by woofpup View Post


    Ah but they do have SD card readers in many of the models now... but if you just have to have built-in Sony Memory Stick card readers (which I feel Microsoft was trying to mislead by mentioning as simple "Memory Stick"), then you're out of luck. :P



    I'd also say that the SD family is much more widely used. If you bought a Sony device (the maker & proponent of Memory Stick), with a few exceptions, you probably haven't looked for a similar or better alternative. Except for CF, I don't think the other memory card standards are necessary anymore, and CF is now more of a "pro" format now anyway, for the better SLRs and also for some pro equipment.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by davesmall View Post


    The first thing I noticed was that his employer's IT department had installed 9 year old Windows XP. He told me that's what everyone in the company uses. I rolled my eyes.



    That evokes a different comment from me, if you know XP, you might have a bit of transition learning to get 7 going the way you want. On the Windows side, I'm pretty happy with XP. Windows 7 has some nice things, but I haven't found enough to want to rush out and pay the license fee to get.



    Quote:

    As i worked with iTunes i couldn't help but notice what a cheap piece of plastic crap the Dell is. The quality of the display sucks. The case just looks really cheap. I was completely unimpressed. Seeing it there side by side with my new MacBook Pro 17" with crisp display was telling.



    All this is true of recent Dells that I've seen, though a friend's HP business notebook sure looked pretty nice.
  • Reply 39 of 239
    rbonnerrbonner Posts: 635member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lukeskymac View Post


    I doubt about Blu-ray, but I think we'll get ATI for the next Macs.



    Yeah. Now that Netflix has blue-ray, and we have the players here at home, most of the movies we get are in blue-ray format. So I have to think about where I want to watch the movie. Might just stick with DVD for that reason.
  • Reply 40 of 239
    daharderdaharder Posts: 1,580member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by roehlstation View Post


    I realized that these apply more to most PCs on the market than any Mac you can currently buy.



    Most PCs Don't have Blu-Ray drives

    Most PCs Don't have TV tuner's built in

    Most PCs Don't ship with Office installed on them

    Most PCs Don't have a powerful enough video card to play many games

    Most PCs Don't really give you an option on color other than black

    Most PCs Don't ship with Windows Ultimate so they cannot encrypt the hard disk

    Most PCs Don't have touch screens

    Most PCs Don't ship with built-in wireless



    ALL of these points can be accomplished very easily and very inexpensively on a Mac.



    Conversely:



    Most PCs Don't have Blu-Ray drives... but BD can be added at minimal cost (often in the US 100 to 200.00 area on laptops and less for external units), Apple offers no such option(s).

    Most PCs Don't have TV tuner's built i... See Above, but even less expensive.

    Most PCs Don't ship with Office installed on them... Actually, most Windows & computers (even netbooks) come pre-loaded with MS Works + MS Word, and have 60 day trial versions of the full MS Office Home/Office Suite.

    Most PCs Don't have a powerful enough video card to play many games... Yet, most PSc do have video processors fully capable of running Windows Aero, which exceeds the demands of many lower/mid-range games. Conclusion: you're incorrect here as well.

    Most PCs Don't really give you an option on color other than black... You've apparently not shopped outside of Apple in quite sometime, because ALL of the major PC manufacturers (Hp, Dell, Gateway, Acer, et al) offer a wide range of color options, and have for many, many years.

    Most PCs Don't ship with Windows Ultimate so they cannot encrypt the hard disk... To the vast majority of computer users this is not an issue, and Windows 7 incorporates strong enough security measures as to render any user concerns essentially moot. For enterprise demands, Windows 7 Ultimate makes sense, for all others, not so much.

    Most PCs Don't have touch screens... But for those who do desire touchscreen functionality, they have several optionsall the way from netbooks (Lenovo S10-3t) to AIO desktops from Sony, Hp, Lenovo, and many others.

    Most PCs Don't ship with built-in wireless... FACT: There is not a single PC that comes with preinstalled Windows 7 (even Starter) that does not have integrated wireless connection as it's part of the specification/requirement to be Windows 7 certified.



    So Now You Know...
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