keep in mind, Program shortcuts are not the same as OS shortcuts…

the mac is and has always been lacking in OS shortcuts that windows has.

There is no shortcut to pull up a run dialogue, there is not shortcut to minimize all windows, there is no short cut to access the “dock”

now yes…the expose solves alot of these issues, but it is more keypresses then needed to accomplish the same thing in windows.

Also the keyboard command to access the menus w/o shortcut is weird and clunky (control-f2 vs just pressing alt) and some dialouge boxes require you to use the mouse and won’t accept a keyboard at all.

IMO you should be able to use a OS quickly and fully out of the box without a mouse…this is totally possible windows with little or no training. However the mac it is nearly impossible to do without 3rd party software.

when i want to use UNIX i pull out an only 486 (because thats all you Need to run it) and use that.

keyboard FTW, screw mac and it’s mouse dependency.

I agree! I never interpreted the PC Guy as nothing other than portraying a PC. I never looked at it as referring to the user.

Nevertheless, as someone who sold PC’s (as well as the first Mac when they came out) and owned PCs for 20 years, I’ve been a happy Mac user for the past five years and have never looked back.

Microsoft, one of the most lucrative monopolies ever, however, is no insurgent. Its enemy is smaller, cooler, better liked, more nimble, more creative and more aligned with users. So Microsoft has to not only show “it’s OK to use Windows” but tell us why it’s better and show us a goal that we can all identify with that the enemy cannot provide.

Microsoft “I’m a PC” ads are channeling Apple’s “Crazy Ones”
http://counternotions.com/2008/09/19/crazy-ones/

I say they should show users who are frustrated over some weakness the Mac has compared to PC’s, for instance, “this printer works with Windows! Do I really have to buy a whole new printer just to get my Mac to print?” Or “What, you mean my business software isn’t available for the Mac? How can THAT be?”

Somewhat related note: I “made the switch” October 2007. Before then, I HATED the “I’m a Mac / I’m a PC” commercials. I thought Justin Long came off as a smarmy, annoying prick.

Fast forward to today – the commercials are dead on.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2869094754_d54a8df76b_o.png

(cribbed from the comments to http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/09/09/gates-seinfeld-and-the-300-million-ad-to-nowhere/ hosted by Daniel Eran Dilger)

I get it, I get it. It implies that PC users are like this. But there’s power in the language actually used, and Apple’s marketers were careful to indicate that the character is indeed the computer, not the user.

In this is the appeal: It’s not that PC users are dorky or out of touch (but anyone’s free to make that connection), it’s that they’re saying the Windows OS is substandard and that’s frustrating. The commercials work and have unbelievable longevity because they’re successfully casting the PC/Windows as substandard but while doing it playfully.

“Why on earth Seinfeld is getting the axe and not Crispin Porter is beyond me.”

By allowing Windows users to upload videos to use in the campaign explaining why they use Windows, they ARE giving reasons to use Windows, and from people who are already using it. This will potentially make the unsure Windows users who were considering quitting think, “Hmm, well these users seem satisfied, maybe it’s not so bad,” while at the same time making Apple look childish for their portrayal of PC users as geeky and out of touch.

Which type of campaign do you think longtime Windows users would respond to more: one that shows regular people like them using Windows and liking it, or the other guy, who makes fun of them and says switch if you want to be cool?

Again, I’m a former Windows user, now a happy Mac user, but I wouldn’t count this campaign out. Look at any good political campaign. Painting the other guy as elitist and turning their own campaign against them can make quite a difference.