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Sat, Nov 21, 2009 - 04:08 AM EST  —  AAPL: 199.92 (-0.59, -0.29%)  |  NASDAQ: 2146.04 (-10.78, -0.5%)

Apple brutally attacks Microsoft, Windows PCs in new ‘Get a Mac’ ad (with video)
Thursday, August 21, 2008 - 10:40 AM EST

Apple has begun airing another new "Get a Mac" ad, "Off The Air," on U.S. network and cable television.

In the ad, "PC" is confronted by "Mac" and a Mac Genius who explain that dumping a Windows PC and switching to a Mac is easier than ever since when you buy a Mac, the Apple Store Mac Genius will transfer your files from your old PC to your new Mac for free.

At this point, Apple makes one of their most brutally honest points ever, as "PC" responds:

Oh, no, no, no, no... My frustrated users don't need to hear about that. See, fear of switching is the foundation of customer loyalty for PCs.

"PC" then rolls down a fake color bar chart over the camera and makes a continuous "beep" noise as he takes the spot "Off The Air."

MacDailyNews Take: Bill Gates "PC" loves badly faked things. Poor simulations are his life.

Apple "Get a Mac" ad: Off The Air:


See the ads in various sizes and qualities via Apple.com here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "GizmoDan" for the heads up.]

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Aug 21, 08 - 09:46 am Comment from: MacBliss

LOL! Hilarious. lol. What a great way to start the day! hehehe

Aug 21, 08 - 09:46 am Comment from: dax

Fantastic!

Aug 21, 08 - 09:51 am Comment from: Nick Fury

That's great. Now Ballmer's going to wake up in the zoo again, naked, confused and with gazelle blood all over his face. The International Bigfoot Society won't be able to handle two huge disappointments in one week.

Aug 21, 08 - 09:52 am Comment from: HolyMackerel

Ouch… the truth is starting to hurt when you see it this way.

Aug 21, 08 - 09:54 am Comment from: silverwarloc

Everyone...buy stocks in companies that sell lots of chairs!!!!

Aug 21, 08 - 09:54 am Comment from: AppleJack

I hope they aren't biting off more than they can chew. On the other hand, that could mean a tidal wave of switchers.

Aug 21, 08 - 09:58 am Comment from: MidWest Mac

Glad to see Apple is striking hard on the eve of Microsoft's upcoming ad campaign.

It's all too easy. Only Microsoft announces their huge upcoming campaign so early that its competitors have time to anticipate it. (obviously they announce such things just to keep stockholders and certain customers from jumping ship)

Apple gets criticism for being secretive, but it's paid off in so many ways the last 10 years. As a stockholder, I don't see the secrecy as a bad thing like Wall Street sometimes tends to. Instead, I've grown to trust that Steve and Co. will do the right thing.

I don't "trust" Microsoft any farther than I can chuck an oversized PC tower.

Aug 21, 08 - 09:59 am Comment from: MacSoftwareList.com

YES!!! Apple is going to destroy MS. This is how ads should be done.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:04 am Comment from: LOL

Gutsy!

Bold!

Great!

Aug 21, 08 - 10:11 am Comment from: Kennyc

I sure wish Apple would spend some time working on getting their iPuck's to do something other than display an Apple logo (Apple logo screen of death)! I have 5 iPhones...at least one working at all times!!!!

Aug 21, 08 - 10:16 am Comment from: twilightmoon

How much is Gates paying you to do those troll posts, Kennyc?

Aug 21, 08 - 10:24 am Comment from: Kennyc's Fan Club

Hey, without people like Kennyc, the gene pool wouldn't have the shallow end.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:27 am Comment from: Kennyc

Apple fan since 80's...but ya gotta call a stinker when you own 5, and the iPhone sucks more than any product Microsoft has ever produced! And they say Vista was bad? iPhone 2.0 trumps Vista hands down. When tech support tells you not to use the iPhone backup because it's not reliable, why even make us go through the painful 3-4 hours of the back-up process if it's not gonna be valid when you need it?

Aug 21, 08 - 10:30 am Comment from: elgruga

If there were only Kennyc, there would be no gene pool at all.

'I love the smell of burnt troll in the morning'

Aug 21, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: BC Kelly

Fear


Powerful stuff, and foundation for 1/2 the things we tend to do



Was Joseph Campbell, Kwai Chang Caine, or some other great philosopher who said:


To live a Life of Honor, to stay on The Path, Grasshopper

Never make a decision because of Fear or Greed






BC

Aug 21, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: elgruga

WHY would an individual guy, posting on this site rabid Mac fan site, have FIVE iPhones?

And they dont work...and he has been an Apple fan since 1843...etc.etc.
Yawn.

People are such idioten - please go away Kennyc, you are a TROLL, and you have been barbecued, now STFU, and go away.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: Neil Anderson

First day out and it's already a classic.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:33 am Comment from: botox

It’s about time someone expose the principle of ‘FUD’ !! LOL!

Aug 21, 08 - 10:37 am Comment from: Daily Reader

Kennyc is clear evidence (along with the substantial increase in troll traffic here and elsewhere) that not all of Microsoft's $300 million is going into Seinfeld ads

Aug 21, 08 - 10:42 am Comment from: Raving MacHead

THE LEAGUE OF TURTLENECKED NINJA'S ARE READY TO THY BIDDING MASTER JOBS!!

Where is some brain dead PC's we can beat up on?

Brutal. Attack Microsoft. Finally!!!

Ahhh, yes, glorious destruction!!! Let the games begin!!

disclaimer: I installed a larger hard drive and partitioned the drive to support Vista Ultimate. After all I have to know what I'm talking about right?

Yep.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:52 am Comment from: Gil

In other news, Herman Miller announced it had received a massive order of 20,000 Aeron chairs this morning from an unnamed company residing in Redmond Washington.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:52 am Comment from: DLMeyer

Yes, lovely ... for FREE?!?!? Two of my wife's fellow playwrights switched (my wins) and were offered the "transfer service" for $99! In different stores in the Boston area. Has Apple cut the price? Does the $99 deal offer more than the FREE deal?
Anyway, both paid ME $50 (each) for the service. And, I must admit that I earned it. Every penny. But ... I'm not a genius when it comes to PCs. Guess I won't be picking up more pocket change any time soon. Well. Maybe for recommending and teaching the use of Pages and Numbers? Not nearly as featurific and/or powerful as the Office equivalents, but my buddies are not Enterprise Execs needing every last tweak to stay that way.

Aug 21, 08 - 10:59 am Comment from: Steve516

I have to submit, I regret upgrading from 1.1.4 - everything worked perfectly. I wish there was a way I could go back to it. 2.0.2 is an improvement, but still not nearly as snappy, nor as stable. So many functions of my iPhone are not working as they used to.

And as many of you know, I am no troll.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:05 am Comment from: Tony

If MS is going to pay trolls, they should a least get some that are literate : / At least learn when and when not to use possessive 's. Have you ever used any of the smart phones on the market with Mobile Windows? I had a Treo and it was the POS. I had to reboot it all of the time. Will Apple have some growing pains with the iPhone? Yes!! But, there isn't another company that could even get close to doing it as good as Apple It's OK....... we will drag you kicking and screaming into the Mac World.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:07 am Comment from: GAC MENIUS

"Standard Care" is free. It entails you having put all your important files into a single folder called "files to transfer" on your PC's desktop. That is then copied by a Genius from the PC to the new Mac. (Apple also sets up the Mac, username and password).

This, obviously, is not all that useful since your shit is all over the place on a PC. You'd also think "anyone" could do this. You'd be wrong. PC users are absolutely **staggeringly** ignorant (although they are good-hearted folks, welcome to the Mac!).

"ProCare" is a service that includes comprehensive data transfer among other things. This is 99$ and absolutely worth it just for the data transfer from PC to Mac. They get the mail, music, contacts, calendars, etc....all the pain in the ass files, and place them in the corresponding apps on the Mac side (when applicable).

So yeah, it's "free" but you'll want the $99 if you are at all smart. (Sadly PC users are cheap and dumb. So they don't buy ProCare. Instead they "wrestle" with getting all their shit over by themselves. Takes weeks for some, and some just start over on the Mac) LOL. I mean, nice folks! Welcome! LOL.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:09 am Comment from: Hammer

Well Kenny may have a point about the iPhone having some issues, but he's waaay off saying it's worse than anything MS ever made. Worse than Windows ME? No way!!! Worse than the Zune? Nope, and MS didn't even make that turd, they put their name on it, that's like putting your name on the test of the stupidest kid in the class.

I do believe however, that we have been complacent with accepting Apple's less than stellar QC on the iPhone and on Leopard and some of their displays on iMacs and some Macbook pros. I won't even go into mobile me, but at least that is a lesson for SJ in not releasing everything at once.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:14 am Comment from: Kennyc

Tony I've been in Apple's world since the 80's. Yes I was one of those people that spent $10,000.00 per station for an Apple desktop publishing solution and never looked back or regretted it! My business still is heavily invested in Apple and they have been great in that vein, however till they can actually offer a stable phone solution for the business world, please bow out!

Aug 21, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: GAC MENIUS

Oh forgot to say most PC users don't have files of any worth whatsoever, so no need to transfer them anyway.

1. They rarely set up a Contacts list, if they do it's with the full first and last name all in the first name field LOL
2. They are PC games that they think will "run on the Mac" because they half-heard that "Macs run Windows" but didn't do the research to find out that they need a few extras to get that done....LOL
3. Their iTunes songs are: 64kbps MP3s stolen off of LimeWire; songs copied from CD via iTunes but they weren't online when they did it so the songs all say "Track 1" etc; or they managed to actually buy some songs in iTunes Store but they forget their Apple ID. LOL
4. Their files in Word and Excel are the most unimaginative, ugly and poorly executed documents in the history of computing....LOL
5. Virus programs they think they need and spend good money on....LOL
6. Outlook calendar data that could have been written on one real post-it note, for all it is worth....LOL
7. Palm Backup files that have nothing of consequence in them (due to 1 and 6 above).

Give a Mac Genius a hug some day....

Aug 21, 08 - 11:21 am Comment from: Mr. Reeee

Wow. The TRUTH, at last!

That's the best one yet!

Aug 21, 08 - 11:34 am Comment from: Mr. Reeee

It IS true.

My sister, who has been complaining for-what-seems-EVER about a series of miserable and mysterious maladies with her Dell box. She actually KNOWS what she's doing. She reformatted, downloaded latest drivers etc., etc. etc.. and could NOT figure it out...

CD drive won't work, external CD drive no longer works, can't download photos, can't sync Palm, can't sync iTunes, PCI USB2 card won't work, and MORE...

She's been asking me about Macs. And was ready to switch. THEN one day she tells me she'll just get another PC, because it'll be "easier". WTF? You want the SAME problems? That's Stockholm Syndrome, dear!

She laughed, but she GOT it... and will be getting a Mac mini! Thank the Gods! I told her to wait until after the big September announcements from Apple. I HOPE they upgrade the mini, it's WAAAAAAY overdue for one!

Aug 21, 08 - 11:35 am Comment from: qka

If MS is going to pay trolls, they should a least get some that are literate.

Come on - even the big buck trolls - Enderle, Thurrot (sp?), Dvorak, etc. - are known for their vicious mutilation of the English language.

Why do we expect better of the two-bit trolls here on MDN?

The real sign of a Mac non-believer: Spelling errors. After all, if they were using a Mac, it would have offered corrections to their spelling errors.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:52 am Comment from: ichi

cheapness and/or non-spending is the foundation. not saying that's bad, just saying it's the foundation. nevertheless, you do get what you pay for... and some are fine with what they got, for now.

Aug 21, 08 - 11:53 am Comment from: ichi

does MA (Migration Assistant) work from PC to Mac?

Aug 21, 08 - 11:56 am Comment from: shen

i is teh apple MAC fan for 40 years! no seriosly! and i gots 5 Iphones. no reely. and they is none of dem is teh works. no reely! and even dough i been the MAC fan for 50, no 60 years, i not no Us could jus take it back and not suffer de pains......

no reely!

-kennyc

Aug 21, 08 - 12:03 pm Comment from: bez

How about a spot where Kramer is digging a grave beside PC?

Aug 21, 08 - 12:35 pm Comment from: Macromancer

This might be the best one. it gets right to the core of why people don't change. FEAR!

Aug 21, 08 - 12:54 pm Comment from: KingMel

@Kennyc

Are you familiar with the old 'fool me once/fool me twice' saying. Well, you apparently took that to the fifth level.

If you are telling the truth, then I'm sorry for you (on many levels). If you are exaggerating in an attempt to discredit Apple, then your hyperbole works against you.

Ho

Aug 21, 08 - 12:58 pm Comment from: Olmecmystic

Wow!! This is the body slam, the carjacking, the home break-in of M$ by Apple.

The Apple sharks are smelling blood in the water right about now.

Duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh, duh....

Peace.
Olmecmystic cool smile

Aug 21, 08 - 01:12 pm Comment from: 7over

KennyC sounds like he could be a business owner and therefor could have 5 iPhones that he calls "his". "His" business, "his" phones. Pretty simple. Whether only 1 of them 'works' or not? well... what is the definition of 'works'? Some people are more picky than others and a premature app close could be construed as "this piece of garbage doesn't work!" ... Or "doesn't work" could be synonymous with 'brick'.... which I highly doubt is the case with 4 out of 5 of KennyC's iPhones. Most likely it's something in between.

I have one iPhone (new release). It seems to work just fine. I do get an occasional 'premature application close' and I am not happy with the 40 minute process to backup the phone and install an OS update but it's nowhere near the '2 hours' that some others complain about.

What other phone even allows such an operation with the ease of use that the iPhone does? So it takes about an hour... so what! Would you rather have to take your phone to the store and pay an additional $2.99 / month so that a new application can be installed for you like Verizon is forcing its customers to do with "Visual Voicemail"? I much prefer the app store and automatic OS updates over the wire thank you very much.

Give it up folks. The iPhone is the best phone on the planet and it just gets better and better with each update! If you really don't like the iPhone, get a Mold or an Instink or some other dumb 'smart phone'.

Aug 21, 08 - 01:52 pm Comment from: The government

I dunno, couldn't Apple find a good-looking girl in their ads more often?

Not a goddess, just pretty?

Aug 21, 08 - 01:58 pm Comment from: 7over

KennyC:
I own a business as well but we don't have a corporate phone plan. Employees choose what they want to use and I pay for it. Most of them are eyeing my iPhone though!

I agree with you that there are some issues with the iPhone... issues that I never had with my pre-iPhone RAZR and issues that I would like to see, and believe I will see Apple fix with a software update... but my RAZR could not even dream of doing most of the functions that my iPhone pulls off with ease so I am far more satisfied with the iPhone than I ever was the RAZR.

Even with what I consider minor issues with my iPhone, it's far more useable and pleasant than my old RAZR... or any other phone I've ever used. Maybe people are so enthusiastic about how much easier the iPhone is to use compared to their old phone (whatever it might have been) that they are not up in arms about the issues that they do have with the iPhone?

Although there are some things that I would like to see improved with the iPhone, I have enough experience with Apple to know that at some point, they are very likely to fix them. ... I'll wait until I am convinced otherwise (like with my iMac that they ended up replacing for free a couple of months ago) before I begin banging on Apple for a resolution.

Your problem sounds different though... I have not experienced the issue you touched on... what do you mean 'replicating .apps in your iTunes apps folder'? Is this something that you think everyone has a problem with but just doesn't know it yet? Or is it something specific to your Computer hardware/OS version/iPhone setup?

Aug 21, 08 - 02:01 pm Comment from: 7over

Hey KennyC, looks like they removed your post! I wrote a long response to what no longer appears....

Aug 21, 08 - 02:24 pm Comment from: Brit

@Tony: "At least learn when and when not to use possessive's."
I really don't think you meant to include that apostrophe, Tony red face

Aug 21, 08 - 03:01 pm Comment from: Uncle Al

@Brit

I thought that too, at first, but then I realized he put a space between possessive and the apostrophe. I think he meant the possessive use of apostrophe s.

And why doesn't that KennyC fellow just go play his saxophone and leave us alone.

Aug 21, 08 - 03:34 pm Comment from: Jim

re: Kenny's 5 iPhones.

I manage a small IT dept with 5 original and 5 3G phones and they are all working. What kind of problems are you having?

Aug 21, 08 - 03:39 pm Comment from: Uncle Al

Come on, no one took the KennyC/Kenny G bait?

Aug 21, 08 - 04:56 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

I love to watch an organization like Apple on top of their game.

It's like they are walking up to Bill Gates and giving him a swift kick in the groin with everyone of these ads.

Aug 21, 08 - 04:59 pm Comment from: Hg Wells

For YEARS, Mac "enthusiasts" have been all but begging Apple to more aggressively go after Microsoft. Perhaps they weren't ready back then (though some of us think they were), but they're clearly ready now.

And, with everything MS has got in the gutter, this is the ideal time. MS will never be able to mobilize to counter this.

Not that they ever could.

Aug 21, 08 - 05:53 pm Comment from: alansky

It's a brutal attack alright—also a breath of fresh air in the "me too" world of advertising.

Aug 21, 08 - 06:03 pm Comment from: alansky

My first-gen iPhone is working like a charm these days, but I've had to replace it twice—once for a sound problem and again for a broken Safari app. I'm still happy as a clam just to have such an amazing, cutting-edge gizmo in my possession. The iPhone is the first of a whole new class of electronic devices—of course there will be problems. To all the morons out there who can't resist the urge to start up their "iPhone sucks" mantra every time their particular iPhone doesn't function properly: STFU!

Aug 21, 08 - 06:08 pm Comment from: Brit

@Uncle Al

Yes, I think you're right, which is a pity because we lose the irony!

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