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Sure they are entertaining for us Mac users but what does the windows crowd think of them?

Buzz but no conversions. What's the point? Methinks it's all about holding onto the base, many of whom may be attracted to the coming declaration from all the major and minor media that the eventual launch of Vista is the greatest event since the invention of the personal computer.

Combine that with malware attacks galore on the Intel Macs that are going to overtake a previously immune system and you have the formula for failure AND the excuse Steve wants to explain why Apple must become a hardware only company. With iPods, of course.

They still may not be as persuasive. Still a little preaching to the choir to me.

1st response?

Feedback from some in my lab has been positive.

I wonder what a MS Vista ad would look like.

Perhaps a "Think Archaic!" campaign would be best for MS.

Hey Paul Revere, you sound more like the horse's as_ than anything else!!!!

"Buzz but no conversions."

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How do you know this? Oh, I see, you are assuming.... Well, you know the old saying about ASSuming...

Combine that with malware attacks galore on the Intel Macs that are going to overtake a previously immune system

You can tell this kind of FUD is funded by MS. It's vapor malware.

Gawd! People who post 'First Post' are just about retarded!

Revere, the ads have been out for all of three days and you already know how effective they've been? Very amusing how you pass off your opinion as fact.

Or '1st response?'....Maybe I'm just about retarded.

Paul Revere....your post makes perfect sense using my Bizarro Logic Decoder.

"Buzz but no conversions. "

-please share your documented data with us.

Apple people love them, Windows people ignore them.

Rammer says "Apple people love them, Windows people ignore them.

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Not my former PC using brother-in-law who just bought an iMac. And not the 50% of new Apple customers who were former PC users. Yes, that's right, 50% of new Mac buyers are former PC users. That's a pretty significant statisitc.

Yup - generate buzz.

Buzz means letting others talk about Apple and the Mac and OS X and security after seeing the commercials.

A little more information couched in short snippets, with just enough to avoid turning off the non-geek-using majority of the population.

I like five of the six of 'em - the WSJ-Mossberg ad is accurate, but still a bit too much on the condescending side for my taste. I'm sure it would probably turn off my Dad, too, who reads the "J" and has noted Mossberg's articles, but also reads PC MAG and PC World and several other M$/Windows-related mags that talk up the PC side, and they're not even close to being the obscure reference hastily and embarrassingly made up in the ad by Mr. PC. It'll probably hurt my ongoing efforts to get him to switch (assuming he sees it and he'll certainly let me know if he does)...from a 400 Mhz Pentium II running Win98, no less.

Oh, well, I'll press on!

I'll say it again. The adds are designed to get people to walk into The Apple Store the next time they pass one to see what all the fuss is all about. Once they see and experience the OS, some will buy a new Apple Computer. It's fairly easy to double market share after last quarter. The adds should help do that job.

Revere:
Don't you think that if it was the CPU that made a computer vunerable to virus attacks, Intel's site would have been nailed years ago, if not permanently compromised?

What stations are showing the new Mac Ads

You don't know the history of generating a buzz. I do!

The Mac's market share is already on the way up, slowly but surely. The ads are targeted at those who are already aware of the Mac and considering making the switch.
I wish they'd demo Expose, Dashboard etc but the marketing experts tell us that's too much for the average consumer to absorb.

Paul Revere, if people are waiting for the "eventful launch of Windows Vista" then they must be the same group of people who waited for the eventful return of Jesus January 1st, 2000. Those people, like the religious nuts before them, are still waiting. They, at least, are in good company with the Windows Vista waiters. Don't hold your breath for that dog to ever bark.

I want to see a new ad in the same format. The PC recognizes a Windows-Only application coming from his side, "Oh look, here comes AutoCad." The AutoCad walks right past the PC and holds hands with the Mac. Not sure how all the language would go but it would be a fun way to show how you don't need a PC to run Windows applications.

I'm so tired of these uneducated "Switching to Intel and installing Windows will open your Mac up to attacks" arguments. Your Mac is a piece of hardware. Viruses target software. Just like any other program, viruses are sets of executable code written for a specific platform. Under no circumstances will a Windows virus be able to execute under OS X simply because there's an Intel CPU in the box.

Sure, there is such thing as social engineering. Anyone can write a piece of code for any OS that will perform a malicious action, but with Unix's user-based permissions system, the effects of any software are limited to your user account unless you explicitly give it permission to do otherwise by entering your password.

This entire Intel-virus argument was an uneducated speculation that has gone way too far.

It'll probably hurt my ongoing efforts to get him to switch (assuming he sees it and he'll certainly let me know if he does)...from a 400 Mhz Pentium II running Win98, no less.

Some people are beyond hope.

I'll agree that the WSJ ad could have used a slightly differant ending, but BuriedCaesar makes the very point for Apple (s)he's dismissing.

The point of the ad is that the WSJ, is an independant business and financial daily, and they say that OS X is superior to XP.

BC says "M$-Windows-related mags" aren't obscure. True, but as he says, they are "M$-Windows-related mags". They rely on, in fact their very existence depends on, recommending Doze boxes. They are not independant to the extent the WSJ is.

Jim:

You said it a heck of alot better than I did!

Judging from some people I work with who are Windows users, the FUD attacks about supposed OS X viruses have been successful. That is, they tend to believe the FUD more than the Apple ads. It's like MS has hired Karl Rove.

This is the closest thing to the 'steve jobs should just explain' ads that apple has made so far. The food for thought is: 1) Apple is pushing 'Mac' not ipod, 2) Apple is pushing the Operating System, 3) Apple is pushing iLife. If it's indicative of what Apple thinks are priorities then for now it seems that making people aware of the benefits of Mac OS X at a consumer level is the agenda. If you don't own the education market you don't expect people to graduate to the same platform in the workplace. Even if you do own it you get reverse platform discrimination 'but away from academic people we use them PC..erm..personal computer things..so shouldn't my kid be using one of those'. Apple seems to go after corporate customers in a pick and choose method. If the platform will save the institution/company money, generate some publicity, and provide a better solution then they are good targets. Mom and pop (or your dumb friends home business) may have huge revenues, but they don't need big iron so it seems the one-size-fits-all platform is being pushed and Apple is working on its consumer base because it has the best potential for growth.

Of course it's also one of the first real smack-down commercial sets Apple has run. The negative publicity being heaped on MS for the Vista delay seems to be one of the best reasons for using this format now.

At least Mac OS X Server isn't required for many things that XP Pro would be needed for. Still, having two seperate distros is nutty. It's not like it would kill the profits to sell one OS instead of two. Hopefully they get this in 10.5. Right now it makes server look like a beta testing facility for the normal/client OS, when it's a solid extension. Give the power to everyone, but turn it off by default.

Kinda sad the way they are pushing iLife so much and have the 'better' thing when they still haven't thrown out a serious version of iWork. It's a 'work' not office suite so at least give it everything in AppleWorks and throw in light-weight separate applications so every switcher can be at home right away. I just want to see the 'people do dumb things with excel, we made an application just for those people' add.

Overall I think this campaign is tolerable for a month tops...in fact..it seems deliberately short lived..hopefully planned obsolescence for the macbooks

What some people including a few on here don't understand is that most people who use Windows actually arn't 'Windows people'.

If Leopard is delayed will MDN label it a "setback" too???

The main reason Vista will be late is that M$ took almost a year to deal with virus problems in XP; something 10.5 wiil not be dealing with.

I said it before - Mac Heads usually have no idea when Apple scores huge, and they are scoring huge with these ads. But then again, most Mac heads thought the iPod on a PC was a bad idea, that iTMS wasn't gonna be big, and that the Cube was the greatest thing ever. The Cube was cool, but not nearly as huge as these ads are gonna be.

neomonkey, you mean James Carville. Rove has a job.

These ads were perfect for me to reiterate, in a funny way, the reasons for me to switch from a PC to a Mac at work. The decision has been made, now its just a matter of paperwork!

Good point, Jay.

Perhaps my comparing the WSJ to PCMag or PCWorld was inaccurate.

The AP (and hence, many "mainstream" publications and newspapers) have, in the not-so-distant past, picked up stories that are slanted and misrepresentative on one side or the other of the whole PC/Mac debate, as has the WSJ, too, though I'm sure Mossberg has likely been helping to quell that possibility on a daily basis since coming on board.

That Apple got one story in one non-computer-related yet widely-read and highly respected publication is admirable and worthy of mention, but not as the end-all, be-all to why a Mac is superior to a PC (yes, it's one commercial of six, but if you just see this one, then that's that's your whole experience). Apple might have done better to mention several non-computer-related publications that have gone "pro-Mac" lately and taken the opportunity to point out that the only pro-PC stuff just, as you said, have come exclusively from PC mags which must survive on promoting the PC.

To put it a different way, it was the only ad of the six to have rung several false bells when I saw it, even as a Mac lover, and more importantly, to a son (yes, I'm a he, to clear that up) who's trying to get his recalcitrant, PC-entrenched father to switch.

Foaming Solvent, no, I mean Karl Rove, the architect of many smear campaigns against Bush's opponents. And tech writers are the equivalent of the Swift Boat Vets as far as their FUD is concerned.

re: "I wish they'd demo Expose, Dashboard etc but the marketing experts tell us that's too much for the average consumer to absorb.:

If it is too hard for the average consumer to absorb, why then do they love it when they see it? And it seems they do.

That can be done in 30 seconds if you do it right. Unless you waste too much time trying to establish an artsy-craftsy image.

At some point, start aiming the type of ads that they have run in the last few days at the guy in the suit. That will work, the guys in the suits will by Macs if you show them what they can do with them.

It is NOT rocket science. Rocket science is not "rocket science" if you break it down to individual tasks.

I made the spelling of by into "rocket science" You spell it "buy" if you break it down to individual tasks such as hitting the correct keys correctly.

neomonkey, if you are looking for smear, James Carville is the king, denigrating Clinton's many rape victims.