4 ms·

Unicorn Tears, Eh?

19 points by jballanc 18y ago

jballanc 18y ago
Aside from the allusion to 70s and 80s car manufacturers, is warning against open standards because "Microsoft could fail" still considered a far flung idea?
- jballanc 18y ago
  Bah...that should read: "is warning against closed standards"
  - jemmons 18y ago
    Do you not have an "edit" button? I thought all logged in accounts were allowed to edit their own posts?
s_baar 18y ago
I'm waiting for the Romeo and Juliet ad campaign that focuses on two allegorical star-crossed lovers, with the last ad revealing that the drama has actually taken place at a college campus and not Italy. Also, anyone who buys a computer bathed in unicorn tears is cursed to a half-life.
albertni 18y ago
This is getting silly, and even more annoying than it already was.
- unalone 18y ago
  For a long, long, long, long time, I thought that Microsoft was going that angle as a marketing move. Then they started doing ads like this, that seem to actively make them look stupid, and I'm starting to think that it's actually what they believe, that their corporate culture really doesn't realize what Apple does well that they don't, and it's a very saddening thought.
ashleyw 18y ago
I'd love to see what'd happen if Apple opened OSX up to non-Apple hardware, or competed on a price level with mid-range PCs. Personally I think the biggest thing holding OSX back is the hardware price; even Microsoft know that I think…instead of staying on the software level with their new ads, they had to talk about the price of the hardware (not even the hardware itself — the second ad even said how nice the Mac hardware is!) Hopefully Apple fights back, it's about time they did! I love unicorn tears, I just wish they were cheaper... (it's strange they've kept Macs as nearly a 'designer' product, cause they know first hand what happens when you make something mainstream; i.e. iPod/iPhone)
- marcus 18y ago
  But then Apple would have to spend a ton of resources on getting OSX compatible with a gazillion different hardware setups. It will either slow down iterations or hurt the user experience, the "it just works" magic.
  - ashleyw 18y ago
    They could just have a list of off-the-shelf components which are fully compatible, pretty much like the OSX86 project has; a good hackintosh with tested components can be as good as the real thing. It wouldn't be perfect, personally I'd still prefer a real Mac (I like the hardware), but I don't think it'd be a 'wrong' move by Apple to try to open things up a bit.
    - bad_user 18y ago
      But then you'd have all these tech articles and blog/forum posts bitching about how Mac OS X sucks because it doesn't support hardware X ... just like you have with Linux. It's a known fact that people don't look at the hardware compatibility list before buying a X86 machine, not even the more technically inclined ones (I know I don't ... and I'm running Linux ... although I should know better ... somehow I hope that whatever problem I have, it would get solved shortly). And there's always the issue of having partnerships with the hardware companies to write those drivers for them, because they cannot do it on their own (lack of specifications, resources available). Microsoft couldn't pull it for Vista ... the drivers demanded from hardware manufactures were lately delivered and improperly tested.
wendell 18y ago
"Reminds me of the attitude of U.S. carmakers in the ’70s and ’80s, as more Americans switched to Japanese imports." Except that Japanese imports had better quality AND cheaper prices than their American counterparts. With Apple products the former is arguable and the latter is not true. Analogy broken.
- DLWormwood 18y ago
  Non sequitur. Gruber was analogizing the management motivation for the marketing campaign, not the products being marketed per se.
pmjordan 18y ago
It seems clear that Microsoft’s stance on the Mac’s sales growth is that there’s nothing wrong with Windows or right with the Mac, but rather that there’s something wrong with Mac users. So by declaring that they do not like mac users, where does Office for Mac come in? What about mac users who are contemplating switching to Windows? (they must exist, surely?) Aren't they going to be put off by this sort of negative advertising? So the target demographic of these ads is existing Windows customers, to try to persuade them not to jump ship. Desperate. (note: I haven't actually seen these ads, I don't think MS advertise on Austrian television)

19 points by jballanc 18y ago

Aside from the allusion to 70s and 80s car manufacturers, is warning against open standards because "Microsoft could fail" still considered a far flung idea?

jballanc 18y ago
Bah...that should read: "is warning against closed standards"
- jemmons 18y ago
  Do you not have an "edit" button? I thought all logged in accounts were allowed to edit their own posts?

s_baar 18y ago

I'm waiting for the Romeo and Juliet ad campaign that focuses on two allegorical star-crossed lovers, with the last ad revealing that the drama has actually taken place at a college campus and not Italy. Also, anyone who buys a computer bathed in unicorn tears is cursed to a half-life.

albertni 18y ago

This is getting silly, and even more annoying than it already was.

unalone 18y ago
For a long, long, long, long time, I thought that Microsoft was going that angle as a marketing move. Then they started doing ads like this, that seem to actively make them look stupid, and I'm starting to think that it's actually what they believe, that their corporate culture really doesn't realize what Apple does well that they don't, and it's a very saddening thought.

ashleyw 18y ago

I'd love to see what'd happen if Apple opened OSX up to non-Apple hardware, or competed on a price level with mid-range PCs. Personally I think the biggest thing holding OSX back is the hardware price; even Microsoft know that I think…instead of staying on the software level with their new ads, they had to talk about the price of the hardware (not even the hardware itself — the second ad even said how nice the Mac hardware is!) Hopefully Apple fights back, it's about time they did! I love unicorn tears, I just wish they were cheaper... (it's strange they've kept Macs as nearly a 'designer' product, cause they know first hand what happens when you make something mainstream; i.e. iPod/iPhone)

marcus 18y ago
But then Apple would have to spend a ton of resources on getting OSX compatible with a gazillion different hardware setups. It will either slow down iterations or hurt the user experience, the "it just works" magic.
- ashleyw 18y ago
  They could just have a list of off-the-shelf components which are fully compatible, pretty much like the OSX86 project has; a good hackintosh with tested components can be as good as the real thing. It wouldn't be perfect, personally I'd still prefer a real Mac (I like the hardware), but I don't think it'd be a 'wrong' move by Apple to try to open things up a bit.
  - bad_user 18y ago
    But then you'd have all these tech articles and blog/forum posts bitching about how Mac OS X sucks because it doesn't support hardware X ... just like you have with Linux. It's a known fact that people don't look at the hardware compatibility list before buying a X86 machine, not even the more technically inclined ones (I know I don't ... and I'm running Linux ... although I should know better ... somehow I hope that whatever problem I have, it would get solved shortly). And there's always the issue of having partnerships with the hardware companies to write those drivers for them, because they cannot do it on their own (lack of specifications, resources available). Microsoft couldn't pull it for Vista ... the drivers demanded from hardware manufactures were lately delivered and improperly tested.

wendell 18y ago

"Reminds me of the attitude of U.S. carmakers in the ’70s and ’80s, as more Americans switched to Japanese imports." Except that Japanese imports had better quality AND cheaper prices than their American counterparts. With Apple products the former is arguable and the latter is not true. Analogy broken.

DLWormwood 18y ago
Non sequitur. Gruber was analogizing the management motivation for the marketing campaign, not the products being marketed per se.

pmjordan 18y ago

It seems clear that Microsoft’s stance on the Mac’s sales growth is that there’s nothing wrong with Windows or right with the Mac, but rather that there’s something wrong with Mac users. So by declaring that they do not like mac users, where does Office for Mac come in? What about mac users who are contemplating switching to Windows? (they must exist, surely?) Aren't they going to be put off by this sort of negative advertising? So the target demographic of these ads is existing Windows customers, to try to persuade them not to jump ship. Desperate. (note: I haven't actually seen these ads, I don't think MS advertise on Austrian television)