Gates Lashes Out Against Mac Ads

[HardOCP News]

Apparently Bill Gates is not a fan of the famous Mac ads. I thought this quote was rather telling:

“And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say?” Gates continues to express his disgust with the Apple ads: “Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it.”

 

[AARGH!]

Unfortunately Apple's ad message and #1 selling point is, "we're hip and cool and you're not".

It's like grade school never ended.

Otherwise all they can say is our interface is better, but with less software and hardware choices.

 

[techie81]

PC's are much more hip than Mac's IMHO. That poor PC guy in their ad's... LOL.

 

[Ockie]

What I find funny is that Microsoft bailed Apple out of the hole before and now apple is pulling stunts like this.

 

[Terminus]

yeah the ads are pretty funny but Gates is right to say that they have no merit, i prefer PCs over the Macs mainly because of the cheap hardware and abundant software... being "hip" or "cool" has nothing to do with my buying decisions and i'm sure the average consumer thinks more or less the way i do

and what is it about this aura that Macs have about them being easier to be creative on anyways? last time i checked creativity was a human trait, and not a software feature

 

[EXreaction]

Haha, it is even funnier that the link is to an Apple fan site!

Look at all those stupid kids bashing up on MS because it is easy and they think it makes them look cool!

 

[Ockie]

Being hip and cool back in the 70's meant having long hair, baggy pants, weird attire, and a joint in your mouth.

I'm not so sure that I want to fit in their "hip" and "cool" category. Besides, nothing to me is more hip and cool as a monster machine that can play all of todays latest games and actually allows me to upgrade component by component.

 

[mrweasel]

Sounds like someone is a bit stressed

 

[Terminus]

oh hey did you guys watch the Daily Show when Bill Gates was on this past Monday? i was so PO'ed that they didn't bring out the PC guy (John Hodgman, who also works for the Daily Show) to interview Bill - that would of been a riot!

 

[stonedwaldo420]

I am glad that someone with a high profile has brought Apple to task for lying in nearly every commercial they have ever made. Apple exists only because Microsoft allows them to. I really think MS should discontinue the office suite on the mac, and add some code to ensure that XP and vista will no longer run on the Mac.. lets see what happens then!

Even the rich hippies with money to burn (usually daddies money) won’t buy an overpriced Mac if they can’t use MS word on it.

I just wish that Apple could compete without resorting to petty insults and lies. Much like teenagers, Apple focuses on being “cool” and competes by insulting the competition. Then again, if I made crappy computers that lacked compatibility and also happened to be overpriced, i would probably try to compete with insults as well. They certainly can’t compete on price, functionality, or features. It blows my mind that people don’t see apple as the evil company that they are (MS is no saint, but at least they don’t lie and run adds that make campaign commercials look rosy by comparison).

 

[wtiger]

I think it's a little funny and sad how big of a mouth Mac has when all it has is the ipod and final cut pro. If it weren't for that mac product wouldn't be worth owning.

 

[D4hPr0]

Bill knows the ads are bs. We know the ads are bs, but the average user does not.

 

[Ockie]

I am glad that someone with a high profile has brought Apple to task for lying in nearly every commercial they have ever made. Apple exists only because Microsoft allows them to. I really think MS should discontinue the office suite on the mac, and add some code to ensure that XP and vista will no longer run on the Mac.. lets see what happens then!

Even the rich hippies with money to burn (usually daddies money) won’t buy an overpriced Mac if they can’t use MS word on it.

I just wish that Apple could compete without resorting to petty insults and lies. Much like teenagers, Apple focuses on being “cool” and competes by insulting the competition. Then again, if I made crappy computers that lacked compatibility and also happened to be overpriced, i would probably try to compete with insults as well. They certainly can’t compete on price, functionality, or features. It blows my mind that people don’t see apple as the evil company that they are (MS is no saint, but at least they don’t lie and run adds that make campaign commercials look rosy by comparison).

Yeah, MS can crush them on command if they wanted to... they only exist becuase MS allows them to (so they do not run a monopoly).

 

[GJSNeptune]

Apple exists only because Microsoft allows them to

To an extent, perhaps, but Apple is more successful than Microsoft in other ventures. You can't just eat Apple whole.

I really think MS should discontinue the office suite on the mac, and add some code to ensure that XP and vista will no longer run on the Mac.. lets see what happens then!

So Apple faulters a bit, and MS loses potential profits. I don't see why MS would want to do that. If you haven't noticed, MS is doing quite well with Apple around.

 

[ICOM]

Funny to hear Gates (Microsoft) whine about being honest...

Bill, STF UP!

Besides, your legion of lemmings is too busy figuring out what no longer functions with your new OS to worry about Apple ads.

 

[Techx]

PC's are much more hip than Mac's IMHO. That poor PC guy in their ad's... LOL.

this is the undeniable truth.. just look at THIS forum for an example of how much cooler pcs are compared to macs.. please, apple is grasping at straws with their lame marketing

 

[stonedwaldo420]

I agree… OSX will never be able to really compete with Windows so obviously MS is not worried. They are making money selling Mac Office and extra copies of windows for pple that want to dual boot an intel Mac.

I just think it would be sweet revenge. And MS could not kill the iPod business (I am leaving that job up to Cell phone makers like Motorola, Samsung, and Sony), but they sure could hurt the Mac computer business. But you are right that it is not in their financial interest to do so.

I bet if you got Bill Gates off the record, he would admit that it would be soooooo satisfying to crush Apple.

I think the only way to settle the PC vs Mac debate once and for all is a UFC cage match between Gates and Jobs. I put my money on gates. Jobs might be bigger, but he seems soft and slow. Plus I think Gates has more pent up rage.

 

[Absentee]

I think it's a little funny and sad how big of a mouth Mac has when all it has is the ipod and final cut pro. If it weren't for that mac product wouldn't be worth owning.

and the fact that a large majority of everything around you like advertisement, newspapers, magazines, movies, etc, etc, etc. are done on Macs. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised at all if any microsoft ads you see are done on Macs...get my point yet?

I'm not saying it Macs are necissary for this, but it is obvious they are preferred by many in the various design fields mentioned. Now why would that be? surely all those advertisement and design firms wouldn't use such a "poor" OS for their many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work. Their designers work slow on them because they are just too "awkward" to use. If they used windows they could bang out many more ads and rake in a lot more cash! How could those companies be so stupid! get it yet?

If you haven't yet gotten my point: Apple (Apple is the company, Mac is their product, get it right) has alot more than the iPod and Final Cut Pro. and anyone thinking that has to take a step outside of the box and just imagine all the stuff around them that are made on Macs

 

[Shotglass01]

What’s interesting is that Bill said anything at all about a competitor that he doesn’t have to worry about at all for the foreseeable future. That might change if Apple does OS for the PC, but Microsoft has so much money they could buy Apple several times over. I don’t understand why Gates said anything.

 

[ICOM]

Ummm...when did become cool to be a computer weenie dink? The manufacturer of the software or hardware is irrelevant.

Computer nerd/dink = Cool

OMFG!

 

[JaYp146]

There are 2197 posts in the Mac Gaming section of their Forums section.

'Nuff said.

 

[Ockie]

What’s interesting is that Bill said anything at all about a competitor that he doesn’t have to worry about at all for the foreseeable future. That might change if Apple does OS for the PC, but Microsoft has so much money they could buy Apple several times over. I don’t understand why Gates said anything.

Apple would never do that no matter how much demand there is. If they did that, they would kill thier own product lines, they would also kill their open sourced partners (Linux/Unix communities), and hardly make a dent into the sleeping giant.

Also, it would expose apple as being not so secure/reliable os as it's been boasted to be since they can't keep it on their own platforms.

 

[Draax]

I like the PC guy.

The apple guy just seems like a pompous ass, which is questionable to me, since PC dominates apple. Pc doesn't need to act superior as he is proven.

/shrug

 

[Shotglass01]

Apple would never do that no matter how much demand there is.

When it comes to computers and software, never say never. There's already been way too many "that company would never do that" realities. Once Jobs is out of the box, anything goes.

 

[coynatha]

The one Apple commercial where PC has to go have surgery for his Vista upgrade...I see that as a boon for the PC.

At least we have the option of upgrading!

And I don't hate Apple, one of my best friends is a zealot. I was impressed by his new overpriced 20" iMac, and then had to continually laugh at him for how much money he spent and was stuck with an ATI X1600. Apple needs to get with the times in that department if dual-booting WinXP is a "feature". If they're gonna charge so much, at least have the option for the high-end video cards. I'll never switch until they cater to the gamer more.

 

[Draax]

A few weeks ago on the news, here in Canada, the news examined what sort of effect political attack ads have. It was concluded that people did not like attack ads, and in many cases attack ads worked against the party who made the ad.

I can't help but think that this trend is not exclusive to political attack ads.

 

[Burning_Monk]

I find the ads to be very truthful, especially when they talk about viruses and spyware.

It's also funny to see Gates get all upset about them, hitting a little to close to home?

 

[Ockie]

I find the ads to be very truthful, especially when they talk about viruses and spyware.

It's also funny to see Gates get all upset about them, hitting a little to close to home?

Of course!! Thats like saying my xbox or wii doesn't get spyware/viruses either!

 

[Ockie]

When it comes to computers and software, never say never. There's already been way too many "that company would never do that" realities. Once Jobs is out of the box, anything goes.

Well Apple has the envision of becoming a electronic Ikea. So I'm sticking to never

 

[homernoy]

I wish Bill Gates wouldn't have wasted his time by even commenting on such a terrible add. It's too bad if the general public takes those commercials as truth, but a lot of people are just like sheep. I almost wish Apple would gain more market share with thier Macs, so they would experience spyware and viruses they are not prepared for. With such a small number of Mac users percentage wise, who in thier right mind would bother to write a virus, or try infecting them with spyware. It would simply be a waist of time. Wow I wrote a virus, and I infected..............4% of the home computer market!! Just doesn't happen much.

 

[GJSNeptune]

and in many cases attack ads worked against the party who made the ad.

I agree. I can't stand negative political ad campaigns, although they tend to be "paid for by" the political party and not the politician they support. They seem immature to me, and both sides always have something bad to say about the other. Eventually you'd rather not vote for either of them. Politicians would be better off appearing only in good, clean commercials where they convey their views and stances. Attacking opponents is elementary.

I'm sure Apple freaks love the commercials, and I admit the concept is good. Unfortunately, people who don't bother to research electronics and computers, and who have no patience to learn to use them, have tunnel vision pointed towards Apple. I guarantee that many people think iPods are the only portable audio devices made. Like in the South where people refer to soda pop as 'Coke,' I'm sure a lot of people would call a portable audio player an iPod even if it clearly isn't one.

 

[drizzt81]

I think that acknowledging these ads is a mistake on Bill's side. By ignoring them, he is saying that he cannot be bothered to deal with something as pathetic as apple. Now that he has acknowledged them, he has given them power.

 

[Burning_Monk]

Of course!! Thats like saying my xbox or wii doesn't get spyware/viruses either!

Of course, and when people start surfing the web on a console as much as they do on a PC/Mac then it will become a selling point as well.

 

[Disco_Stu_04]

Anyone else read the rest?

Bill goes on to say:

In another portion of the interview, he added, "Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine."

Oh really? Bill is as full of himself as Apple. What the folks said before are right, he should have chosen to ignore the ads.

 

[bigstusexy]

There are two I never got.

1. The camera from Japan, Oh come now do you really think camera companies write Mac Drivers before there are PC drivers? hell if they even need drivers? The thing today is to use a card reader.


10. Mac Running Office (I think they did one about running windows too) How can you be better running their software?

11. BONUS The Gui programming guide gift. Eh? I somewhat get it that there are wonderful tools make beautiful interfaces in Mac OS but there are in windows too, besides how much of the target audicane is going to know what the hell he is talking about?

 

[FlatLine84]

I just have to laugh. I dislike the ads because it really is disinformation to those who watch it. But, in the end it will be a good thing. I want to see more viri and spyware written for OSX, I think it would be great to have all of these people eat crow. It could be a great new sector in computer repair... The Geek squad could have specialized divisions, and their new uniform would include a beret, their main purpose would be to go on-site and say, "Yup, that's a sad Mac, you'll now pay $$$ to repair it, thank you have a good day." It would just give me even more entertainment.

Just think about this too, the learning curve for having to use anti-virus and anti-spyware software on Macs would be fun. It would be like when all the viri and crap starting spiking with Windows PCs. I still go to friend's houses, see they have a virus, and ask when the last time a scan was run. They just look at me.

I still want to get a Mac book. I really have been impressed with it, plus I could dual boot XP on it now. Fun to play with....

 

[griffinhart]

I find the ads to be very truthful, especially when they talk about viruses and spyware.

It's also funny to see Gates get all upset about them, hitting a little to close to home?

While the ads about viruses and spyware are technically true, they are still misleading. They lead you to believe that OS-X is just immune from mal-ware which is very false. Last months "Month of Apple Bugs" should make that abundantly clear.

http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/

Plenty of exploitable problems there. Any claims that macs are immune is just ignorance or downright lies.

 

[BlackDragon323]

and the fact that a large majority of everything around you like advertisement, newspapers, magazines, movies, etc, etc, etc. are done on Macs. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised at all if any microsoft ads you see are done on Macs...get my point yet?

I'm not saying it Macs are necissary for this, but it is obvious they are preferred by many in the various design fields mentioned. Now why would that be? surely all those advertisement and design firms wouldn't use such a "poor" OS for their many hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work. Their designers work slow on them because they are just too "awkward" to use. If they used windows they could bang out many more ads and rake in a lot more cash! How could those companies be so stupid! get it yet?

I have to disagree here. I used to work in the Digital Media/Entertainment/Ads industry years ago and YES Macs WERE the industry standard for creating ads, etc (Quark, Photoshop, etc); but not anymore.

A couple of years ago Macs WERE ahead of the curve on graphic design (which that was pretty much their only function...), but nowadays PC's are quite capable of doing what Macs can do AND much more. So back then I would've agreed with you, but not today. PC's have come a long ways.

The problem with your statement is that all these old graphics designers (who've been doing this for a while) just like using a mac because it's "easy" and they're used to it. You can do the same, if not more, on a pc.

THAT'S why all these ridiculous mac ads get on my nerves: the retarded marketing company responsible for these ads thinks we're still back in 1996.....

And yes those ads are such BS lies, I can't even stand to watch them anymore. They constantly try to make it seem like PC's aren't capable of doing anything and that Macs you just pick up and go (which is partially true).

But let's face the real irony here: they now use Intel chips and all the mac geeks think it is "so cool" they can use Boot Camp....and install Windows!!!!

How's THAT for irony/retardedness??

 

[BlackDragon323]

While the ads about viruses and spyware are technically true, they are still misleading. They lead you to believe that OS-X is just immune from mal-ware which is very false. Last months "Month of Apple Bugs" should make that abundantly clear.

http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/

Plenty of exploitable problems there. Any claims that macs are immune is just ignorance or downright lies.

it's called ignorance...also known as "superiority complex"

 

[Burning_Monk]

But let's face the real irony here: they now use Intel chips and all the mac geeks think it is "so cool" they can use Boot Camp....and install Windows!!!!

How's THAT for irony/retardedness??

Touche!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6vbKRQsq1k&mode=related&search=