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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Should Microsoft fight back?

Note: This post is about Microsoft’s marketing shortcomings, not whether a Mac is better than a PC. Please, please, please…no pro-Mac/anti-Windows screeds; they’re beside the point.

A discussion on a recent episode of “This Week in Tech” struck a chord with me; I’ve been wondering the same thing myself for some time. the TWiT guys didn’t couch it in these terms, but this sums it up:

Why is Microsoft letting Apple define Windows Vista?

Shel HoltzSince 2006, Apple has been inundating the airwaves with its Mac vs. PC ads. The ads themselves are amusing, but sometimes completely inaccurate. For example, I had to roll my eyes when I saw the installment featuring PC with a camera bandaged to the top of his head. The point: Macs have cameras built in.

So do many PCs, of course, including my tiny Sony VAIO TZ, an ultraportable that beats the crap out of the MacBook Air (in terms of both features and benchmark tests). What’s more, not everybody wants to be limited to a camera that only points at the user. Even though the camera in my VAIO works great, I’ve bought a USB camera that sits on a tripod so I can aim it elsewhere (at a speaker, for instance, so I can transmit a talk to a uStream account). Apple no longer makes a standalone iSight camera; I’ve read a few threads kicked off by people trying to find standalone cameras that will work on their Macs.

Isn’t all this fodder for a comeback from Microsoft? Microsoft’s potential response to this ad is simple enough: If you want the Mac OS, you have to buy a Mac. Want it with a customized set of features? Tough; take the hardware the way Apple boxes it or go away. Since dozens of manufacturers produce PCs—and you can even have one built to your precise specifications at any local computer shop—with a Windows box, you can have it your way. HP doesn’t offer your perfect machine? Check Dell. Or Fujitsu. Or Acer. Or Sony. The list goes on.

Lately, the ads have been playing into anti-Vista hype. I’ve been running Vista on two machines since shortly after its debut. One machine was an upgrade, the other came with Vista installed. I have had no problems on either machine. No crashes. No freezes. I have not once seen the blue screen of death, which was an occasional experience on XP. And I find a number of Vista’s features significant improvements over XP.

What’s more, I’ve spoken to a lot of others who share my experience.

(Did I mention that I had a Mac for over a year and finally gave up on it, returning to Windows, and that I’m damn glad I did?)

There’s also the gaming issue. My son is a hardcore gamer, a fixation he can only satisfy on a PC.

Despite all these potential retorts to Apple’s advertising, Microsoft remains silent, which means Apple is actually defining the PC experience in general and the Vista experience in particular.

The TWiT team speculated why Microsoft isn’t talking: No sense of humor? A policy against responding to competitive attacks?

Who knows? But it’s dangerous in today’s world to let someone else define your company, your products, or your services. Microsoft is making a serious tactical mistake by letting the misinformation in these ads stand uncontested.

In case you’re interested, here’s the TWiT segment covering the issue (permitted through TWiT’s Creative Commons license):

06/30/08 | 6 Comments | Should Microsoft fight back?

Comments

  • 1.Great question. I'm on Vista too, and while it's been a bit of a learning curve, I can't say I've ever had a blue screen or major issues.

    I'd guess it's culturally driven - Apple has taken the 'innovative, creative underdog' spot, and Microsoft's been in the 'market driver/behemoth' spot so long...maybe they don't see other possiblities?

    Microsoft's got about 80,000 employees and Apple's got 20,000...but I don't know if size matters once you're at those levels...

    Paula Cassin | June 2008 | California

  • 2.It's a great question, Shel, and in some ways it's an attitude that can be seen in lots of other seriously big companies when it comes to people/companies talking about them and potentially defining their image.

    In an interview with Guy Kawasaki earlier this year, Steve Ballmer said Apple was like an annoying Chihuahua, yapping and trying to bite the big dog's/person's ankles.

    OK, so Apple has Microsoft beaten in the cool factor, in music players, in retail shops. Maybe in a couple of years the iPhone will have seriously dealt a blow to Windows Mobile.

    But, in the main business, the software sales business, Apple has not event 1/10 of the market share of Microsoft. Apple is tiny. It's not even really a competitor seeing as most Mac owners buy Microsoft Office at $400 and maybe even Parallels so they can run Windows XP or Vista on their Mac too.

    I wonder if Microsoft simply doesn't care about these ads, or simply doesn't worry about it. Or, and this is the attitude of lots of companies worried about responding to jibes, that maybe responding in some way would somehow give Apple's claims some form of credibility when it's actually not worth the effort in terms of ROI and what other spats it could lead to.

    Alex Manchester | June 2008

  • 3.most Mac owners buy Microsoft Office at $400

    Where does this info come from?

    DS | June 2008

  • 4.Microsoft office Mac 2008 - $649.95
    Office 2008 for Mac - upgrade standard edition - $399.95
    Office 2008 for Mac - Home & Student edition - $229.00
    Office 2008 for Mac - Special Media edition - $899.95
    Office 2008 for Mac - Upgrade Special Media Edition - $549.95

    Average price - $454.80

    http://store.apple.com/au/search?find=office+mac

    Every Mac I've ever used, every Mac in any office I've ever worked in, has had had Microsoft office installed.

    Not saying it's an absolute rule, and a large percentage would be home buyers and students at the cheaper rate, especially those buyers turning to Mac due to these adverts, but lots of people, I'd say most Mac users, have Office installed. Increasingly people have Parallels and Windows too.

    Irrespective of price the point is the same: Apple makes money for Microsoft regardless.

    Alex Manchester | June 2008

  • 5.I agree that Microsoft should fight back, and the company could have some fun with the portrayals too.

    I also want to say that although I found the Macintosh advertisements hilarious at one time, they are now stale. It's time for Macintosh to launch a fresh campaign.

    Tifany Derville | July 2008 | University of Oregon

  • 6.Shel, your crystal ball must be working well at the moment:

    "We've got a pretty noisy competitor out there," Brad Brooks said of Apple whose "I'm a Mac... and I'm a PC," commercials criticize Windows Vista. "You know it. I know it. It's caused some impact. We're going to start countering it. They tell us it's the iWay or the highway. We think that's a sad message. Software out there is made to be compatible with your whole life."

    http://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/08/microsoft-to-respond-to-apples-get-a-mac-ads/

    Alex Manchester | July 2008

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