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Microsoft Tries a "Switch" Campaign
Twirlip of the Mists writes "There's a new page on Microsoft's web site that tells the first-person story of an unnamed 'freelance writer' who made the switch from the Mac to Windows XP. The author of the page -- who never identifies herself, and who could very easily be fictional or a composite sketch -- says 'Windows XP gives me more choices and flexibility.' How, you ask? Why, through Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and modern operating-system features like separate accounts for each user and easy access to the Internet, of course. Maybe somebody should email Microsoft and let them know that the Mac has had all of these things for years now ... nah. It'd just embarrass them. Anyway, it's an entertaining read that's good for a laugh." Update: 10/14 21:12 GMT by P : Apparently, Microsoft has taken the page down, but Google has it.
The added touches of this "person" being 5-foot-3 and her husband six feet, and the "Lexus we rented once," was predicted by Philip K. Dick in his short story The Mold of Yancy. If you've read it, go read the Microsoft ad with an eye toward the similarity. It's creepy.
I think the most interesting point isn't that someone switched, but that this is a MICROSOFT writer that was using a Macintosh for 8 years. They just got her to convert.
"*Editor's Note: Now that we've successfully converted our writer to a Windows PC, we will be working on getting her to try a Pocket PC. Stay tuned for more developments!"
I think the better story would be "Bill forces last Mac user to switch!"
I am 31337 or something.
Not only is she a freelance writer, but she also models for stock photography - check it out. Or maybe they just threw in a stock image of a person...
I think you're missing the point. It's not the strategy that's amusing, it's the fact that it's such a poor effort. Microsoft doesn't offer one reason to use XP that doesn't also exist in Mac OS X. Microsoft Office? They have that for OS X. Multi-user? Yeah, OS X has that. Etc, etc.
it's like an ad from Iraq's tourism industry trying to lure beach-goers away from Florida:
Sun? We have that. Sand? We have lots of that too!
This is almost as silly as Microsoft hosting the "we have the way out" anti-unix site on freebsd. but i digress...
I don't have any formal training in marketing besides having watched maybe 10000 hours of TV :) In many categories the market leader does not mention the competition. For instance, you don't see commercials where MacDonalds even mentions Burger King or their other competitors. Nike and Budweiser do the same thing. Up until now Microsoft has only compared their newest OS to previous versions of Windows.
If I was an Apple user I would be encouraged by this bit of marketing. It implies that Microsoft is concerned about their image compared with Apple and is willing to violate this empirical rule.
Microsoft doesn't offer one reason to use XP that doesn't also exist in Mac OS X. Microsoft Office?
From the botom of the article:
Editor's Note: Now that we've successfully converted our writer to a Windows PC, we will be working on getting her to try a Pocket PC. Stay tuned for more developments!
I'm pretty sure that what's going on here is that Microsoft found a freelance writer to write glowingly about XP in exchange for free hardwaree and OS. Similar to the old tactic of giving aluminum siding to a family for free so the neighbors can see it in action. 10 bucks says she's on the MS payroll. Also, in response to the posters above who remarked that she is so much better looking than the women in the Mac ads: I'll bet the picture shown is not the writer of the article.
Could be totally wrong on both counts, but that's my impression
Evil is the money of root.
I'm the guy who submitted the story, and I'll be happy to answer your question. Apple did something that most people aren't aware of. They actively solicited, on their web site, write-in testimonials about switching from Windows to Mac OS X for almost a year before running the first "Switchers" ad. Also, Apple paid for the Switchers airfare and accommodations when they shot their TV spots, but they themselves received no money at all.
;-)
Finally, the TV spots are just a small part of the Switchers campaign. Check out apple.com/switch/stories sometime. You'll find dozens of emailed testimonials from real people identified only by their initials.
The answer to your question is yes. I believe the people featured in Apple's Switchers campaign are real. While I concede that it's possible that the whole thing campaign a big hoax, I think it would have been a lot harder for Apple to fabricate it than it would have been to simply find a couple dozen people who were willing to talk about their Macs on camera. The preponderance of evidence points to the conclusion that Apple is just letting people tell their own stories, while the preponderance of evidence is that Microsoft, in this case, isn't.
So to answer your last question: Apple is more honest.
Thanks for asking.
I write in my journal
Their clipart people you mean?
Check out Here
Whee
The article looks as though it was written by somebody who has never, ever, touched a MAC.
Frankly, I'd like to see a MAC formatted ZIP disk work instantly on a PC. I'd also like to see why the writer didn't compare Microsoft Office to Microsdoft Office v.X. I'll tell you why, v.X is in my opinion the best Office implementation at the moment. Also, why not compare IE 6 PC to IE on the MAC?
The whole thing is just laughable.
"too bad that Mozilla doesn't have close to the amount of success that IE does w/the web"
Well, we all know that the number of users using a tool is directly proportional to the quality of the tool, right?
---
"including speed of loading tables, program"
IE loads faster in a sense because it's integrated into the OS; the libraries are loaded when you boot your system. That can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.
While I admit that Mozilla doesn't have the spunk at rendering as some other browsers do, you should try Phoenix.
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"support"
For what? Bad HTML standards?
Name something Mozilla doesn't support that I'm going to miss on the web.
~Dalcius
Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
Hear, hear. They can have some pretty absolute opinions about other OS's though, without ever having used them, or even seen them.
I've been a pretty avid alternativist for the last two decades. I used to be (still am in some ways) an Amiga nut. I dived into BeOS when it was new. I was an early adopter of Linux, and have had one or two BSD machines.
My father (without actually bothering to look at any of the machines for 10s) would always say "Give it up! There is no alternative! Windows has won! No-one will ever use anything else!"
Well, the last time Pops came over, I showed him my new flat-panel iMac. I just did some basic demoing, like showing him the zooming dock at the bottom, window shadows, speach recognition, and of course the fish in the background (yes, any OpenGL screen saver can be run as a desktop background).
Response? We'll, he looked a bit shocked. Then he looked a bit flabbergasted. The he looked stunned for a while. Then he said "I want that in my computer".
At which point I explained "You can't have that in your computer. It's nigh impossible in Windows. But if you got a Mac..."
May be one more convert for the Gray Side.
I choose to remain celibate, like my father and his father before him.
While those are indeed reasons to switch, they aren't quite compelling.
Freedom from DRM.
So far, there is no DRM in Mac OS, and untill there is, that isn't a reason to switch.
Freedom to use the OS however you want to. I want to use my OS to get my daily work done. There isn't much beyond that that the OS has to do. This isn't really a clear argument, can you be more specific?
Freedom to tweak and change, even at code-level.
I rarely have the desire to do this. Most programs work perfectly fine for me, and for those that dont, I get an alternative program. Even still, this argument is only compelling for a minority of computer users, I believe the original poster's intent was compelling reasons for other people to switch.
Freedom to install the OS on any machine you want to without asking "Mother May I?"
Not quite. I can install it on any machine I want to, assuming that the machine is compatable with the OS hardware support. The main issue of course being that there are still seperate distros of Linux (PPC, x86, SPARC). When will we see a distro with all the nessesary code in one package, and a universal install?
Freedom from bullshit licenses and other nightmares.
I'll give you that one. But again, the argument could still be made that for most intents and purposes, Apple provides the same freedom to it's users.
Freedom from the vast majority of viruses and exploits.
Seems to me that that's a better argument to switch to mac than to linux.
Like I said, they're all very good reasons, but none of them are compelling to most users.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Gee, I wonder if Caroline Woodham, the model in the picture, knows she switched to XP or that she is now a Microsoft editor.
;)
Whether she does or not, it looks like Microsoft just pulled the page (or it got slashdotted). It seems they can no longer find it.
I guess Caroline Woodham (or her make believe twin) just got "fired". Or maybe her PC self destructed. Anyway, it has got to be one of the shortest Microsoft careers ever.
I feel sorry for the model in the picture, though. She signed a release that people could use the photo in general artwork, not that someone can make up stories about her personally. The price of a 72 dpi picture (assuming someone didn't just take it off their web site and cut off the top part with the light table and the company name) just doesn't cover something like that.
As for a company that feels it needs to hire fictional clip art switchers/editors, that's pretty sad. At least Apple uses (and hopefully pays) real people.
My favorite switchers tale is still the 1993 "Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II". Man, when he switches, he switches big time. Just look at all them Macs.
"His return is near..." Godzilla 2000 trailer
G Countdown: 15 days (www.godzillaoncube.com)
You might want to read the article. It doesn't seem likely that it's a real story in any sense of the word ("real" or "story"). Massive chunks of it were obviously written by professional marketers, and much of the last few paragraphs appear to be the work of MS support personnel.
Advertisements may be obvious, but they can still have a kind of life to them. Judging from the responses (both positive and negative), the Apple "Switch" campaign seems to be pretty lively.
Even a cursory reading of the MS article shows that while they've downplayed the obviousness of the advertisement (and not very well, after all), they've also failed to imbue it with any sort of liveliness. It reads like a second-rate brochure for life insurance policies.
I've been told it's a lot like my posts.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.