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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.
If you can't beat'em, copy'em.
Yes®, it's® true®. I® like® the® Microsoft® Windows® XP® operating® system® enough® to® change® my® whole® computing® world® around®.
{Stuff deleted}
© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
Hey! She's not funny looking! Can't those twits at MicroSoft do anything right?
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Their users are much better looking that the Apple ones.
Choices: You can select which security flaw to patch first.
Flexibility: Your choice of anti-virus program.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
Aren't there Mac versions of Office and Internet Explorer? Wait, that means they're just boasting about the "wonderful" OS. Oh well...
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Don't you figure that he/she might just be the freelance writer ... that Microsoft hired to write this advertising copy?
I love it!
Breakfast served all day!
It must suck to be a "freelance writer" and to not even get a credit on your "submission" to Microsoft's site...
Nanoox
Article
Will all MS employees trolling here today please (virtually) stand up and identify yourselves so that we can mod your posts down to -1: Troll
Thank you for your cooperation.
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
So what? It's a stupid campaign no matter who runs it.
...
Though the first point in the article is hard to debate:
"More Hardware Options, for Less Dough
My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook."
It's just fighting fire with fire. Good for them. Too many people are confused into thinking Mac's are better because, as the commercial says, they 'just work'.
In the context, the word "just" = "barely".
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
my story about how Microsoft Lindows has made my life easier after switching from Windows 2000. That oughta make someone explode at M$.
XD
--j
Linux gives me more choices and flexibility.' How, you ask? Why, through OpenOffice, Mozilla, and modern operating-system features like separate accounts for each user and easy access to the Internet, of course.
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
*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!
So does this mean that they converted "the microsoft writer to M$" Wow they got their own employee to use their product after how many years, hmmm I am guessing at home she is still a MAC user....
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.
AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work. I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. I adore the Office Clipboard, which copies multiple elements from one file and pastes them into another.
Nooo! Not the hidey menu thingy! That thing drove me insane! And here it's listed as a plus? I'm sorry, what?
All the Mac hardware--including my printer, broadband cable, Zip drive, and Palm handheld--works perfectly with my Windows-based PC.
Really? You don't say? What about your internal hard drive? And your old applications?
Well, really. From a company with a huge marketing budget, I expect something that isn't (1) a cheap copy of your competitor's and (2) can't be picked into little bits in 15.32 seconds.
Everything is mainstream now.
Who talks in Hyperlinks?
At least the Mac ads are believable.
--Azaroth
Part of her "testimony" is this classic line:
My recommendation is to go straight to Windows XP Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
Hilarious... like an actual customer would go hunt down links to recommend people buy the most expensive workstation OS they sell. God Microsoft, keep 'em coming, soon you'll be as funny as the Onion!
People shape laws. Not the other way around.
This makes Ellen Feiss and baby jesus cry.
Hrmm. A freelance writer gets an article posted on Microsoft's web site and doesn't give a name. You'd think that if somebody would take the time to write such a thing the person would use the free publicity to his or her advantage.
Just like the author of the topic said, something smells fishy.
(obligatory beep beep beep)
Regards,
Sean
Real people don't say things like:
I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing.
That just wreaks of marketing monkey dung.
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.
I rarely ever see an MS ad. People consider them good at marketing though.
Just a few quotes:
... (Mozilla is better anyway).
"AppleWorks (...) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP." - isn't there Office X ?
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did" - I wonder what happens when I start my IE on my Mac
"The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers" - to be honest: i never installed drivers on my Mac - it just worked out of the box.
You mean if it isn't standards compliant it requires proprietary drivers? Who would have thought!
"Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
[sarcasm]
What's next? Microsoft broadcasting ads about Linux users switching to Windows XP?
Oh wait, people already do that without Microsoft's help!
[/sarcasm]
Who in their right frame of mind would willingly say that they switched TO Microsoft?!?
The thing that make the Apple ads so appealing is that you can see that these are real people. It's not as much of a construct. I'm much more convinced that Mac's are easy to use by watching stoned out her gourd Ellen Feiss tell go beep! beep! beep! beep! beep! beep! than by reading an anonymous page.
I have a question to the guy who submitted this story: do you honestly believe that the people featured in Apple's Switch campaign are real? I mean, I know Tony Hawk is a real person. Ellen Feiss could be real, too. But when they speak about how cool macs are and how uncool PCs are, they do so because they got money from Apple. Their confessions are just about as real as those of the "fictional" and "composite" person from Microsoft.
The difference is that Apple paid someone to lie on TV and Microsoft put their story in the mouth of an imaginary person. Now who's more honest?
-jfedor
"Innovation"....
...at least that seems to be their trend-- copying what someone else has been doing, then claiming that their version is "innovative".
<shrug>Whatever, Microsoft. Whatever.
When politicians are involved, everyone loses.
Sure, "more hardware is available for less dough", but you get what you pay for...
It's newsworthy-- in the Slashdot sense of "news," of course-- because it's funny. Microsoft's response to the Switchers campaign is so lame and so fake that it's funny.
Nobody has their "panties in a bunch." We're just kicking back on a Monday morning and enjoying a good joke. The fact that Microsoft made the joke-- inadvertently, at that-- just makes it that much more enjoyable.
Don't forget that Microsoft was first in brain-washing their customers to actually enjoy being raped daily.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Word Converters are helping me transfer old document files, Microsoft Works files, and even AppleWorks files.
Now nothing but Word can ever open these files again! Hooray!
For some reason, the above reminded me of an old Star Trek episode. Inside my head, I heard an echoing voice saying
You will be absorbed into the body
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
IIRC, Microsoft targeted such an ad campaign at Mac people a couple years ago, albeit to get them to use IE & Office for Mac, not switch altogether. The campaign featured what were purported to be testimonials from satisfied customers, but M$ tipped its hand when it launched the ads too quickly, and had "customers" discussing their experience with the latest versions of M$ wares a few days before said versions actually shipped.
Microsoft has had this report potsted on their Exchange website for a while. http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/outlook /FerrisOutlook.asp.
Some research company with "evidence" suggests that you're less vulnerable to getting hit by email viruses if you use Outlook rather than anything else. This report is shoddy, even for Microsoft. I'm amazed they would even post this!
More Hardware Options, for Less Dough
I think it'd be more accurate to say:
More Hardware Options, for More "D'oh!"
Not to replace one monopoly with another, but there is something to be said about having tight restrictions on the hardware platform...
That said...now that OS X is running on the Mach/BSD/whatever kernel, let's hope that better hardware abstraction starts coming into play, such that Mac hardware compatibility becomes less of an issue...
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
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...
Hey now, i'm using IntelliSpeed(TM) technology.
CrazyBrowser
Tabbed IE and a pop-up stopper. Sweet.
Seperate accounts for each user? Didn't Unix had that since the late '60s?
Have you ever actually learned how to write an operating system? Studied kernel architecture? I didn't think so. What do you know. I am not talking about applications silly! I am talking about the internal structure of the system. Go bash someone worth bashing. There is a lot more to Microsoft's seemingly wasteful space than you think.
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...
Nice troll.
You call it a troll, I call it the truth. I provided links and documentation. You provided... well.. nothing.
Great refutation! You're a prime example of a mac-lover.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
I know, of course that OS X allows multiple users, and its support for multimedia is much better, but does it allow them simultaneously?
Nobody's understanding. It doesn't matter how long they've had it. The point is that they have it *now*. (No two-button mice; go buy one for ten bucks. Everything else, they have now.)
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
If this was written by a normal human who actually likes the product (ala the apple switch campaign) then my niece is a monkey.
Does microsoft not realize that there is nothing higher than being "number 1!" why do they have to trash those that have 1-5% market share? People with whom they are partners or have been in the past. don't they ever get that things like this just make them look mean? There are some of us that actually do buy things based on whether or not we feel the people running the company are "good people". Microsoft stopped seeming to be "good people" decades ago.
sorry. it just always bugs the crap out of me.
-
Everyone rips off everyone else in the interface world. As soon as an interesting feature surfaces in one of the major ones, all of the others jump all over it.
.Net and .Mac thing.
MS: Sticky Menus in Win95 -> Macintosh: Sticky Menus in System 7.5, for instance. Also, Ctrl-Click on items for an item specific menu (first seen in System 8, I believe) - same as right clicking on Windows. Then there's the whole
And, of course, MS just went ahead and copied nearly the entire Mac interface into Windows 95. There was that, too.
This is in no way specific to OS's either. Look at laundry detergent, for example. Some brand or another came out with an "ultra" version at one point, which was supposedly more concentrated and therefore came in a smaller package. Then, suddenly, all of the brands had that. And extra value meals at restaurants. They weren't always around, and yet now everyone has them!
Nothing really all that wrong with it, when you think about it - you almost need to copy your competition in order to stay relevant.
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.
It's not the blatant market-speak that gets me. It's that they tout non-existent points for stupid reasons, when there ARE legitimate positives to using XP over OS X. (There are the reverse too)
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
and keep my Web favorites.
//e days. My office suite was called appleworks back in mid 80s. Am I missing something here?
Later she says she switched from Netscape. Doesn't she mean 'bookmarks'?
the process of switching was as easy as the marketing hype had promised.
There's something so creepy about that statement withen the context of the peice that... oh I don't know.
I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing.
I am too. But I can't see how a DVD player or oodles of ram have anything to do being a writer. If I wasn't also a computer geek, I'd probably find a mac to be much more accomidating a platform.
AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks)
I went to my bookshelf to dust off some of the old floppies from the old
you'll need to know your ISP's name (e.g., MSN®), of course! Not that anyone would need a different ISP. your user name (the part of your e-mail address before the @ symbol), Yes. Of course. Everyone always uses their ISP's e-mail service. Espically credible freelance writing Lexus renters.
There are more... but boy, this really borders between silly and absurd.
There are lots of good reasons to have Macs. There are lots of good reasons to have Windows. At least Apple does a good job in trying convince people to switch.
The Internet is generally stupid
The only real advantage listed here was hardware options and the affordability of the hardware which XP can run on compared to that which OSX can run on.
But all these features they listed are also in Mac OSX, and more. I'm a Debian GNU/Linux user myself, and all these features are in Debian GNU/Linux too; and it can run on much cheaper hardware with more functionality than WinXP.
Office, Internet Explorer, e-mail are all in OSX. You can also get them in Linux using cross-over office. There are also equivalents in Linux just as functional, as well as equivalents in OSX that are just as functional.
I'm someone who has used OSX, Debian GNU/Linux, and WinXP. I'll tell you right now that for every feature in XP, there's an equivalent feature in OSX. I can also tell you that all of these features were in OSX from the beginning, and were in previous versions of Apple's OS before MS ever had them. And these features have been in GNU/Linux since the beginning of GNU/Linux.
So where exactly is the software benefit of XP over OSX? There isn't one. Except in games, but XP isn't great for games; for a windows gaming system, stick with Win98 or WinME (Win98 better because supports real-mode DOS). I have a minimal install of WinME on my computer for Descent 1 - 3 and Tomb Raider 1-6.
And the hardware benefit. Yes, hardware for the PC is generally cheaper than Apple hardware, and it gives you the same functionality. But lets remember that GNU/Linux can make more of the same hardware than can any Windows OS. GNU/Linux distributions such as Debian and Slackware can still run on 486's; and they can run with acceptable performance with a WM (i.e., WindowMaker) on a much slower computer with less RAM than can XP.
I realize that this is advertising and that a company never says anything bad about their products. However, these are outright lies, and just silly nonsense. It would be like Ford claiming that their Mustang (a decent car) is faster than a McLaren LM (which can go from 0 - 100 - 0 in ~11s, and can achieve top speeds of around 220mph). Such a claim would in short be pure bullshit.
social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
They even basically ripped off Apple's How To Switch steps, basically just swaping the words "Mac" with "PC".
--Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
Am I the only one that finds it amusing that they didn't compare OfficeXP to OfficeX? Or IE 6 to IE5.x? Comparing OfficeXP to Appleworks is like comparing OfficeX to MS Works, totally apples to oranges. Both OfficeXP and X are comparably priced and neither come free with a laptop. Entourage kicks Outlook, as far as I am concerned too.
tinfoilmedia
The article as a whole is as funny as any of the mac switch parodies I've seen. A thousand times funnier actually because it's real. There is one point that I don't think you can argue with however. There are many more choices for hardware, and at the risk of making a sweeping generalization, PC hardware is cheaper. This is the only reason I haven't made the switch already. I can't afford to invest $2k right now for a decent mac system, plus however much to gather the suite of software that I rely on on my PC.
PS. Someone should mention to the MS marketing dept that they also produce Office for OSX.
The switcher writes:
The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers, the software that enables your PC to communicate with your hardware. Windows XP or your computer manufacturer will pre-install most of them. If not, go to the Web site of the company that makes the peripheral you want to attach to find the most current drivers.
This seems to defeat the entire purpose of the campaign.
Anyone who knows what the heck she's talking about and can correctly find, download, and install drivers has good reason for being on the OS that they're on and will not fall for this homegrown "I'm happy switching" rhetoric.
Everyone who can't do that -- 98+ percent, probably -- fall exactly into Apple's target market: people who know their computer went "bleep bleep bleep" and want to go somewhere where they won't HAVE to know how to find, download and install drivers.
Its odd and eerie, like they are twins who are 180 degrees different, almost a mirror image...
Hey, Mekka, ever heard of the rotate tool?
Oh, uhm, never mind.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
That's a very detailed set of procedures that she kindly provided -- I wonder how many times she had to install the OS to get all that info straight?
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.
MS Wrote: "The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers, the software that enables your PC to communicate with your hardware."
I'd argue that it is not only the key, but the biggest headaches of Windows. Sadly, I have used a lot of Windows in my life (and Linux). Sp when my mom bough an iBook, it was a revelation. I mean, so many digital cameras functioning on it without ANY drivers? Amazing. Also, it seems that the drivers made for OSX is more stable in the long haul than the Windows drivers.
Qualifiers: I switched to mac 3 years ago. Things have changed on both sides.
"Windows XP gives me more choices and flexibility"
-Yes, as long as your choices are Microsoft for your browser, email client, media player, and office suite. Any color as long as its white. Granted, you do have a much larger selection of peripherals to work with. The software choices I find lacking.
"I can read my files, import e-mail addresses from my Palm* to the Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, and keep my Web favorites"
-Which one of these was she having trouble with on her mac?
"I was up and running in less than one day"
-Bah! I was up and running in 12 minutes after a quick SCSI connection to my friend's powerbook (I admit it, I wanted M$ office 8-))
"I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing"
-Obviously not. Nothing beats a sexy, ridiculously expensive titanium powerbook.
"My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook"
- I'm very curious to see exactly which model this was and compare it on a spec by spec basis. Did it have firewire? Video out? Video mirroring/extended desktop? Does it weigh less than 5 pounds? Does it get 5 hours of battery life? (all of these features apply to my iBook, btw).
"AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP"
-Gee, 90% of the features for 20% of the price...seem like a fair trade to anyone else?
"There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®"
-You mean like...Microsoft Office v.X, which is widely touted (even by the MacBU) as more feature/rich and less buggy than Office XP?
"I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word"
-I'd recommend the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. v.X.
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did"
-Did you try any of the other 5 popular browsers for Mac? Like IE 5.2, perhaps?
"Searches are faster"
-This I can't attack. Everyone with XP I know swears that their connection is magically faster.
" I can name and organize my Favorites any way I want"
-I can't do that!? I'd better tell myself that I've been delusional the past 3 years.
"I love that we can define completely different user experiences without messing with each other's settings"
- Two Words: OS X
"moved to accommodate my 5 foot 3 inches instead of his 6 feet"
-This just sounds dirty.
"New Connection Wizard then guided me through the setup of my Internet connection for browsing the Web"
- You mean like the setup at the beginning of the Mac OS X install? Or the internet connection assistant in the Utilities folder?
"I started with Outlook Express for e-mail, because it's included with Windows XP"
-Yeah, those bastards at Apple only ship three email clients with their machines (Netscape, Mail, Outlook). And what happened to choice/flexibility?
"The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers"
-That's funny, over here the key to getting hardware to work with my computer is making sure it has a little blue X on the box it ships in and plugging into the correct port.
- Windows XP gives me more choices and
- flexibility, and better compatibility with the rest of the technology world.
...
Mobile computing? Versatility? I could swear she was the free-lance writer who wrote the mission statements of a dozen busted dot-coms. No wonder she's looking for cheaper hardware!I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing.
There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work.
I wonder if the switch helps her utilize her verticle portals too!
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
The reality is there really are many Mac users who would happily appear on TV and say the same things. I know I'm one...
Don't you think there are people as similarily pleased with Linux that would appear in ads if given half a chance? Is it so hard to believe these people could be real?
I think there would even be such a group that would happily go up and proclaim the wonders of MS, why MS has chosen to craft a person instead is beyond me. I guess it's the need for total control.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
From the article:
The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers, the software that enables your PC to communicate with your hardware. Windows XP or your computer manufacturer will pre-install most of them. If not, go to the Web site of the company that makes the peripheral you want to attach to find the most current drivers.
Wow, switching to Windows XP must be so much fun! You get to spend all that time hunting for drivers!
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
"Yes, it's true. I like the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system enough to change my whole computing world around."
She's a freelance writer who begins her "story" by ending a sentence with a preposition. I wonder if she writes for anyone other than M$?
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
I'm surprised by all the "Company Blah has been doing this for years" messages. I could have sworn that the slashdot crowd was savy to Microsoft's techniques and strengths as well as weaknesses by now.
Far from being shamed by having someone point out to MS that "someone else did it first", they'd be very proud. And rightfully so! The "embrace and extend" business strategy is pure genius and they have executed on it to a T. They have no need to innovate...their entire model is based on version 3 crushing the competition.
Even if you don't like MS you have to grant them a significant strength in that area. Also, it leads to some good (if not original) software!
Millions of people wouldn't use Windows and Office if they sucked. It just wouldn't make any sense. Entire industries have MS software as their foundation of doing business...to the same degree has using phones and copiers!
The irony here is that they can even "embrace and extend" the marketing campaigns of their competitors! Brilliance.
I'm amazed. MS will be here long after the cockroaches.
-SF
"Whether or not you believe me, I'm right" -RWF
``Anyway, it's an entertaining read that's good for a laugh.''
You think this is fun? This is FUD. Lies. Crap. Misinformation. Cheating. BAD BAD BAD.
I mean, advertising is one thing. Advertising the things you stole from others is quite another. XP is more multiuser than OS X? You'll make me laugh. Office XP has more features then Claris? Yes, it's called bloat and decreases usability. Besides, office runs on Mac, too.
MicroSoft Internet Exploiter faster does more for her than Netscape ever did? Yeah, popping up ads, loading up the borked MSN ActiveX control, loading Word documents inline so that people get the idea that they are a replacement for webpages. Searches go faster? Maybe if you are looking for the crap that M$ search comes up with...give me Google any day! And it's not like Netscape doesn't have history, either.
Connection Wizard - yes an old pal of mine. It's always the first program I removed. Not that removing is easy, you have to actually delete the directory it's in, or iexplore.exe will run it for you. WTF? I asked for _Internet Explorer_ not _Connection Wizard_. Why I get rid of it? Because setting up access to any provider I've used is easier without it, and because sometimes I just want to satrt a browser, without having to click away a bunch ow wizards first.
`` I started with Outlook Express for e-mail, because it's included with Windows XP.'' Here we have the fatal flaw that got us all those lovely email virii. I understand that the vulnerabilities have *finally* been fixed in the XP version, but God, did that take a long time.
``I copied hundreds of Web Favorites from the Mac onto a Zip disk, then into the Favorites folder on the PC. Internet Explorer has an Import/Export Wizard that you can use to import Netscape bookmarks, but I found it faster to do it this way.''
ROFL. Copied them to a Zip disk? Hilarious. It's called Linux. It can mount _your_ filesystem. You don't even have to buy a new computer to run it! And the OS is Free, as is most of the software you will want to use!
``Both Outlook Express and Outlook will import contacts and messages from other programs.''
Yes, and I trust that M$ have taken care that they are then saved in a proprietary format so that others can't pull the same trick on them...
``Later, I had to uninstall and reinstall Outlook''
Yes, welcome to Windows...
``The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers''
Indeed. And M$ have been so good as to make the XP driver interface incompatible with previous versions of Windows, so that if you install it on older hardware, you may not be able to get drivers for your components. A problem that Macs don't seem to have, but I might be rong.
``If not, go to the Web site of the company that makes the peripheral you want to attach to find the most current drivers.''
And download a 10+ MB file from their site that loads a lot of visual violence, advertisements, bells and whistles, and then tells me that I downloaded the wrong driver, even though the name of my device is almost exactly like the one the driver is for? Or worse, not being able to find out where to go for the driver, because all Windows has to say about it is ``PCI Multimedia Device''? Where is lspci -vv when you need it??
Pfff...it's been a while since I've been able to blow off so much steam...
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
Godfather Bill: What's this I hear about one of our freelance writers using a Mac? Make her an offer she can't refuse.
Scene 2: Anonymous writer's bedroom.
(The anonymous writer tosses and turns in bed, and rolls over, waking up. She notices something in the bed next to her and pulls back the sheet to reveal the severed LCD screen from her beloved iMac.)
Anonymous Writer: Aaaaah! Aaaaaah! OK, I'll switch!
Time to grow up and stop using a computer with training wheels. Mac, oh I'll do that for you, and I'll do that too, and that. You never have to think. You can think differently. But I know what I'm doing. Mac, no I do it for you dam it! I'M A GOD MAC AND I IT FOR YOU WHETHER YOU LIKE OR NOT!!!!
/etc, oh boy. Buzzzz!! Those files except one file is for looks only, the OS is only one who can modify them. But I will let you edit /etc/hosts, aren't I nice to you.
Just check OS X. Oh I now have a
See, the great part is that Microsoft tried doing A and B *together*! Now that's novelty.
Right on! In point of fact, there are TONS of things their computers don't do. Just the other day I opened up the case of a friend's Mac, put in a roll of undeveloped film, and waited ... but nothing happened. I mean, isn't it marketed like it's supposed to make digital photography easier?
I'm sure that if I had shelled out the bucks for Windows XP, I would have had 5x7 prints spitting out of that little slot thingy in the front in no time!
(Or better yet, as the unknown author suggests, Windows XP Pro... I really didn't need that extra $110 anyway. Knowing me, I'd only spend it on hookers and booze.)
I actually know two of the switchers, and, can verify, they are in fact real. They tell me they got no money from apple, aside from lunch and publicity.
I also know, that of the two i know, both of them do have Macs, but one of them also has a PC running windows.
Yes, my girlfriend is a BitchX
That's the amusing bit. That MS is copying Apple's campaign. It's doubly amusing because it's a well known MS-bash that, supposedly, MS copies everything Apple does anyway.
[I dunno. Windows 1 through 3 weren't remotely Mac like. Even Win95 and up has no meta data yet. But the point has been made]
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
And yet you read this far, to reply to my comment? Man, if this is boring to you, then the rest of your life must suck.
Flame note, this is intended to be humor. I haven't gotten a chance to play with OS X, but it looks pretty cool.
Top 10 reasons Apple is a bit like Communism
10) Lots of cool intellectuals and artsy types seem to like it.
9) Fun to stick it to "Evil Abusive Capitalistic Monopolies".
8) Ton of zealots constantly proclaiming the beauty of the new revolution.
7) Everything seems to work together easily. However, you have to give up some choice.
6) Stores on the other side always seem better stocked and have better selections.
5) Goal is to make life as easy and fair as possible.
4) Hides much of the inner workings of the system so the people don't have to worry about them.
3) Although they do not admit it, most of their competitors have used at least some of their ideas.
2) While it looks like they were beaten in the 80's, may just be making a comeback.
1) Given history of past practices for the "greater good", scared to death of what the world would look like if they actually took over.
I know of a similar page you speak about. They compare linux servers to WindowsNT based OS's and provide bunch of examples which absolutely make no sense.
I have friends who are Microsoft zealots. They code in asp, use windowsXP and dismiss *nix as hobbyist's OS. I've had some pretty heated arguments with them on many different occasions, and they come up with the lamest excuses and examples why Windows based servers and IIS in particular are far more superior to *nix and apache based solutions. One notable point they try to make is that IIS is supported by a multi-billion dollar corporation and can be set up by pointing and clicking, as opposed to modifying
Don't get me wrong, I use Windows 2000 on 3 of my computers because frankly they get the job done on the desktop level. But when it comes to servers, Windows/IIS is a FisherPrice toy compared to BSD/apache. Believe me, I've tried to like IIS... It never clicked.
[Since there are already so many comments, probably no one will read this, but...]
This article is in the wrong section. This is obviously not aimed at Mac users, because they know better. It's aimed at low-knowledge Windows users who hear about all their friends "switching." It's so windows users (many of *us* who have bought windows because "everyone else does" for years), don't start thinking there is another "legitamate" platform
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
Assuming that both the Apple campaign to switch (here) and the microsoft campaign to switch (here)
...
target the same people are are equally effective, won't this create an infinite loop amoung their customers?
Person1: I just switched to Apple because my PC kept crashing.
Person2: I just switched to Windows because it's flexible and easy.
Person1: I just switched to Windows because it's flexible and easy.
Person2: I just switched to Apple because my PC kept crashing.
Person1: I just switched to Apple because my PC kept crashing!!
Person2: I just switched to Windows because it's flexible and easy!!
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
And it's funny on so many levels...
? x= x&a=AA046139&b=PDI&t=1
First, look at this
http://cache.gettyimages.com/thumb/AA046139.GIF
A stock photograph from Getty images, whe I used to work. Getty images is a chief rival of Corbis, which is owned my Bill Gates. This tell us many things, among them...
1. The 'Writer' is indeed a marketing fake.
2. They didn't even use an image from thier own collection.
no thanks, MS, I'm just fine thanks...
jason wiley
Well. This is certainly not the first time Microsoft resorts to dubious marketing. Last time, it was signatures of deceased people, this time around, it's fake witness testimonial with a flipped image from a clipart gallery. Sadly, this is so usual it's hardly newsworthy anymore.
Stop the brainwash
the Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client
collaboration client?? Who in the hell calls it that? This is marketroid speak, pure and simple.
There's more idiocy:
I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word.
You need to run Windows XP to get this functionality?
Anyway, for the record, I hadn't ever used OS X until last week. I loved it. The graphics on the GUI are gorgeous and crystal clear. Besides, I've known lots of hardcore Mac users. Every single last one of them would gladly part with an extra few hundred dollars (or more!) to keep using a Mac.
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
I work in marketing too, and I think it is newsworthy because it shows that Apple's campaign is a success.
Since one can't generally can't make a correlation between an advertising campaign and increased sales (too much of a lag and too many factors), there are a few milestones for promotions that indicate success:
1. A coined term being adopted by the industry. In this case, "Switcher" is being used in all sorts of contexts, albeit in articles talking about Apple. But if someone in the computer industry uses the term "Switcher", most people in the know will think "Apple". I guarantee you someone in Intel's marketing department grins whenever an analyst talks soberly about "Moore's Law".
2. Grass roots movement/fan clubs: Exhibit A is Ellen Feiss. I doubt if anybody outside of Dell' marketing department builds fan sites for that annoying geek they're using
3. The competition is forced to respond to you. Pepsi constantly mentions Coke, but Coke never mentions Pepsi. But Pepsi's marketing department would love to see that happen. If anything, it's free advertising, because your product is being mentioned without you having to pay for it.
4. Finally, some sort of parody exists. I've seen a few on the web, but Apple would hit pay dirt if Saturday Night Live or someone painfully mainstream would do a parody. That would show that Apple's Switchers campaign has become a small zeitgeist, like the Mastercard "Priceless" ads.
The Microsoft ad was so bad because it was so easily dismissed. All the talking points could be dismissed just as easily as they are brought up. Make no mistake, someone in Apple's promotions department saw that pathetic Microsoft ad and grinned from ear to ear.
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
A lot of people at Microsoft are going to be very confused about the ridiculously large number of hits this page is getting.
The newsworthy part of the story is that a market leader apparently thinks it has to produce an ill-disguised clone of a market follower's ad.
You're right in that Microsoft had the choice of doing nothing or doing something. But doing something this stupid is to lend credence to your competition rather than building interest or confidence in your own product.
The Ford/Chevy analogy does not work because they have reasonably equivalent market share. The better anaolgy would be if there were ads for a Yugo featuring former Ford owners, which Ford countered with an ad featuring former Yugo owners. That would have been a massively stupid move for Ford, because all they are doing is equating the two makes in peoples' minds.
(The Yugo/Ford analogy is not intended to imply any correlation between quality of produts, just strength of market share...)
For instance, you don't see commercials where MacDonalds even mentions Burger King or their other competitors
;) and, of course, exceptions and rules go hand in hand so this is probably nit-picking, but what about the ones that go something like:
I too have no training in marketing (but I think I have your paltry 10,000 hours beaten soundly
Twice as much beef as the Big Mac!
I can think of MANY ads in MANY market categories where The Competition is quite intentionally mentioned but it's probably not worth the bandwidth or time.
Also, I am an Apple user, and I just think it's funny (and Bullshit).
The instructions talk about switching from Netscape Navigtor on Mac to a PC, but I don't quite understand these directions because it says to load Internet Explorer up on the Mac and copy the links to the zip disk. Step 2: Importing Favorites I copied hundreds of Web Favorites from the Mac onto a Zip disk, then into the Favorites folder on the PC. Internet Explorer has an Import/Export Wizard that you can use to import Netscape bookmarks, but I found it faster to do it this way. To copy Web Favorites: 1. Connect the Zip drive to your Macintosh, and insert a Zip disk with plenty of room. 2. On the Mac, start Internet Explorer. From the Window menu, click Favorites.
The phrase "After eight years as a Macintosh owner, I switched to a PC with Windows XP and Office XP. Why? It's about more and better..." is a bit suspicious in itself.
It doesn't say she bought the box herself, that she owns it.Maybe its just some box supplied by her employer.
I don't even bother debating anymore. I just ask people to put their own money where their mouthes are. NOBODY wants the same box that they're stuck with at work.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Of course, the Microsoft campaign conveniently ignores the fact that on a Mac, if you don't like Appleworks, you can always buy Microsoft Office v.X, which I've heard is rather spiffy. TeXShop is even better... If you don't like Netscape, you can always run Omniweb, or even Microsoft Internet Explorer.
That just means that moles post to /. too. :)
GMFTatsujin
Did anyone else notice that the stock photo of the girl over on gettyimages.com was a Royalty Free photo? So that means that Microsoft, eternal foe of free software, is more than happy to go to a photo house and only take their free images rather than actually help support the photo house by purchasing rights to a different picture...
Wow, that's quite an innovation. I wonder how they thought of that. I get a little tired of having to use this "root" account that came with my Linux package. It's kind of a stupid name and I wish I could change it to my name. Maybe someday Linux will have separate accounts for each user.
Best. Comment. Ever. Enjoy!
But you make money doing this "j00 suck, I'm better fag" game, right?
*This is not intended as a flame.* Read the rest of my comment.
I suppose I'm just curious to pick the brain of a marketing guy who browses slashdot. This is stereotypical, but the lead marketing guy for my company, for instance, gets paid more than twice what I do and he's a retard. I'm assuming one that browses Slashdot is a more intelligent person than those I know.
Why do you do what you do, or do you take another spin on it that most folks don't? (e.g. not the "j00 sux0r" approach, but more like "We own you because of this and this and this and this", stating real facts.)
~Dalcius
Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
Sounds a little like all those slashdotters going around saying Linux has preemptive multi-tasking and memory protection and Windows doesn't... Maybe somebody should have emailed them and told them there is a little thing called NT? Ah well, too late I guess.
Anyhow, the article is pretty lame. At least the Apple commercials have a hint of originality and some of them even make me snicker. Look at the computer geek! He's even geekier than me! Microsoft's web page is the same old boring copy-cat unbelievable drivel. Just like the Linux myths ones... blah blah blah! I wonder what the Bill Gates lap dogs will come up with next.
This whole thing is a charade that Apple is a willing participant of. The whole point of the "switch" campaigns is to give the appearance of competition in an industry that effectively has none. Microsoft must be thrilled, because a totally leashed, client company (Apple) is making it look like competition is nipping at Microsoft's heels. Last week they tried the "Windows and Mac users can get along" campaign, which was spooky but not surprising, given the antitrust battles going on now.
Remember that the allegation made against MS is that they don't compete fairly with their real competiton. There are boxes of evidence to support this. On the other hand, there is the supposed couterexample of Apple: A high profile, low danger company that gives MS absolutely nothing to worry about. MS is in fact crying: "see, we are running a fair race! Look at Apple! We're not bullying them at all! We're really, really competing with them using--fair methods like advertising. And oooh, we're soooo scared that they would eat into our market share, so we find it imperative to run ads which prevent this! Our position on the desktop is soooo vulnerable!"
Well, I hoped that at least the slashdot crowd could see through this. I mean, we know that once Microsoft aputates both of your legs, they are perfectly willing to run a fair race against you. Witness that Internet Explorer is now finally uninstallable. However, suddently the Windows Media Player isn't. That's because RealMedia still (sort of) has its legs. Once they're off, the uninstallability problem will suddently disappear. My point is that Apple lies somewhere between Netscape and OS2 in terms of being a threat to Microsoft. However, there is much good PR to be gained by making it appear that the two companies are locked in fierce competition. So MS are milking it. The only surprise is that nobody is calling them on it!
#2 frequently mentions #1. Pepsi mentions Coke, Burger King mentions McDonalds. #1 chooses to ignore #2 in most instances.
(Or better yet, as the unknown author [gettyimages.com] suggests, Windows XP Pro... I really didn't need that extra $110 anyway. Knowing me, I'd only spend it on hookers and booze.)
Windows? What are you talking about? With your propensity to waste absurd amounts of money on the extraneous, you're CLEARLY an Apple customer.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
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.
Next week: MS Borg Implants: Do they really feel as though a thousand shards of poison dipped glass have just been shoved in your eye?
Also, see the result of our torture tests! Can an Apple user resist Microsoft's best "Information Modification Specialists"? Watch how our newest 'convert' bows to our will ^W^W^W^W loves all MS products!
All this and a Windows 98 user converts to Windows IP, and loses all rights to anything they create while using our new EULA!
Great fun! Don't be late or we'll kick this dog and beat your kids!
first they ignore you then they make fun of you then they fight you and then you win gandhi
Fleur de Sel
Look at the article 'she' shows an example of a file open box .... obviously her real name is 'Don Funk' and quick google search shows 'her' email address is 'donfu@microsoft.com'
I find it surprising that Microsoft feels the need to use this style of marketing campaign. Not for the fact that is blatently copying Apple's Switch campaign, my surprise for MS copying other people's work ran out years ago.
What surprises me is that it has been found that market leaders need not identify themselves in their campaigns -- it is implicit that most consumers will choose said market-leader. For example: Campbell's doesn't need a campaign that says "Buy Campbell's" It just needs to say "Buy Soup" and most consumers will choose their soup. This marketing push of their OS by name in a popular style, at least to me, says that Microsoft is really getting worried over any change in market-share. Enough so to nitpick over a few percentage points and retaliate with a campaign like this. (Tell me, at the height of the pre-bundled, defacto-standard Windows Empire -- How often did you see their OS advertised?)
(by the by, how do tactics like this by Microsoft strain their relationship with Apple? I would think Jobs, being an artist at heart, would hate a blatent copy like this.)
Zech Harvey, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNA
Joe, an IT specialist
Ever since we've made the switch to Windows XP, boxes have been crashing left and right and now I'm busier than I ever have been. When we were running Unix boxes, I rarely had anything to do, and that looked bad to upper management.
Selma, a tech support team member
You know, ever since we've replaced our Macs, we've been bombarded with user interface questions and how to get rid of that annoying Clippy. Upper management has been noticing how busy we've been lately and now we're getting more money for our department. Sweet!
What are they odds that they successfully get "her" to try a pocket PC? Its written like theyre trying really hard just to convert this one person.
how the "convert" keeps speaking using microsoft marketing jargon.... like the average user automatically thinks in terms of "oooo visit this handy tool at microsoft.com"
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.
But then again, the Apple switch ads don't offer a single reason to use a Mac that WinXP doesn't have. You can burn cds and dvds, which you can do on WinXP. You can make movies, whihc you can do on WinXP. Neither sides has any really good arguements, because people wouldn't respond to the good arguements (things like the cariety of software on Windows vs Mac or the better usage of the power of a Mac vs WinXP). Neither side really will convince someone to switch, it will just hopefully make them check out both and make a decision after looking at both of them.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
Microsoft's "switch" story web page uses a font spec that appears nicely in MSIE, but renders too small on non-windows platforms.
PJRC: Electronic Projects, 8051 Microcontroller Tools
Only Microsoft's ad copywriters and marketers ever say "user experience."
McDonalds doesn't mention any of it's competitors. It doesn't have to.
Cuz I have some of his tunes on CD. He's also done stuff with Invisibl Skratch Piklz I used to have a CD of.
:-)
I've an interview with him where he goes on about how handy it is to carry a Mac laptop with Pro Tools on it and listen to stuff. In fact I think this interview as on the Pro Tools web site. He's making the rounds for product endoresements I guess.
Of course it had easy access to the Internet. Everybody knows that the Internet was made for Unix!
Man, first Mac users, then I hear that Microsoft deploys newer technology too! Zowie!
Keeps Pace with New Technology
The open-source nature of Linux means that the company lacks a centralized strategy for keeping pace with emerging technologies and hardware. And that means Linux is typically much slower than Microsoft and Microsoft partners to consistently deliver the tools needed to stay current with new hardware requirements and new technologies.
I wondered in high school whether bullshitting could be a full time job. Perhaps I should work for Microsoft. Oh, just for fun type Unix or linux into Microsofts search engine to see what it comes up with.
Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
The last one got modded down by the zealots, so I'll post it again:
To quote Janie Porche from Apple's own switch ad campaign: "Who wants to sit on Christmas afternoon and download drivers?"
You guessed it, Mac owners!
"While most media readers are MSC-compliant and will 'just work,' some media readers may require additional drivers to be installed in order to work with Mac OS X. Native ('RAW') picture formats may require additional software."
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
List of clips
- The woman in the picture looks like she's in the middle of a commercial for a yeast-infection or genital-herpes remedy. "With Windows, I don't have to be afraid to tell people what operating system I use. And that's a weight off my shoulders, so I can spend more time enjoying life."
- "It's about more and better." Wow. That's substantial and profound. I thought she said she was a "professional writer."
- Most of the page is devoted to explaining how to use wizards. If you need to explain how to use your wizards, your need to fire your usability team.
- She finishes her pitch by talking about installing drivers and finding more programs to convert her Mac documents every day: "I discover more treats daily. For example, Word Converters are helping me transfer old document files, Microsoft Works files, and even AppleWorks files. It will be an ongoing process, but I'm thrilled so far." In other words, she still hasn't been able to convert all her documents, and she expects it to be a long, ongoing process... and this is why Windows is "better?"
Personally, I don't think Microsoft wrote this. I think someone from Saturday Night Live broke into the MS server room and uploaded this.How low can you get? Does anyone really BELIEVE this story? I sure hope not.
But at the end of the article, there are forms in PDF and Word (natch) where you can send in YOUR experiences with Windows. Come on Slashdotters, fill them out and send them in! PDF and Word
Here is the text of the document. It gets better...
Show Off Your Skills
Are you a whiz at using a Microsoft product at home or in the office? Are you the one everyone comes to when they need to know how to do something? If so, we'd love to see what you can do.
A whiz? ha ahaha I think they mean wiz. Oh brother.
We're collecting ideas for articles on the Microsoft Insider Web site. Some of your work or submissions may be included in a gallery on the site, featured in press releases, or developed into how-to articles.
This just in: Microsoft invents user-friendly HOWTO documents.
Note: We will not feature any of your work without first receiving your permission.
And having you sign away the rights to any experience you may have, or have had in the past to the sole ownership of Microsoft.
To participate, please send us:
Your first and last name
Name of your company or organization (if applicable)
Brief description of your company or organization, including industry and size
Brief description of which Microsoft product you use and how you use it
Personal contact information, including address, phone number and e-mail address
Samples of your work--either hard copies of your marketing materials or a Web site address where we can view your work. Please be sure to include any user names or passwords that might be needed.
WTF???
You can submit your sample(s) one of two ways:
1. For online materials, send an e-mail message with the subject line Microsoft Publisher Customer Stories to insider@microsoft.com. (Note: Please do not send any attachments over 1 megabyte in size.)
Or with any malicious VBscripts attached
2. For printed materials, send hard copies to:
Microsoft Insider Customer Stories Microsoft Corporation 9931 Willows Road Redmond, WA 98052 Microsoft will not share the information you provide with third parties without your permission except where necessary to complete the services or transactions you have requested, or as required by law.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Office v.X (which most reviewers say is superior to the Windows version) and IE 5.2.2 .
Therefore, isn't it possible that there might be one person out there who tows the Microsoft party line without being on the payroll of Microsoft?
It amazes me how my $700 PC running Win2K managed to not crash long enough to write this message.
.
.
.
OK I'm done, now where's my check Bill?
Check out Largest recipe database on the web.
User 956, meet Joke. Joke, this is User 956. What's that you say Joke? You've never met User 956 before? You say he hangs out with your cousin Bee In My Bonnet all the time?
---
Information wants...you to shut your pie hole.
Why? When they said "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win", it refers to YOU, not MS.
I cant imagine anyone here would be switching now considering how popular OSX is around here. BUT, in the past, have any of you ever switched from Mac to Windows? I personally have not. I can see situations where it would be much much better to use Windows. One case would be 3d animation. Most of the good software traditionally has run on windows and Irix. Please do not bring up Maya OSX, that is the exception, not the rule. Windows can run on many different hardware configs that are far more afordable. Has this been enough for anyone here to switch in the past?
...someone has to track her down and discover that she is also a Mac user in real life-- she probably has a CRT iMac or an iBook or something, if she's like the models I know.
It always cracked me up that the Blue Man Group shill for Intel but run their shows with Macs.
~Philly
I fu'ed you, I fu'ed you?
(And anybody who can accurately identify my comedic reference wins a prize)
KFG
Importing Messages. I upgraded to Outlook when I installed Office XP. I chose Yes when Outlook asked whether I wanted to import messages from Outlook Express. Later, I had to uninstall and reinstall Outlook, but all was not lost.
Hmmm. In the way she writes her excitement on using this piece of crap, it looks she is another outlooker that says yes, Yes, YES to every Klez juicy flavour and every LOVE YOU letter... Probably the new, fresh and exciting BugBears will make her dreams sweet... I imagine the ride of joy she'll have when some Barby/Trojan will salute her in one more of these exciting [censured] M$ gifts...
I'm not the guy you're replying to, but I work in the Marketing team of a fairly popular web hosting company (which I'm not going to name unless someone asks, lest I be seen as advertising). Being a fairly stereotypical Slashdot geek, I might be able to shed some light on why some people go into marketing.
... I'll be the first to admit that in those cases usually the hype far outweighs the real contribution. But remember this: Most companies (in this country at least) are small, and are working just to stay alive and profitable. Most of them have something unique to add to the mix, and without a Marketing person to let the world know about it there really isn't a point. What use is offering a cool product or service if nobody knows about it?
(For what it's worth, I'm probably not the typical Marketing person either - I code in Perl and PHP, am very familiar with MySQL, know my way around a command line, etc)
I don't know about most Marketing people, but I view Marketing kind of like a game in a way. When you're in a big company with instant name recognition you can count on people knowing about you - it's all about building an image.
When you're in a small company like ours, though, the challenge is more likely to be to simply let people know you exist. Being a smaller company gives you some room to do technical stuff that the big guys are too slow to do quickly, but you still need to get the word out.
It's a challenge, like anything else, and it's fun. It's satisfying to watch sign-up numbers go up, see someone give you a good review on a host rating site, or watch as small communities of people doing Cool Stuff(TM) declare your product and/or service to be to their liking.
I suspect it's different working for a big, bloated company
Where was I? Oh yeah... It's a game, kind of. It's fun to see what ads work, what PR efforts pay off, etc. As long as you do it ethically and don't overdose on your own hype, it's not a bad job to be in... At least in a smaller company.
(Another thing to consider: I'm planning on starting my own software company soon. No matter how well you code or manage a development project, experience in marketing and sales will help you keep your mind on the big picture - even if you hire a full-time marketing guy. At least, that's the theory I'm going on...)
- Jeff
Freedom.
Freedom from DRM.
Freedom to use the OS however you want to.
Freedom to tweak and change, even at code-level.
Freedom to install the OS on any machine you want to without asking "Mother May I?"
Freedom from bullshit licenses and other nightmares.
Freedom from the vast majority of viruses and exploits.
I'd say that's a REAL compelling reason.
"But you've already got a DVD. It lasts forever....In the digital world, we don't need back-ups..."
-- Jack Valenti
Here's what I submitted as my XP switch story. :-)
P G? x=x&dasite=GETTYIMAGES&dareq=1A0C1F181E05 D2337394D32324055454243585F414E
You can use my personal photo from this web page:
http://delivery.gettyimages.com/comp/AA046139.J
8031402
My name is Linda Lee and here's my story!
"WindowsXP is great!"
OKay, I admit it! I've been a Linux user for years! You know, one of
those communists who thinks that everything should be free and forgets
to use deoderant. Recently, I was reading a totally unbiased
technical article in a magazine that informed me that the competition
just cannot stand up to Microsoft's (r) Windows (r) XP operating
system.
Let me tell you how lost I have been all these years, using free,
open-source software! What a waste of my life! As soon as I read
about all the great features, I threw some clothes on (shoes too!) and
ran out to my nearest CompUSA to buy a copy of Microsoft (r) Windows
(r) XP Professional for about 400$US. I got home, ripped the
shrink-wrap off, read over the draconian EULA (I don't mind giving up
some freedoms, Windows (r) is just too great), and immediately got to
installing.
After installation, I was unable to activate my copy of Microsoft (r)
Windows (r) XP. Sure, there was a little hic-up here, but after all,
you sometimes have to make sacrifices for quality! After about a
month of not being able to use my computer, customer support finally
just said I could use a "back-door" activation code. How wonderful
that Microsoft are helping me out at their own peril!
It only took me about three months to get me up and running! Girl
Scout's honor!
More Crashes, Less Work
Microsoft (r) Windows (r) XP lets me relax more through my busy work
day. With continuous crashes and reboots, I can spend more time
sipping coffee than doing my job! Microsoft (r) Windows (r) XP also
ensures that the work I do manage to get done is of the highest
possible quality. I demand that I be empowered to rewrite a document
I lost four times so I can be certain that it is very refined.
More Software Flexibility
Previously, I had access to hundreds of thousands of free software
products. But they were free, and we all know that anything that's
free is worth nothing! Now I can go out and spend anywhere from 50$US
to 5000$US dollars on a box with a CD-ROM disc in it! With a cost
like that, it ought to be some really good software!
Final Comments
If it wasn't for Microsoft (r) Windows (r) XP, I wouldn't bathe, use
deoderant, or wear clothes all day. I would just sit around and
stink, rotting in my house, getting fat! Thanks to my switch to
Windows (r), I'm healthy and have a great life! Thanks Microsoft (r)!
Why bother.
No... that's innovation!
Milalwi
I hate Grammar Nazi's
as many other have pointed she's really a guy .... in clipart drag .... look down further at her open dialog .... her real name seems to be 'Don Funk' (donfu@microsoft.com)
Early 60s. It was, at that point, called ITS. ITS begat Multics, which begat Unix.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
She should have bought the Lexus, the TCO would have been less then Windows XP and Office XP.
To their credit, at least the woman *looks* smarter then that stoner chick Apple has. (*beep beep duh... like it beeped and then I was all like you know, worried about my paper dude.)
Ok. Here's a concrete place that IIS spanks unix+apache.
You have 100 vdomains. Each of them gets to run {cgi|perl|php}.
You want them to run as separate user credentials, so nobody pees in anybody elses pond.
Whats your answer ?
Hint: It's su-exec. Which requires you compiled php as standalone. Which negates any perf benefits of php. Which has its own security consequences and other "gotchas".
On IIS ? Right click "app properties", change the security credential used for "anonymous access".
(You can also script against the IIS metabase, iirc, if you dont want to use the GUI method)
If you're writing an app that uses ASP.NET, its even easier, just specify the impersonation crednetials in the Web.Config file of the aspx project.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
If the linked to site doesnt work for you (it doesnt for me under mozilla 1.0), get the image directly from here
Compare it to MS's image
Yeah, but the ad compares Windows and Mac Os remember ? I doubt that the silly (fake?) person in the silly (fake?) story was considering installing a Unix on her desktop.
Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
Do you have an idea for a story? We'd love to hear from you. How have you used Microsoft software to make your home or work life easier, more fun, faster, or simpler?
For years Microsoft made me look really important while really not doing anything useful at my job besides hunting down virii and rebooting servers. It was great job security, because everytime I was almost done, I could be sure that the whole process would start again. Plus it felt really good to spend all that money on software that would otherwise have gone to things that I have no interest in: things like new gym equipment, math books (i hate math) and instruments for the music department (none of those kids can play anyway).
Once, while using Internet Explorer, I read about this group of people called the Free Software Foundation. I couldn't believe the things I was reading, but there it was, right there in Internet Explorer. After further reading and examining my options, all in Windows 98 mind you, I actually used Internet Explorer to download Linux. Now when I reboot my system Internet Explorer has been replaced with programs that make me feel better about myself. Microsoft ROCKS! If it weren't for Internet Explorer I would never have found Linux.
Thank you Bill, for giving me the tools to learn that I was using the wrong tools.
put the what in the where?
Everyone of the Apple switchers ads are real people. Some (Tony Hawk, DJ Qbert) are famous. Most are just real people. With names.
The fact that Don made it all the way through the Girl Scouts with his 'honor' intact is pretty amazing ....
Apple switch ads don't offer a single reason to use a Mac that WinXP doesn't have. You can burn cds and dvds, which you can do on WinXP. You can make movies, whihc you can do on WinXP.
The big difference is that Apple's ads are fighting a perception that these things CAN'T be done on a Mac. The Apple campaign is +1 informative, saying, "that stuff you do on Windows, you can do on a Mac too. And you can do it in a stable environment with a better, easier interface and STILL be compatible with those Windows losers."
The Windows ad has little/nothing to say, unless you somehow didn't know PC hardware is generally cheaper than macs. Duh.
The ad says can use Windows for stuff you can do on Mac... but WHY ON EARTH would you want to?
W
-------------------
This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
"resistance is futile" campaign?
~ now you know
"The writer that we hired; she works for us."
But it gets even more interesting. Maybe she is really a he (and perhaps not even a freelance writer at all), since it is "Don Funk" whose user folder appears to be used in the screenshot.
After they stopped laughing, our IT staff predicted that this page would be gone in 24 hours.
This is probably redundant because I didn't wade through 500+ responses, BUT:
I got the strangest feeling I was reading a Knowledge Base article when I looked at this page. The fact that "she" went into how to setup your ISP information step by step instead of saying, "... and setting up my email was as simple as falling down a flight of stairs..." decided it for me that this was a hoax.
I've read about M$ doing some sketchy stuff before, but this takes the taco.
--If you code for the exceptions, the rules fall into place
I saw an ad on TV last night for some PC maker who's got some sort of PC with a long neck and a flat panel, just like an Apple and comparing the two.
The funny thing was, they never showed the PC turned on. I guess they had to do something to keep it from crashing during the filming of the ad.
The thing about things we don't know is we often don't know we don't know them.
...pictures of Calvin pissing on an Apple.
+&x
This kid is probably one of the best 13 year old writers I've ever seen! Encarta must save him so much time that he doesn't have to go to school anymore. He can continue with his modeling/freelance writer career.
Hey, there's a new encyclopedia - it's called "Google"!
And what about these people?
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/printhelp/
They're all smiling 'cause their #!@%ing XP printer driver finally installed. (sorry, couldn't find this in the stock photo archive. I'm sure it's there though)
This girl is obviously smiling because her Windows PC didn't crash and lose her History paper last night: href=http://www.microsoft.com/insider/homeoffice/ Stock Photo
Now here's a good one: http://www.microsoft.com/insider/productivity/
Stock Photo
Here dad is helping figure out what "fatal error in krnl32.dll means". Say, isn't that a mac they're using?
What the hell are these two looking at? http://www.microsoft.com/insider/finance/
Ah well, I think the whole site is just one big stock art catalog. Once again Microsoft doesn't create anything original...
And at least Apple doesn't put "Later, I had to uninstall and reinstall Outlook, but all was not lost" in their ads.
I mean, not only is it Outlook, but they admit a novice user has to "uninstall and reinstall," in what is clearly a fictional article!
I do agree, but hasn't MS been boasting about being "innovative" for ages ? Or has someone messed with my mind again ?
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
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
actually, my favorite part after her crowing about purchasing a laptop for $450 less, is that she then had to turn around and purchas winXP pro in order to have her laptop work properly with energy saving features.
lol.
yeah, we'll sell you this laptop for cheap, but battery life is gonna cost ya!
I could be wrong about this, but I'm having a tough time believing that "Don Funk" is/was a Girl Scout, or resembles the woman with the coffee cup.
She never claimed to be an EDITOR.
"And like that
... no interesting news today? Just an (-1, Troll) article designed for everybody to come out and laugh at MS? Anybody else tired of it?
that's weird...
Have you considered the odds that this article has not been written by a corrupted freelance writer, but by a corrupted squadron of MS marketroids ?
I almost felt like reading the good old MS splash screens during setups... It must have taken a whole documentation team to write this crap.
Karma cannot be described by words alone.
Yes, but marketing/sales people don't know this, and it's fun to watch.
The university for which I work has a support contract with a big Apple-approved sales & support company. I'm not part of desktop support, so I don't know the details on the company or the contract, but in the Summer of 1999 two of their reps came in to update IT folks on the latest Mac offerings.
The first rep had a sales title and was upfront about not having any technical skills. She was fine, but we were all eager to talk with the second rep, who the sales lady played up all morning. He bore the title of "Systems Engineer" and, according to the sales lady, formerly worked for Apple on core portions of the Mac operating system. Even better, he'd just been visiting at Apple, and he'd learned inside information on Mac OS X.
I'm sure you can see where I'm headed with this. After all the buildup, the guy wound up looking like an idiot. He might have been a good sales person, but he should never have been paraded out as a brilliant systems engineer.
Some of his more interesting contentions:
Please note that I'm not bashing Apple here. Apple does a lot of neat things, and Mac OS X is quite nifty. This was just another case of a glorified sales guy who took bad notes at a (semi-)technical sales briefing. Now, Microsoft paid this same sort of person to write an "I switched!" web page. As another Slashdot topic says, "It's funny. Laugh."
"Be Happy or Die." -- AoN
...all the Macophiles here automatically assume that everyone has the same warm fuzzy feelings towards Apple as them, which is certainly not the case. Apple and Microsoft are just two sides of the same coin, platform lock-in--except that with Apple the platform is not just software but also hardware. Of course, Microsoft is working hard on Palladium to reach parity with Apple in that respect.
Linux isn't living up to any of the claims that MS or Apple are making. So why does Slashdot care? Heh.
*Flame Shields Activated*
"Derp de derp."
Its strange how the piece talks about using a ZIP drive when the file explorer window shows the D drive is infact a Sony memory Stick, and now zip at all....
James
Who wants the honor of letting Photodisc know about this alleged copyright violation... If only there were some hardware protection to keep such (alleged) things from happening...
See, the great part is that Microsoft tried doing A and B *together*! Now that's novelty.
If you think M$ trying to do two things that are mutually exclusive is a novelty, just wait till someone tells you that M$ tried to combine Windows with stability or security.
Off Topic: Maybe it's more flexible is because there are more software that you can pirate that will run on XP than on Mac OSX. At least the last time I looked, I didn't see many people making a big deal about how they got the 0day version of PhotoShop for MacOS. Just a thought though.
Looks like they deleted it out of shame.
Freedom to install the OS on any machine you want to without asking "Mother May I?"
...I'm pretty sure he meant legally. I can, have, and still do shamelessly install whatever flavor of Windows onto whatever machines I want to. It's not permitted in the EULA though. Although Linux completely takes the fun out of this concept for me, I can take Redhat 8 Professional, (yes, the retail version - Ironically the only OS I've ever paid for) and install it on a couple of new servers and a few workstations, in a commercial environment where even I don't have the balls to use something without a license, and it's cool. Encouraged, even. Yes, you have the same option with MacOS as I do with Windows, but with Linux neither of us are getting fired or paying fines. And most Linux distributions do have a universal installer - FTP.
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?"
As of 5:03PM EST, I'm getting a "page not found" when using the link in the original posting. Is the original link bad, or was the page just pulled from the site?
* * *
It is a dada story -- it has no moral.
She actually was trying to write a Mac switch story but the little paper clip guy in Office wasn't letting her
I see you're writing a story that goes against Microsoft, please cease and decist or I'll shutdown your computer. Come on we can pay you to write a Mac to PC story...
URL doesn't work anymore. Anyone have a mirror?
MS just pulled that ad, and it's not in the Google cache.
Anyone got a copy they can upload somewhere (or email it to me, i'll handle it)?
Why won't slashdot let me change my terrible username
I went there OK;
I read here;
I saw the post which indicated that the photo was a stock image from an agency, and that the popup box has a man's name in it;
I pointed my gf to the story;
She went there;
It 404'd.
I went there;
It 404'd.
Have they pulled the page?
Anyone got a cached copy, so we can check to see what they change if they put it up again?
THL.
Keeping
If you say "I'm not homophobic" it doesn't magically make it true. Especially if you follow it up with harsh invectives like "fag(got)".
shuddup ya choad-smoking, butt-banging, cum-slurping fruitcake.
Since MS took the page down, take a look at Google's cache here
NEWSFLASH: Slashdot readers not persuaded by Microsoft advertising. In other news, pigs remain wingless.
I don't know if this has been posted elsewhere, but here is google's cache of that page. I had to frob the url but it works.
peace
I guess astro-turf (see the link to Getty Royalty-Free photography elsewhere in the comments) switch campaigns aren't as good as the real thing once they're discovered... Can't blame them for trying though.
I saved a copy (screenshot) showing the take image, but you can still see some of the text: http://e4a.dk/linux/index.php?p=fun&id=26
*Shock*
I could read that without stopping to think, "Doh! Buzzword!"
And you can code?
=)
</joking>
Thanks for the feedback. =) I just need a pat on the back to assure me that there are smart marketing folks out there. I suppose it's like CEOs: the dumb ones always seem to be the ones you notice.
I suppose it's like anything else for that matter. Well, except that all of the marketing I see save a very small 1% is just unfounded hype stating how kewl a company is but not comparing anything.
"We have color movies!"
Well, yeah, and so does everyone else... for the last handful of decades, too.
I never listen to commercials when I actually sit down to watch TV now simply because, generally speaking, they all piss me off.
<tangent>
It's related to the shallow material that qualifies as entertainment these days.
Steps to a sitcom joke:
1) Tell a joke that anyone can understand (and one that we often laughed at in cartoons when we were 7).
2) Laugh about it for at least 30 seconds.
3) Embed a description of the joke in the plot so that those of us in comas can understand the joke.
</tangent>
I just need a reassuring pat on the back letting me know that not everyone watches "Temptation Island" and believes that
~Dalcius
Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
But then again, the Apple switch ads don't offer a single reason to use a Mac that WinXP doesn't have.
And you've completely missed the exact same thing that Microsoft missed about the Switch campaign.
The point isn't to show these people talking about all the things they can do with their macintoshes. The point is to show how happy that all these people are about all these things that they can do with their macintoshes. The point is demonstrate to all those disgruntled windows users in the Great Unwashed, using real people, that computing can actually be a pleasurable experience.
Apple doesn't want you to pay attention to what any of those people in the Switch ads are saying. What they want you to pay attention to is the quiet, joyful glow in Ellen Feiss' eyes as she talks about how happy she is that she doesn't have to worry anymore about the computer going all, like, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP and deleting, like, half her paper. (And it was a really *good* paper.)
They want people to see these Switch ads and go, "Wow. These people all seem to actually enjoy using their computers. I don't enjoy using my computer at all. Maybe if I bought an apple, I'd enjoy using my computer too."
(Of course, usually the ACTUAL effect is that people see that quiet glow and they go "Wow. Maybe if I started smoking pot, I'd be happy too". Or they start stalking Ellen Fiess. But the point is the intent of the whole thing.)
This is why the switchy-PR thing on MS's website is such a joke. [S]he's describing how "great" her experience with WinXP has been, but the experience that she describes sounds about as fun as a trip to the DMV in which the line was short and you managed to get in and out and get everything you needed done without particularly any hassle. Meanwhile, any emotion that there is in the article feels about as real as Anne Coulter.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Gotta love it!
Original Microsoft page in all it's glory:
here it is
Make it a malt liquor. I want to be as clever and handsome as possible.
The Microsoft "Switch" page that was removed earlier today can be found in the Google cache at: Article at Google Cache The picture of the woman is not the author of the article, but just a clip art from: Girl Clipart For Sale That fact was posted in one of the Slashdot comments. ~Dan Lake
But then again, the Apple switch ads don't offer a single reason to use a Mac that WinXP doesn't have.
I think the point of the Apple ads isn't that you can't do things in Windows, just that it's easier with a Mac. I'm not really a Mac expert but I know I get frustrated when I set down on a fresh Windows machine and click on the web browser and instead of just popping up some window where I can type google in, I get asked 20 questions where the defaults are always wrong. When I sit down on a fresh Mandrake box I just launch Mozilla and boom, I'm on the web. Same with terminals, you have to install TweakUI before you can even get tab completion in Windows. Also when it comes to video you have to install a bunch of drivers to get Windows to recognize video, with Mandrake it plops a little XawtTV on your desktop and gives you broadcast2000 in the menu, drivers are just there.
You can do lots of things with Windows but it's always a major pain in the arse. I recently lost a Windows 2000 partition to safe only mode. Funny thing is I only have Microsoft software installed, something you think they could test on major brand hardware like a Vaio laptop. It's a month old partition that I had just finished configuring to be usable. Then I installed a security patch. I'm not a sysadmin, but I'm pretty computer aware as a programmer, and well a security patch killing a machine isn't unheard of, but a machine with no outside vendor programs or unapproved drivers? that's just wrong.
Second Hand, but its something.
The Faculty Advisor for our Mac Users Group on campus actually knew the DJ they had up in their last batch of switch ads. He hadn't seen her since 1989 and was mildly shocked when she appeared on the television in a commercial.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
If you're talking about DSL and Cablemodems, Linux had easy access to the internet before Microsoft even bothered to include TCP/IP (and run Trumpet & friends out of business).
It's only the lowend PPP stuff that's ever been difficult in Linux.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
I tried to post it nicely formatted, but send your /. editors a postcard for lameness filter. Anyway, here's a copy.
Mac to PC: Mission Accomplished, Convert Thrilled
October 9, 2002
Yes, it's true. I like the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system enough to change my whole computing world around. Here's the bottom line: Windows XP gives me more choices and flexibility, and better compatibility with the rest of the technology world.
Windows XP relieved my fears about switching. I can read my files, import e-mail addresses from my Palm* to the Microsoft Outlook® messaging and collaboration client, and keep my Web favorites. All the Mac hardware--including my printer, broadband cable, Zip drive, and Palm handheld--works perfectly with my Windows-based PC.
To my surprise, the process of switching was as easy as the marketing hype had promised. I was up and running in less than one day, Girl Scout's honor. First, let me tell you more about why I converted.
More Hardware Options, for Less Dough
I am a freelance writer; I demand the best in mobile computing. There's a much greater choice of portable computers and features, for less money, on the Windows platform. My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to Windows XP Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it. See Which Edition is Right for You? for more information.
More Software Flexibility
AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work. I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. I adore the Office Clipboard, which copies multiple elements from one file and pastes them into another.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did, and I am a surfing addict. Searches are faster; the History feature makes it easier to find that site from last week; and I can name and organize my Favorites any way I want.
And Now for the How
Now that I've given you the reasons why I converted, here's the skinny on the how.
Step 1: Internet and E-Mail
The first time I turned on my PC, Windows XP prompted me to set up User Accounts. I set up one for me and one for my husband. I love that we can define completely different user experiences without messing with each other's settings. It's like a Lexus we rented once; when you pushed a button, the driver's seat and mirrors all moved to accommodate my 5 foot 3 inches instead of his 6 feet.
The New Connection Wizard then guided me through the setup of my Internet connection for browsing the Web. If you use a dial-up connection with an Internet service provider (ISP), you'll need to know your ISP's name (e.g., MSN®), your user name (the part of your e-mail address before the @ symbol), your password, and the phone number for your ISP connection.
To make a new connection:
From the Start menu, select All Programs, and then select Accessories, Communications, and New Connection Wizard.
Work your way through the wizard, clicking Next after each step and then Finish when you reach the end of the wizard.
To access your new account, click Start, point to Connect To, and then click the connection you set up in step 2.
I started with Outlook Express for e-mail, because it's included with Windows XP. You'll need to know a few things from your ISP or administrator:
Type of e-mail server: POP3, IMAP, or HTTP (like Hotmail® or Yahoo)
Your name, e-mail address, user name, and password
Incoming and outgoing mail servers:often the same--for example, email.contoso.com
To setup a new e-mail account in Outlook Express:
From the Tools menu, click Accounts.
Click Add, and then select Mail.
Work your way through the wizard.
Step 2: Importing Favorites
I copied hundreds of Web Favorites from the Mac onto a Zip disk, then into the Favorites folder on the PC. Internet Explorer has an Import/Export Wizard that you can use to import Netscape bookmarks, but I found it faster to do it this way.
To copy Web Favorites:
Connect the Zip drive to your Macintosh, and insert a Zip disk with plenty of room.
On the Mac, start Internet Explorer. From the Window menu, click Favorites.
Press COMMAND+A (+A) to select them all, and drag them to copy them onto your Zip disk.
Connect the Zip drive to your PC, and insert the disk on which you just saved your Favorites.
On the PC, click Start, then My Computer, and then double-click Local Disk (C:). Open the Documents and Settings folder, then the folder with your user account name, and then your Favorites folder.
On the Zip disk, press CTRL+A to select all the files, and then drag them into the Favorites folder. They'll all be there the next time you open Favorites in Internet Explorer.
Step 3: Importing Contacts and E-Mail Messages
Both Outlook Express and Outlook will import contacts and messages from other programs. Use the Import/Export Wizard, which you'll find on the File menu.
Importing Messages. I upgraded to Outlook when I installed Office XP. I chose Yes when Outlook asked whether I wanted to import messages from Outlook Express. Later, I had to uninstall and reinstall Outlook, but all was not lost. All you have to do is point Outlook to where the messages are saved:
From the File menu, click Open, and then Outlook Data File. Select Outlook, and then click OK.
(click on image for larger view)
Importing Contacts. All of my most current contact information was located in my Palm. I used the Conduit Manager in Outlook to download e-mail addresses from my Palm to the notebook PC, as well as my Calendar, Tasks (to-do lists), and Notes. To start the Conduit Manager, click the button with the picture of a handheld on the far right of the Outlook Standard toolbar (also under the Tools menu).
A Final Note about Hardware
The key to getting hardware to work with your computer is to have the correct drivers, the software that enables your PC to communicate with your hardware. Windows XP or your computer manufacturer will pre-install most of them. If not, go to the Web site of the company that makes the peripheral you want to attach to find the most current drivers.
I discover more treats daily. For example, Word Converters are helping me transfer old document files, Microsoft Works files, and even AppleWorks files. It will be an ongoing process, but I'm thrilled so far.
*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!
Do you have an idea for a story? We'd love to hear from you. How have you used Microsoft software to make your home or work life easier, more fun, faster, or simpler? Submit your ideas, and you could get published on the Insider Web site! Submit Your Idea Today!
Download the submission form in Adobe PDF format (ShowOffYourSkills.pdf, 64kb)
Download the submission form in Word format (ShowOffYourSkills.doc, 27kb)
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:JmwQcVoG-ucJ: www.microsoft.com/insider/opsystems/windowsxp_setu p.asp+Windows+XP+gives+me+more+choices+and+flexibi lity&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
I think the Apple switch campaign was the best advertising they could have gotten. Every time I see one of those smug, smarmy bastards talking about why they switched, it just makes me cling to my cvrappy Windows box more, out of spite. It's like those "The Truth" anti-smoking ads, that make you want to start going at a pack a day, just to shut the little punks up.
Importing the favorites from the Mac to the PC seemed easy... but they forgot a step...
...
...
4)Connect the Zip drive to your PC, and insert the disk on which you just saved your Favorites.
5)On the PC, click Start, then My Computer, and then double-click Local Disk (C:). Open the Documents and Settings folder, then the folder with your user account name, and then your Favorites folder.
4 1/2) Restart computer 5 times. Download most recent, "authenticated" XP drivers, restart again. Restart yet another time after computer freezes. Reset BIOS because parallel or serial port was misconfigured. Reconfigure hardware because of faults in IRQ sharing. Call some computer technician. Pay money to them to fix the computer. Once fixed, continue...
Look at the article 'she' shows an example of a file open box .... obviously her real name is 'Don Funk' and quick google search shows 'her' email address is 'donfu@microsoft.com'
/showmeta "cn=Don Dunk,ou=Marketing,dc=microsoft,dc=com" server1.microsoft.com
Even more interesting..."Don Funk" is used in microsoft examples(i.e. msdn code snippets). Here is one showing Microsoft's repadmin.exe(diagnoses replication problems between Windows 2000 domain controllers):
repadmin
Funny, isn't it? Make your own conclusions!
If that's the true definition of "capitalism", why is it kept so quiet that even bringing it up makes you sound like some sort of fringe nutjob?
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Anyway to make /. look "aqua-ized" all the time? It only does for the Mac stories.
Getting back on topic -- funny that MS pulled it so quick. Ticks me off that they do the same with other pages. i.e. IE, Media Player. I need to be able to test on OLDER versions.
http://www.microsoft.com/insider/downloads/ShowOff YourSkills.pdf
> Update: 10/14 21:12 GMT by P: Apparently,
> Microsoft has taken the page down, but Google
> has it.
She must have switched back
Insert simplistic political, ideological, or personal proselytization here.
AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®. Toolbars and menus customize themselves to the way I work. I wouldn't know how to function without the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. I adore the Office Clipboard, which copies multiple elements from one file and pastes them into another.
So a laptop with 512 MB of ram, Office XP, Windows XP pro, and all the other features this thing is talking about was $450.00 cheaper than an iBook? Sorry, but that is very unlikely. If you're comparing a Windows computer to a Mac, and you're saying that Office XP is better than AppleWorks, you'd better be including the $500 for Office XP in that comparison, or you're going to get burned by legal.
Now Final Cut Pro on the other hand...
That's what I call production over-run.
Because they haven't even attempted to make it look authentic.
However, I'm not sure they meant to. It didn't look to me to be so much of a "switch" ad, as a tutorial with a pleasant face on it....
Though even there it kind of failed...she mentions having to find the right drivers for your hardware, and the fact that she had to reinstall outlook.
I find it scary that Microsoft don't see the problem with that.
Advanced users are users too!
I don't know who uses M$ OS who actually _wants_ to(and I work for a bank with tens of thousands of desk tops.)
They use it because that's they were told to by the office. (The ones who have been told to use Citrix Clients to communicate with the office and own Macs at home can and likely do use the Mac OS X app.)
Windows is something the office sticks you with when they're too dumb to use Linux.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Good job spotting the fake, dude. You rule.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Where do they find these people?
blog |
*drumroll*
Gerald Holmes.
Well, maybe it wasn't him. He would have done a better job.
Cheers,
Ethelres
Everyone wants to be Ethelred. Even I want to be Ethelred.
What a horrid little article.
Wow, that was bad. I personally loved when that fictional woman was bragging about Office having more features then Appleworks. Well, all I have to say is "duh." AppleWorks was designed to be a simple office productivity suite, not the huge beast that is MS Office.
Moreover, did Microsoft forget that they sell Microsoft Office for MacOS? And did they also forget that the Mac versions of Office (at least 98, 2001, and Office X) have typically had cooler features and a better interface then their Windows counter parts?
And, hey don't get me started on all of the free Open Source Productivity suites that have tons of features and read DOC and XLS files for free. I think Microsoft forgot about those as well.
Other things that Microsoft seems to have forgotten about include:
Microsoft develops a version of Internet Explorer for Mac OS complete with tons of Mac specific features.
Mozilla(netscape) has more features, and -actually- does more then IE has ever done.
Every browser on the face of the earth comes with a history and organizable favorites, bookmarks, etc
A lowend iBook will remain functional a hell of a lot longer then a lowend notebook running windows.
Wizards are horrible little things that should rot in a firry pit of hell. Users should never 'need' to look for a wizard for simple setup procedure. They are a crutch for poor interface design.
God I hate Windows.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
My laptop came with 512 MB of RAM, a 15" screen, a DVD player, and Windows XP Home Edition preinstalled, for $450 less than a comparable iBook. My recommendation is to go straight to Windows XP Professional; the extra features for mobile users are worth it.
First off, I noticed that she chose not to include the extra $250-$300 for XP professional upgrade in the cost...
AppleWorks (previously called ClarisWorks) pales in comparison to Microsoft Office XP. There's no equivalent for the versatility of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint®.
It's also $75 and free on certain models (iMac/iBook, e.g.) - and MS Office is also available for the Mac .
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did
Finally, IE is the default browser on the Mac. And, being a daily user of IE5/OSX & IE6/Win2k, I can attest to the fact that IE5 on the Mac is more feature rich (auction tracking, autofill button, font+- as examples). Of course, IE5 on the Mac doesn't pop a window up everytime I pause over an image...but I'm thinking that's a plus.
About the only thing she forgot to put in there was And my Windows XP machine wasn't created using child labor plus it's dolphin and spotted owl friendly.
I can just see the new XP boxes: "Contains no harmful asbestos or cyanide laced CDs. Can your OS say that?"
Build a quality OS or crush the competition. Pick one.
Trust me. This is an inactive account. Regardless of what the
I realize M$ took the article down, but is the preferred method of submitting insider article ideas still via the following document links:
- or -
Would they prefer you just take over one of Micro$oft's IIS servers and replace the c:\wwwroot\ with your story content? Is there a code-redify wizard available to automate the process of taking 0wn3r5h1p of an IIS server, or does this have to be done manually? Thanks if someone knows...
www.dedserius.com
VB != VisualBasic
"The author of the page -- who never identifies herself, and who could very easily be fictional or a composite sketch"
Oh and I suppose if they gave a name and showed a more "natural" looking person, there's no way it could be fake?
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.
I have to admit, I'd probably write a nice glowing article for them, too, if they offered me a copy of Windows XP Professional to write it. I'm too cheap to spend $200 for a copy of the software, but a couple hundred words? Okay!
!#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
their marketing team found a way to get the page slashdotted so they can say to the boss, look how many hits our "switch" page is getting. the campaign is working!
That should be fun to watch :P
OK , I just don't get it. How can I get my imac to run all that great software she's talking about? My personal computer has all the specs on the XP box, but it just does not seem to work. What am I doing wrong? Like, it just sits there.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Well, one does wonder... the advertiser may have been worried about whether the thing actually died in the saddle or not, but the original Microsoft page that this SlashDot story is about says (used to say):
...which to me looks like she'd probably have to uninstall XP to stop it from crashing.
So... if this is Microsoft's new, fantastic, reliable, easy-to-use replacement for OS/X, why did our anonymous but very pretty switcher have to spend time sysadminning her brand new toy? And why did Microsoft publish that point? They're basically confirming every Windows user's constant nightmare: that the system might suddenly and without obvious cause irretrievably screw itself.
When was the last time you had to remove and reinstall KMail to get it working?
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
At the bottom of the MS page is a link to submit your own story about how MS software has made your life complete. I'm going to send the story about Windows XP activation puking last week while I was writing my last paper for college graduation. I'd love to let MS know how I stayed up all night trying to reactivate, then installing Windows 2000, and reinstalling Windows XP (only to find out that hey, I can reactivate now that I've reinstalled).
And before any of your even think about saying "That's what you get for pirating," I'll have you know this was a legal copy. I didn't pay full retail for it, but that's the benefit of going to a school owned by Microsoft. XP is worth the $10 I paid for it, but not much more.
That someone might use stock photographs as design elements on a web page!
Sure, the 'testamonial' picture would lead you to belive that the person pictured actualy wrote the artical, but most of those pictures are just headings to pages with lots of links.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
I know someone who switched from OS X to XP and liked it. It wasn't any particular feature they liked in XP or disliked in OS X, it was just what he felt was the incongruous mix of Mac and Unix, and what he felt was the excessively raw nature of OS X (he did use 10.1, but not 10.2 - but then, I've not used 10.2).
I can't say I understand his position, much less agree, but there it is. He's a a bit of a Unix geek and does most of his work on Macs (as dictated to him - he's a grad student), so it's not like he was planning on liking it.
OTOH, his TiBook was stolen, and his current laptop is in much less danger of being the target of thievery - it's just so danged ugly. Maybe that's what he prefers? :-P
--Matthew
Trust me, when M$ says "our man", "our software", "our platform", and "our partners" they are claiming ownership, total complete and absolute. The mechanisms of ownership may elude honest people, but everyone feels it. M$ motto, "What's ours is ours and what's yours is ours too." What's not fair about that?
Oh, your heartplug? Everyone has one of those here.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape Navigator ever did, and I am a surfing addict. Searches are faster; the History feature makes it easier to find that site from last week; and I can name and organize my Favorites any way I want."
Yeah. IE has introduced me to more security problems and buffer overflows than I can shake a stick at. Although, I progressed far beyond Netscape Navigator (Communicator has been around for years now) and went with Mozilla.
Last time I recall, Netscape & Mozilla both had search features, history features, and organizing bookmarks? Geez. Been there for years.
If anybody actually wrote something like that, it's someone that has never really bothered to read the help files of their web browser.
I took a couple of marketing classes in college and one of the things I remember most, which applies less to marketing than philosophy or martial arts, is to never push, but rather pull. Apple is pulling people in with their switcher stories. In response, Microsoft is pushing, both on Apple and potential customers, and in doing so has effectively lost to Apple, at least in this battle.
-- Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a baseball bat.
How about the freedom to study what your company's daily needs really are, roll up a custom distro that includes all the applications needed then roll it out over 1,000 machines? No, I suppose it's much better to pay M$ or Apple per seat for the GENERIC_DISTRO that imperfectly fits everyone from a blind grandmother to reactor enginners. Shesh! What is your work and what tools would you really like? Is M$ Internet Exploder and the Office really all anyone needs? OEM's have to beg permision to change the wallpaper! How flexible is that?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
had to take a shot
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the OS and it's programs were written in the optimal way, that is, as highly portable as possible, wouldn't it simply be a matter of including seperate versions of the machine specific code and then having everythig else just recompile to the appropriate version during install? Granted this leads to the problem of extreamly long install times, but then again, OSS developers love a challenge right?
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
The more you use M$ the more you lose.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
o/~ Join us now and share the software
This article was published by the associated press shortly after this slashdot story went live. Kudos to poster for injecting /. into the mainstream press, and to dissy for uncovering the stock picture. Both are mentioned in the article.
Yes. http://www.netbsd.org/.
Democracy. Whiskey. Sexy. Pick any two.
Twenty bucks says she doesn't even exist.
FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
My emails from years ago are available too. Via Mozilla. on my hard drive, not the net. And originally from outlook.
.9.8...of course it can't read from my hotmail account directly...but that's for other reasons.
And yes, mozilla _does_ rule. : D
Three installs of windows (at least) Outlook in 98, to outlook in 98, to outlook in 98, outlook 5.5, outlook 6, saved to disk, and now in ~/backup/correspondence/*.eml, look at them all. They open just fine. That's comforting - glad that they aren't gone forever...
And I do believe their import utility is good for outlook as well - although i've only tried it once, with success, and that was ~ moz
Who is this Anonymous Coward character, how does he post so much, and why is he always such a whore?
...but the multiuser part of Windows sucks worse than NFS in Linux. The separation of users settings works as long as it is Microsoft's software, but many 3rd party software sucks ass big time (for instance ICQ).
Multi-user works a hell of a lot better in different unixes, even though it is very basic and cumbersom (I can't spell today) at times.
uh, because they all run with the same unix security credentials. (because they all run with the prives of the apache server process)
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
She's not fictonal. She does exist. If she'd kept her MAC, I'd shag her :)
Comparing AppleWorks to Office XP is like comparing Photoshop Elements to Photoshop Retail.
Hmmm... They didn't say anything about MS Works. About the same price point, about same features, except AppleWorks does.
"This is you left and that's your left. This is your right and that's your right. You're gonna die!
The Borg are known for their perfection and adaptive systems! Depicting Gates as Borg is downright insulting to the Borg Collective.
-------- Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate -- the bombs always hit the ground.
Here's my view on the MS apps for MacOS X. I'm not a computer god, nor have I used all of these products for extensive periods of time, but on the other hand, I'm not an Apple PR agent either.
:-)
Office X: great application suite, costs too much money. I use Appleworks, which is not as easy to use as Office. However, it does come preinstalled, and it lacks a certain Clippy and a million auto-incorrect features (most of which I just turn off anyway). Not to mention it's smaller. Any assignment that requires technical typesetting, I use TeX, which is much easier to install/use under MacOS X than Windows. It's nice having a command line to type latex whatever.tex into
MSIE: The best browser I can find on OS X. Faster than Mozilla, better plug-in support than Chimera. It's funny how Moz renders as fast as MSIE, if not faster, but you have typing lag in the Address bar if other stuff is running, and that's just not acceptable. MSIE is buggy, but of course you have the same problem with Chimera and Moz.
Entourage: Never used it. My mail client is Mail, which has just about everything I ever wanted in a mail client: dock status icons (without being annoying), a good junk filter (although I rarely get junk mail), fast interface, and supported by PGP 8.0. Entourage is, too, but not as well: you can't use PGP/MIME or automatic decryption (with a password of course). I live Apple's silly iCal for scheduling, because I keep most of my scheduling info on a dead-tree calendar.
Various other comments about MacOS X vs Windows: I haven't broken it yet. Fink (beta under Jag) is buggy, and has screwed up some UNIX installs (crash while patching config files, etc), but that hasn't screwed up any native apps and the UNIX ones mostly work right (GIMP runs great). It's not that surprising either when installing unstable packages with a package manager in beta.
Non-UNIX stuff installs much more easily than in Windows. I hate the Windows install wizards. It's also easier to uninstall most programs (trash the app's folders in applications and Library; use Locate to clean up any additional files from poorly written apps; often they put stuff in app support too).
And perhaps the best thing is, I can ssh into my computer from across campus! Not to mention run Apache...
I hereby place the above post in the public domain.
Apple is selling slower hardware at higher prices
Did you know that the PowerPC chips that Apple uses cannot be compared to Intel/AMD chips purely on mHz? As for the higher prices, Apple just does not sell the volumes that Intel does. Apple does not benefit from the same economy of scale.
If anything, it would be more correct to say that Apple is selling better harware at higher prices!
I love the concept of OS X, but it is NOT a finished product.
Meaning what? I am not sure that I accept your claim. But even if you are correct, it would hardly the first time software was ever shipped before it was ready. There is a reason why it is advised to wait for version 3 of any m$ product after all...
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
It seems the non Microsoft media outlets are starting to fire on MS more intensely when they screw up. Perhaps Apple's campaign is starting to pay off? Perhaps Microsoft's policies of abusive licensing and forced upgrades are finally paying off?
In either case, it was interesting to see a major media outlet poke fun at MS, and present a fair and unbiased (though only 20 second) piece on the competition.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
> I could read that without stopping to think,
;>
:>
> "Doh! Buzzword!"
Well, I can sling buzzwords like anyone. I just know when it won't be appreciated.
> And you can code?
I like to think I can, but those who are inflicted with - er, enjoy - my code may have an alternative opinion. I'm mostly limited to Perl and PHP for my major project, though I've dabbled in Objective C and C++ (I've made some beautiful, albeit worthless, GUI-fied dice simulators for BeOS and Mac OS X).
> Thanks for the feedback. =) I just need a pat on
> the back to assure me that there are smart
> marketing folks out there. I suppose it's like
> CEOs: the dumb ones always seem to be the ones you
> notice.
I don't think that the problem is marketing people lacking intelligence, the problem is that a lot of people in the field lack a strong sense of ethics (and again, this is almost certainly just a handful spoiling the general impression).
Sometimes though, it's the managers. Just like a coder who is asked to release buggy code or lose his job, sometimes marketing people have those same kind of pressures from upstairs (this isn't the case with my employer, but I suspect I'm in a relatively unique company).
The fact is that most products ARE very much alike. As are most services. If everyone made claims based entirely on actual value then the balance would be about the same, 'cept some joker would use the hype to steal away customers. Say what you will about mindless hype, but it does work. People are very susceptible to that sort of thing, and companies know it.
- Jeff