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Microsoft Uses "I'm a PC" Character In New Ads
arcticstoat writes to tell us that in the wake of their largely unsuccessful Jerry Seinfeld ad campaign Microsoft is setting their sights directly on recent Apple ads by featuring the "I'm a PC" character in their new advertising campaign. "He then follows this with another phrase, such as 'and I've been made into a stereotype' before the advert shifts to a range of people performing a diverse assortment of jobs, all of which also say they're a PC. Among those featured are astronaut Bernard Harris, as well as religious author Deepak Chopra and 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria. The ad also features a wide range of anonymous people, including a shark diver, a teacher and a guy with a beard."
I'm a PC
Because "false advertising" depends on the definition of "false". In this case, true or false depends on the definition of "PC".
The common definition may be (lifted from Wikipedia): "A personal computer (PC) is any computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator."
But here's another definition, from Business Dictionary: "A computer designed for use by a single user. Although other Microcomputers preceded it, the IBM PC was the first to use the name specifically. As a result, the term PC now applies to an IBM-compatible computer as contrasted to the Apple Macintosh, these being the two standards that emerged from an abundance of competitors in the early 1980s."
This definition has certainly ignored the transition of Apple to Intel processors, but it's not a long stretch to consider the definition of "PC" in some circles to strictly mean a computer in the IBM legacy chain, meaning something running DOS or a DOS derivative or successor, including Windows.
I do find it disingenuous, though, that neither Apple nor Microsoft distinguish between "PCs" running Windows and those running Linux, and I've never seen a definition of PC that contrasted or excluded Linux systems (since of course the have always run on IBM-legacy hardware).
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
The trouble is Apple doesn't get it either. John Hodgman's "PC" over time has developed a sympathetic cachet; everyone I know loves the apple ads, but we are all rooting for the poor PC who just keeps taking the hits.
Of course everyone is rooting for Hodgman -- he's the star of the commercials. But people are watching the commercials, laughing at them, calling their spouses in to the living room saying, "Hey, there's a new one on"... that's advertising success. The point is to have people remembering how cool those commercials for Apple were when they are thinking of buying a new computer.
The new MS ad actually appeals to them, its a little vindication for 'poor PC'.
I disagree. If Charlie Brown started repeatedly kicking Lucy in the head in a fit of long-suppressed rage, we might sympathize, but I'm guessing readership would probably drop off a bit.
Sam! If you will let me be,
I will try them.
You will see.
Yeah! Me too! I went out and donated my Mac to the Salvation Army and my Unix boxen got sent to Africa, and I got me THREE BRAND NEW COMPUTERS WITH VISTA INSTALLED!
Oh, boy! Talk about eye candy!
Couldn't get the wireless at the hotel lobby to work, though...
Main difference between the BSD license and the GPL license: one is from California and the other is from Massachusetts