QUOTE (dot1q @ Sep 1 2009, 01:40 PM)

Agreed~! All Apple and Microsoft commercials are geared toward choosing/discrediting a product for no real tangible reason other than they just can. It's a popularity contest as far as the commercials go.
I'm generally neutral between the two, but I do have bigger qualms with Apple (and its not because of the product itself) in the sense that Apple needs to grow a pair and make OSX available to all hardware. Then we can start comparing oranges to oranges. The Macs image today and appeal is based on being a "niche" and "exclusive". It's sad, but the majority of Mac users just feel like OSX is better and greater because that's the image the product carries and that's what consumers obsess about (whether they realize it or not). I'm not saying OSX is or isn't better, but you need to level the field to do a true comparison. If Apple really wants a battle of the OS's and wants to take a stab against Microsoft in gaining majority market share, they need to come out of their shell. Why don't they? I don't think they want to and they're happy with their targeted market. If OSX was truly indeed that much more superior to Windows as OSX fan boys/girls and these commercials claim, then be willing to back it up and stand up for it by going hardware independent. One doesn't just standby on a sure thing and Apple isn't stupid. If OSX went hardware independent, you better bet Apple would be taking a chance and risk on losing it all (but at the same time they can win it all). Apple needs to bring it.
It's like comparing and buying two different designer handbags. Both excellent products and both having their personal ups and downs which are subjective to the user. Does the Gucci bag fundamentally do anything better or worse than the Louis Vuitton? The end purpose and use is to use them as a "bag" and they both perform that function fine. Sure the pockets and zippers may have different orientations, style/color may be different, but end of the day each holds its' own and provide the same functionality to the user. It's the same with Macs vs PC debate. Use whats comfortable for you because they both perform the same function as a personal computer. Avoid the Apple/Microsoft hype about how one is technically better than the other because it's all nonsense and marketing crap strung up from taking things out of context and going on tangents. End of the day, the real difference is completely subjective to the user's experience and like all things cost.
-"yet another PC vs Mac topic".

Windows can be used on a Mac computer. That's apples vs apples, oranges vs oranges for ya.
I have to agree on some fronts, and disagree on others. My parents and my in-laws are as computer illiterate as you can come (or close to). With that said, my dad and my mom-in-law have been using windows just fine. They get almost everything they need to do just fine.
But where I disagree is that (and I'm really nit-picking to make a distinguished argument-- at least here in this thread) there are several things that are clearly easier to do on a Mac.
Ever installed that program and needed to uninstall it? For my Mac, I literally just delete the file. Apps in Macs are usually just a file that is packed with other files. For instance, Firefox is just one icon, even though packed inside that one icon are other files that Firefox needs to run. To uninstall it, I just click on the icon and delete. It is as remarkable to install (most) applications, something that both my c-illiterate parents could do. On Windows, you jump through one extra loop, and something that an inexperienced user would not be able to do. And that's really the point of a lot of the ads. Not everything in a Mac will be a better or easier experience, but enough good ones to stand out.
I'm a fan of the Apple ads, because (as a fan of marketing, due to a former roommate in a masters program for marketing) I feel as though Apple has a different message throughout all of their ads that comes across as very, very witty. They're different than most ads, uses known actors (or at least known to me), and generally can make a room full of people laugh. When I went to the theatre last night to watch a movie and saw a Windows ad, I just shrugged. The actors-- and they were
clearly acting-- were just so clumsy, and it just felt so awkward when they bashed Macs unapologetically on a uniform basis. "Macs just feel like they're overpriced and merely marketed as cool." And that is their ad. All 20 of them. (Or it feels like 20.)
On a basis of purely Mac vs PC commercials, I
love Mac commercials, and I
loathe PC commercials. You hate the little nit-pickings by Mac that are not entirely true? Sorry, bud. You're hating the player, not the game. That's marketing.
(And to set things straight: I use Windows as much as I use Macs, and I find them both completely easy to use. It is as different as driving a Chevy or Toyota. The experience may differ slightly, but they still do the same thing and the buttons, pedals, and steering wheel are the same.)