"Im a PC! Got a problem with that?": New Microsoft advertisements kick off.

[Bitmap Frogs]

Thatmax said:
So... whats the point in the ad? I learnt nothing about the computer at all! someone got paid to think this up???

 

The point of the ad is to sabotage Apple's mudslinging "Get a Mac" advertisements. It's remembering you (if you are a PC user) that you are a pc too just like many other people in the world so whenever Apple ad's make fun out of I'm a PC guy it feels like it's making fun out of all those people and out of you. It's got also some celebrities thrown in for the cool factor and it also enforces the perception of Apple being a minority/niche solution chosen because of style/brand, not functionality (as the ad shows, PC's can be used by everyone and for everything).  I think it's also intended to disrupt Apple's "only boring cubicle lurkers would use windows" subtext. They do this by changing the meaning of "I'm a PC". If you watch "Get a Mac" ads carefully, they are always constructed so it is inferred that both actors represent the computer, not the user - that way Apple can get away with belittling and humiliating the "I'm a PC" guy. MS wants people to read "I'm a PC" as "I'm a PC user" so Apple can no longer do that.

To put it in another way, MS execs are way pissed at Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign and want them to stop. There's also of course the issue of Apple growing a crapload on the most dynamic segment right now (laptops) and the so called halo effect of iPods and iPhones (both extremely succesful products even amongst the windows crowd that supposedly are driving adoption of Apple computers).

@Darth I could argue you that statement to hell. I can also provide you links from tomshardware (a pc only site) comparing costs on a Mac Pro and equivalent equipped box made of cheapest newegg components that show less than 100$ markup* (including windows license).

*under certain conditions that sadly aren't widespread knowledge.