Windows wouldn't be able to pull off the complete focus that Apple does. Their products don't merit that necessarily.
That's why there's such an inconsistency between the views that I see here and the views that I'm finding on all of the (Apple-leaning) blogs that I read daily. It's not because Mac users like to just blatantly bias themselves against Microsoft. It's because I think that Apple users have a much more sterile attitude towards the products that they use. They care only about how powerful their computers are, how beautiful they look, and how quickly they can get their work done. It's like the commenter said here a long time ago. Picture Dell running an ad like Apple does, with a Dell computer revolving in a white space. It's preposterous. They couldn't get away with it.
So Microsoft runs these ads. The reaction I've seen overwhelmingly here is that they're doing a great job of making Microsoft seem like a likable everyday company, and that that's a brilliant ad campaign. The Apple users, on the other hand, think that Microsoft is admitting inferiority by doing this, and that the fact that they're not directly attacking Apple's product (or promoting their own) is a sign of absolute, terrible weakness. It's a difference in mindsets. Personally, I agree with the Apple side's mindset, because I dislike ads that don't actively push their product. I consider that dishonest. That said, this site's making me realize just who those ads are being aimed at.
It's funny that you mentioned charity. I always saw Apple as a very Objectivist company in terms of their attitude towards their products, and Microsoft as the obvious mass-market opponents that get depicted in Ayn Rand novels. A big part of that difference is always that the villains in Rand support charity quite publicly and the Rand characters focus only on one thing: their work.
That's why there's such an inconsistency between the views that I see here and the views that I'm finding on all of the (Apple-leaning) blogs that I read daily. It's not because Mac users like to just blatantly bias themselves against Microsoft. It's because I think that Apple users have a much more sterile attitude towards the products that they use. They care only about how powerful their computers are, how beautiful they look, and how quickly they can get their work done. It's like the commenter said here a long time ago. Picture Dell running an ad like Apple does, with a Dell computer revolving in a white space. It's preposterous. They couldn't get away with it.
So Microsoft runs these ads. The reaction I've seen overwhelmingly here is that they're doing a great job of making Microsoft seem like a likable everyday company, and that that's a brilliant ad campaign. The Apple users, on the other hand, think that Microsoft is admitting inferiority by doing this, and that the fact that they're not directly attacking Apple's product (or promoting their own) is a sign of absolute, terrible weakness. It's a difference in mindsets. Personally, I agree with the Apple side's mindset, because I dislike ads that don't actively push their product. I consider that dishonest. That said, this site's making me realize just who those ads are being aimed at.
It's funny that you mentioned charity. I always saw Apple as a very Objectivist company in terms of their attitude towards their products, and Microsoft as the obvious mass-market opponents that get depicted in Ayn Rand novels. A big part of that difference is always that the villains in Rand support charity quite publicly and the Rand characters focus only on one thing: their work.