Microsoft's "I'm A PC" Ad, Used Mac Technology

[Kathianne]

Too funny:

Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' campaign created with Macs

By Prince McLean
Published: 05:00 PM EST

Metadata found on Microsoft's creative copy used in its 'I'm a PC' ad reveals that the graphics were actually produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. After the details were published on the Flickr photo sharing site, Microsoft scrambled to polish off the embarrassing details last night

Microsoft's new ad features contrasts a "stereotyped PC user" dressed up like John Hodgman in Apple's Get a Mac ads with a number of people who say, "I'm a PC" apparently to affirm that they run Windows.

However, not even Microsoft itself can wean itself off the Mac, as the metadata discovered by Flickr user LuisDS points out. Microsoft was not only using Macs but also Adobe's software in place of its own Expressions Studio, which the company bills as software that "takes your creative possibilities to a new level."

Yeah, there are links, seems it wasn't Apple that found it out:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...with_macs.html

[Sitarro]

Too funny:



Yeah, there are links, seems it wasn't Apple that found it out:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...with_macs.html

Why am I not surprised? PC Magazine is produced on MACs also. I'm waiting for the new MAC Book Pros that will be coming soon.

[Said1]

I'm saving to get a little min-mac thingamagig for my daughter and I - xmas gift.....I hope. Or the mini-pc laptop - I want the laptop!

[darin]

why would MS use a Mac for graphics? I don't buy it.

[-Cp]

why would MS use a Mac for graphics? I don't buy it.

More importantly is how misleading the topic is of in the OP..

Adobe Creative Suite is NOT "MAC Technology" it is ADOBE Technology which runs the same on both a PC and a MAC.

I'm willing to bet Microsoft didn't make the ads for this and they hired an independent studio to do it for them.

[Sitarro]

More importantly is how misleading the topic is of in the OP..

Adobe Creative Suite is NOT "MAC Technology" it is ADOBE Technology which runs the same on both a PC and a MAC.

I'm willing to bet Microsoft didn't make the ads for this and they hired an independent studio to do it for them.

I know you don't believe in the superiority of Apple's Operating System but really, where did you get that anyone claimed that Adobe CS3 was MAC Technology? Yes, Adobe was exclusively on MAC for a number of years and yes, a majority of desk top publishing , illustrating, photo retouching and anything else creative is done on MACs but nobody is claiming that Adobe is an Apple property.

from Wikipedia, a short history of Adobe..........

"In the mid-1980s, Adobe entered the consumer software market with Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based drawing program for the Apple Macintosh. Illustrator, which grew from the firm's in-house font-development software, helped popularize PostScript-enabled laser printers. Unlike MacDraw, then the standard Macintosh vector drawing program, Illustrator described shapes with more flexible Bézier curves, providing unprecedented accuracy. Font rendering in Illustrator, however, was left to the Macintosh's QuickDraw libraries and would not be superseded by a PostScript-like approach until Adobe released Adobe Type Manager.
In 1989, Adobe introduced what was to become its flagship product, Adobe Photoshop for the Macintosh. Stable and full-featured, Photoshop 1.0 was ably marketed by Adobe and soon dominated the market.
Arguably, one of Adobe's few missteps on the Macintosh platform was their failure to develop their own desktop publishing (DTP) program. Instead, Aldus with PageMaker in 1985 and Quark with QuarkXPress in 1987 gained early leads in the DTP market. Adobe was also slow to address the emerging Windows DTP market. However, Adobe made great strides in that market with release of InDesign and its bundled Creative Suite offering. In a failure to predict the direction of computing, Adobe released a complete version of Illustrator for Steve Jobs' ill-fated NeXT system, but a poorly produced version for Windows."

Whatever equipment was used to produce the ad, it proves, once again, that Microsoft has no creativity and the only thing they can do is attempt to copy Apple's ideas. Unfortunately for Microsoft, they always come up woefully short. Vista is the punch line for most jokes in the computer industry today. It is a pathetic attempt at copying OSX by Apple and is not even up to par with the first version.....10.1. They are on 10.5 and will release the latest version, "Snow Leopard" soon.

Bottom line is that you are free to use Windows, you are also free to use a slide rule. It may not be a good choice, but you are free to make it.

[-Cp]

I know you don't believe in the superiority of Apple's Operating System but really, where did you get that anyone claimed that Adobe CS3 was MAC Technology?

Uh... look at the topic title: "Microsoft's "I'm A PC" Ad, Used Mac Technology" - that is false.. .it used Adobe Technology.

Whatever equipment was used to produce the ad, it proves, once again, that Microsoft has no creativity and the only thing they can do is attempt to copy Apple's ideas. Unfortunately for Microsoft, they always come up woefully short. Vista is the punch line for most jokes in the computer industry today. It is a pathetic attempt at copying OSX by Apple and is not even up to par with the first version.....10.1. They are on 10.5 and will release the latest version, "Snow Leopard" soon.

Does it show lack of creativity when ANY corporation hires an agency to creation an ad campaign for them? My brother-in-law works for such a firm and they make this kind of stuff for a TON of various companies - I'm not sure why you always attack Microsoft at any chance you get.

[CatalystOfChaos]

These days, it doesn't really matter anymore.

You can install and run Windows perfectly well on a Mac.

Windows is an operating system. Apple is a hardware/software/input/output device monopoly.

So... if they used a Mac to make the video, who cares? You can install Windows on a Mac now.

[-Cp]

These days, it doesn't really matter anymore.

You can install and run Windows perfectly well on a Mac.

Windows is an operating system. Apple is a hardware/software/input/output device monopoly.

So... if they used a Mac to make the video, who cares? You can install Windows on a Mac now.

And you can also install MacOS on a PC...

[Sitarro]

Uh... look at the topic title: "Microsoft's "I'm A PC" Ad, Used Mac Technology" - that is false.. .it used Adobe Technology.

The actual title of the blurbs that was quoted is "Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' campaign created with Macs", that would infer that it was done on MACs with Apple's Operating System rather than a generic PC using Windows Operating System. I do agree that it was probably done by ab outside firm but really, anyone with a cheap video camera and access to all of those people could have produced it, it certainly didn't take any creative thought.

I'm not sure why you always attack Microsoft at any chance you get.

I have been using Apple products for over 20 years, I have been criticized by Windows people for almost that long. I use both systems and love OSX and hate Windows, it's really that simple. I'm forced to use Windows at work and find it excruciating to perform even the simplist tasks, I can't even imagine what a pain it would be to produce anything complicated using it.

When I find something that works really well for years, I like to share that information. Obviously I sound like I am bashing other products, I will try to quit sounding like a fan boy........ I was accused of being a closet racist by a black guy at work because I criticized Obama's 57 state comment........ it must be either the way I criticize or the thin skin of others, I'll try to do better.

[-Cp]

The actual title of the blurbs that was quoted is "Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' campaign created with Macs", that would infer that it was done on MACs with Apple's Operating System rather than a generic PC using Windows Operating System. I do agree that it was probably done by ab outside firm but really, anyone with a cheap video camera and access to all of those people could have produced it, it certainly didn't take any creative thought.

I have been using Apple products for over 20 years, I have been criticized by Windows people for almost that long. I use both systems and love OSX and hate Windows, it's really that simple. I'm forced to use Windows at work and find it excruciating to perform even the simplist tasks, I can't even imagine what a pain it would be to produce anything complicated using it.

When I find something that works really well for years, I like to share that information. Obviously I sound like I am bashing other products, I will try to quit sounding like a fan boy........ I was accused of being a closet racist by a black guy at work because I criticized Obama's 57 state comment........ it must be either the way I criticize or the thin skin of others, I'll try to do better.

I'm happy you have an OS that you like using - just too bad it's a Liberal OS :P

[Kathianne]

The title of op was based on the linked article. I never used a mac, until my 5th pc crashed and burned; in a pique, I bought the G5. I wouldn't go back to Compaq, Dell, HP, anytime soon. On the other hand, I love the 'feel' of Windows, Word, and the desktop configuration, which is why I do have Windows for Mac.

Seems to me rather than bashing, it's just smart to stop arguing, and use what feels comfortable. BTW, my G5 is still running as fast as the day I got it, my mac notebook has also been stable, I love it. True, 4 years ago I would have thought I'd never learn to love a Mac. 4 years is 2 years longer than any pc I've had at home. True, I think my pc problems were likely related to kids being on them, but that also applies to the G5.

[Sitarro]

I'm happy you have an OS that you like using - just too bad it's a Liberal OS :P

I know, that is a very embarrassing point that I hoped would never get brought up. Al Gore on the board, arghhhhh!