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Call for William Tell!

New Microsoft ads that directly target Apple made me realize that the ads couldn’t hit an Apple with William Tell‘s help!

I have to applaud Microsoft’s recent effort to improve security in Vista. There was plenty of room available for it. However, unlike a lot of CIOs, enduser customers actually READ! Enduser customers don’t get fired for not buying a certain three-letter-acronym, and enduser customers don’t like to spend all of their cpu cycles running virus scans. Enduser customers, unlike corporate customers, have a small amount of money to spend and want to spend it on the products and services that have the highest quality and return on investment (including technical support, of which Apple’s is very highly rated, by customers). So enduser customers actually do as much research on products as their time and personal expertise allow.

As a result, enduser customers are LEADING the corporate customers. This is true in cell phones and is becoming more and more true in “desktop” (i.e., laptop) platforms, as corporations “wise up.” College students cannot afford to have their computers crash or become infected before critical term papers or final exams. Users at home or in small business do not have huge IT departments to resolve problemsl In one of my last corporate positions, which was standardized on Windows XP (users did not not have administrative rights, my first experience with this phenomenon), 5 out of 6 members of the group purchased Macintoshes for their own personal computers at home. The 6th person was the manager. :-)

I don’t personally believe that this particular battle is primarily about marketing. Several personal computing platforms are out there and have pluses and minuses, and they have established their own track records. Many of these track records are public knowledge.

Enduser customers purchase what is best for themselves (please note, different customers have different requirements, which can mean different platforms).

Corporate customers, on the other hand, purchase what they are told to purchase.

Jerry Seinfeld called his award-winning show “Seinfeld” a “show about nothing.” It looks like his commercials with Bill Gates have turned out the same way.

(Note added September 28, 2008: I saw one of the NEW ads on TV tonight, and I think that even the Seinfeld/Gates ads made more sense. :-) I am not sure if the new ads are supposed to be humorous in places, or not! I have worked at companies that were bereft of humor – that is one reason that I really enjoy the humor of the Apple ads. Maybe the Microsoft ads will become fine-tuned, so that I don’t find myself scratching my head so much during commercial breaks.) :-)

It will be interesting to see if Apple sues over the new character who “looks a whole lot like John Hodgman,” the actor in the Apple commercials who says, “I’m a PC.” Maybe the battle will continue in the marketplace, rather than the courts.

(Note added on September 21, 2008: As mentioned in the CNET article, another part of the ad campaign is to “play up the notion” that Windows works on multiple device types [desktop, laptop, and phones]. Perhaps another use and device type might be Microsoft’s “SYNC” technology that has been used in Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury automobiles. If purchasing a vehicle for myself, I would ask for a price reduction in any vehicle so equipped, in the anticipation of future aggravation and problems. On the basis of my years of experience in high tech using a variety of platforms, I would personally not use any Windows technology that did not come with a CD or DVD for reinstallation of the operating system. YMMV. [“Your mileage may vary!”] Again, you may have seen different results that might cause you to have different personal opinions for your own use.)

Once again, humor has been shown to be deadly in the hands of trained professionals. :-)

-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™

You can view higher-resolution photos (*generally* 7-30 megabytes, compressed) at the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Pro Gallery on Shutterfly™, where you can also order prints and gifts decorated with the photos of your choice from the gallery. Apparel and other gifts decorated with some of our most popular photos can be ordered from the Cheshire Cat Photo™ Store on CafePress®. Both Shutterfly™ and CafePress® ship to most international locations worldwide! If you don’t see what you want or would like to receive an email when new photos are up on the site, send us an email at info@cheshirecatphoto.com.

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