Comments on: The Microsoft “Lauren” ads are right

By: sam

sam — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:27:29 +0000

By: ianbetteridge

ianbetteridge — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:48:51 +0000

The worst thing about the internet is how it allows the tiny percentage of people who get obsessional over anything to shout very very loudly about it.

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:26:24 +0000

It's a bit disturbing how unhinged some Mac people have become over the ad. I feel bad for the girl in the commercial, apparently people have already gone over her career with a fine-toothed comb, I imagine it's only a matter of time before they start digging into her personal life as well.

By: Mac Morrison

Mac Morrison — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:22:49 +0000

the genius is getting a everyday cool person to say 'I guess I'm not cool enough to be a mac person' subliminal translation being I'm not a past the curve geek or victim in teh nathansphere. That said you do 'almost' buy a macbook air on an bi-daily basis.

By: nick s

nick s — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 21:10:51 +0000

If MS had really wanted to sting, “Lauren” would have been saying “you know, I can't write this off as a business expense.”

By: ianbetteridge

ianbetteridge — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:17:47 +0000

I think it's a (sensible) recognition of the times. And it's interesting that they're playing it not as “get more for your money” but “get the right machine for your budget”.

By: ianbetteridge

ianbetteridge — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:16:01 +0000

I generally prefer Entourage over Outlook, unless I'm using Exchange. But yes, it's the weakest of the bunch. On the other hand, I adore Word 2008 – it's a million times nicer than the Windows version.

By: ianbetteridge

ianbetteridge — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:14:47 +0000

But that's because you spend all your money on phones

By: ianbetteridge

ianbetteridge — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:14:29 +0000

Sensible people do have a budget, yes

One thing that I didn't mention is that they're very clever choosing screen size as a focus, because it's an area where Apple is at its weakest. There's lots of people who want a low-cost laptop, but don't want a small screen. I use my laptop all the time, it's my main machine at home, and there's no way I'd want to use a 13in all the time. I've done it in the past, and it's painful for me.

For Apple, low cost = small screen. And I think that might just be too simplistic an equation now.

By: paul

paul — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:02:36 +0000

They should have done the cost/value/price thing ages ago, but I'm still surprised they have. Whenever I've worked with MS over the years, either in some consultant setting or in an ad agency setting, they had disliked being seen as the cheaper option. They work extremely hard to fight on the higher ground of features, technology, quality, etc and actively construct (sometimes quite weak) positions to avoid talking about the cost as the main event. This is a pretty big change of strategy in my opinion.