Microsoft shooting itself in the foot?

[kriegvision]

Does the latest Microsoft Ad featuring Lauren win any worthwhile points with the buying public (i.e. people who are considering Macs)? Or is Microsoft just shooting itself in the foot as much of the industry press is saying?

Seeing as how Microsoft has such an enormous market share compared to Apple, I find it pathetic that they feel the need to specifically target them. The big guys aren't supposed to pick on the little guys.

[lessthanthree]

I read somewhere that they have yet another ad out with yet another member of the 'public' . This person claims to be tech savvy, and then claims that Apple makes aesthetics their priority, and not good hardware. Sorry, I bought some new RAM for a laptop running windows the other day (the same brand that was inside it) and within an hour, I'd lost RAM. I've had my MacBook for over a year now, and there is not one thing (aside from the superdrive) that has had a fault.

One thing I think is funny is that nowhere in the ad does it mention Windows Vista (which is there product), and relies on the whole "Macs cost more, so let's stick with windows" idea. Plus they're doing fantastic advertising for HP.

Oh, and one more thing, it turns out that Lauren isn't just a member of the public who answered a Craiglist ad, but is indeed an actress http://www.laurendelong.com/About%20Me.htm

[Turboladdade]

Many bloggers are just tearing apart the new Giampolou (spelling?) ad on the claim that he's "tech savvy" yet buys a 16" notebook with comparable resolution and processor to the lowest end white 13" MacBook that costs $400 less, weighs over 7 pounds and has a two hour battery life.

Dear Giampaulo- You Had $1,500 and Blew It
Another HP/Microsoft ad, another fail

Some techie he is...

[Quail]

I think even though they're silly, they're still going to work with the general public to some extent. I think because of how many iPods and iPhones there are, the public probably doesn't perceive Apple as a "little" guy.

[GiraffeeDreams]

The best ones were, I'm a PC and I only need one operating system.
This was when vista came out (all 6 versions of it), now 7 and windows 8 is in production, I don't see many apple ads and I don't need to, I have a 4GHz intel core duo with 8GB of RAM, 1TB of storage and it's running windows 7 ulitmate, i actually use instead an iBook G3 running OS 10.2.8 and a massive 10GB hdd, all of the features Microsoft advertise as new are in fact features that have been present since 2000 in some cases in other products.
Enough rant, apple costs more, you get what you pay for and let's face it, vista tried to look pretty like mac os has done from the beginning.
It's safe to say I'm thoroughly with apple ever since getting my first (now sadly dead) MacBook 2 years ago.