Tech Oddity > Myths Dispelled > Apple Advertising


= Introduction =
I’ve seen many myths about PCs listed by Apple and am going to try and dispel them here.

= Television Commercials =
* Computer Cart – True Windows does have a lot of cryptic error messages but it is not a PC specific problem. This is getting the PC and Windows mixed up.
* Podium, Party Is Over – True Vista did take a long time to come out. While some devices aren’t supported by Vista many are and the same is true for Mac OS X. Unless the manufacturer provides a driver you can’t use older devices. Also like Mac OS X Vista has many new features.
* Security – This ad sadly goes with the idea that User Account Control (UAC) is bad, annoying and a prompt is needed for normal things that you do. This is just untrue, for most normal tasks like surfing the internet, reading email and others a prompt will be seen. The odd bit here is Mac OS X has a similar system for Least Privilege and it like Linux prompts for the root password so by the ad’s logic the OS X way should be super annoying also. See my id4 page for more on UAC.
* Stuffed, Out Of The Box – While it’s true a lot of PCs come with trialware, not all do and it makes the PCs a little cheaper when they do. Also drivers don’t usually need to be updated on a new computer.
* Surgery – This ad says that upgrading to Vista is major surgery which is little extreme. It’s not that hard and you can just buy a new machine with Vista on it. Still easier then switching to a Mac.
* Tech Support – Implies you can only get integrated webcams on a Mac which is untrue. You can a PC laptop with a webcam builtin.
* Time Machine – Fails to mention the fact that Windows Vista has a Previous Versions feature that does the same type of thing. Though it only has a UI in the Ultimate edition and is not a replacement for a backup.
* Touché – While you can do a dual boot with Windows, the ad doesn’t mention the hassle of having to reboot to get to the other OS.
* Trust Mac, Viruses – Says that you can’t get viruses or spyware (malware) on a Mac which is not true. You can get malware just fine on a Mac, there is just very little malware made for Mac as it’s not that popular of a platform.
* Work vs. Home – Implies that PCs aren’t suited for Home things like blogging and pictures which is untrue.

= Online Ads =
Flash Reload AD – Uses bad press to say Windows Vista is bad, when it’s not.

= Other Notes =
Just to be clear, I have nothing against the Mac and I think many of the Advertisements are funny.
I just don’t like the misinformation many of Apple’s Advertisements have.