Microsoft goes on Apple attack

O

Ou grote

Honorary Master
Joined
Sep 3, 2007
Messages
15,461
Reaction score
4
Location
Where you live
http://www.macworld.co.uk/business/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=23183
Interesting :)
Microsoft begins to act on its Apple Tax counter-attack
Ian Paul, PC World

Are you paying the "Apple tax"? If you own a Mac you are, Microsoft's PR machine is beginning to claim. On Tuesday Microsoft whipped up some talking points and had its P Waggener Edstrom circulate them to the media explaining why Apple users pay more for a computer. What sparked the memo? Perhaps Apple's big MacBook announcement Tuesday.

Microsoft's basic thrust is that Apple consumers pay more for less choice, and will find far more freedom and flexibility on a Windows machine. (see below for the complete memo).


Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing, went beyond the memo and made his case for why consumers should look to Microsoft Vista instead of Leopard when he spoke with CNET's Ina Fried.

"There really is a tax around there for people that are evaluating their choices going into this holiday season and going forward," Brooks said. "There's a choice tax that we talked about, which is, hey, you want to buy a machine that's other than black, white, or silver, and if you want to get it in multiple different configurations or price points, you're going to be paying a tax if you go the Apple way. "

Brooks also says: "There's going to be an application tax, which is if you want choice around applications, or if you want the same type of application experience on your Mac versus Windows, you're going to be purchasing a lot of software. And even at that you're not going to get the same experience. You're not going to get things like Microsoft Outlook. . . "

Not true. Windows machines have far less usable software out of the box than Apple, and any problems that Apple users have with Microsoft Outlook or other parts of Office should fall squarely on the shoulders of its designer . . . Microsoft.

Brooks: "That is a fallacy to think that Macs are somehow invulnerable, or impervious to virus, or phishing, or spyware. And we will tell you that based on our own data that you're 60 percent less likely to get any type of virus. . . if you're running Windows Vista versus Windows XP SP2."

Hold on - comparing Vista to XP SP2 is not entirely fair. Windows XP is by far the most widely used operating system in the world today. Vista may be its successor, but it is not widely used enough to really hold up to a comparison with XP. As far as Apple versus Vista, it's true that everybody is vulnerable to phishing and spyware, but virus attacks on Mac, while on the increase in recent years, don't even come close to infection numbers on Windows machines.

So, what's going on here? Well, as Brooks says in his interview, Microsoft is tired of having their products framed through Apple's "Hello, I'm a Mac" commercials.

The choice between systems really comes down to personal preference. But as Mac starts to pull in a larger consumer base, you can expect the Mac vs. Windows rivalry is starting to heat up! The question remains, who will you be voting for?

Here's Microsoft's Memo:

"The economy is impacting consumer choices, but Macs, due to their high upfront, won't sell in a more conservative market. On 29 September, Morgan Stanley noted: "PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly the sub-$1,000 market where Apple does not play." Even if Apple were to drop pricing, the Apple Tax still prices Macs well outside of the sub-$1000 range.

"You can get a PC laptop with a bigger hard drive, more RAM, a media-card reader, more USB ports, and a bigger screen, for much less than a Mac....You can upgrade just about any Windows desktop PC, but the only significantly upgradeable Mac is the Mac Pro listed at $2799.00.

"Repurchasing software to make your Mac do all the things your PC does will cost you hundreds of dollars. Buying a Mac means scrapping your software and buying new applications (for up to $1,100) that run on Mac, just to do what you can still easily do on a new PC with the applications you already have. We've listed a set of common applications below.

"HDMI, Blu-Ray, eSATA, MediaCard Readers, built-in 3G, Fingerprint readers, TV Tuners, all have been shipping as built-in features on PCs for years, but none are available on a Mac. Not only does this mean you get to use the latest and greatest now, but since it's so easy to upgrade PCs, it also means that your computer is more future-ready...you can get today's technology now, and tomorrow's technology the minute its available."
Click to expand...
 
"The economy is impacting consumer choices, but Macs, due to their high upfront, won't sell in a more conservative market. On 29 September, Morgan Stanley noted: "PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly the sub-$1,000 market where Apple does not play." Even if Apple were to drop pricing, the Apple Tax still prices Macs well outside of the sub-$1000 range.
Click to expand...
They do now.
 
bwana said:
They do now.
Click to expand...

Yep.
Wonder why MS are so worried about Apple these days...


This part is interesting - if it were true, Apple will lose customers.
Brooks: "That is a fallacy to think that Macs are somehow invulnerable, or impervious to virus, or phishing, or spyware. And we will tell you that based on our own data that you're 60 percent less likely to get any type of virus. . . if you're running Windows Vista versus Windows XP SP2."
Click to expand...
 
alf101 said:
Yep.
Wonder why MS are so worried about Apple these days...


This part is interesting - if it were true, Apple will lose customers.
Click to expand...
They're comparing Vista to XP - why would Apple lose customers?
 
Speaking of a recession - there's nothing like a recession to make managers look twice at spending money...
 
Apple tax... that is rich coming from microsoft. For how many years have we been forced to pay a microsoft tax on new PCs even if we never wanted windows?

On the whole though I'm not surprised that microsoft wouldn't want to get some back on apple after all the apple ads that attack vista.
 
Come now macezoids...we know better than paying attention to Windoze cheap shots! If you ask me..MS is going into a recession!! Then again...do we care?
 
That guy had a point but didn't even know how thats apple's major problem, which is:

PRICE

but they(apple) are slowly combating this problem with the introductions of the updated new macbooks.

From a guy who went apple 7 years back & never went back to MS, i used to build high end computers at a fraction of the cost. Like super fast intel chips, high end graphics card, lotsa ram, large harddrive that could play the latest games, fast video encoding, etc... Now i want to play COD4, i have to shelve out mega bucks to get the new macbook or imac which i cant afford right now. I still contemplate wether to bring back the PC just because of COD4.

Now... if you were to buy a high end PC, its still expensive compared to building your own (not that expensive to high end macs) but still expensive.

2 Points:

1. I think the only people who lose out in the Apple/Microsoft industry are the tech geeks who can build computers at a fraction of the cost.

2. Something is happening to Apple product line, like if you noticed with new macbooks, macbook pro, imac, (maybe the new upcoming mac mini) Almost all the products have similar specs like similar intel c2d speeds, ram, hdd, graphics card(with the intro of the nvidia onboard cards) Who know's whats gonna happen!
 
bam-bam said:
That guy had a point but didn't even know how thats apple's major problem, which is:

PRICE

but they(apple) are slowly combating this problem with the introductions of the updated new macbooks.

From a guy who went apple 7 years back & never went back to MS, i used to build high end computers at a fraction of the cost. Like super fast intel chips, high end graphics card, lotsa ram, large harddrive that could play the latest games, fast video encoding, etc... Now i want to play COD4, i have to shelve out mega bucks to get the new macbook or imac which i cant afford right now. I still contemplate wether to bring back the PC just because of COD4.
Click to expand...

I have both, a macbook to do all my office work/communication because it's reliable and a homebuilt PC for gaming and CPU intensive work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X