Filed under: Apple Corporate, Retail, Rumors
Apple Store employees prepped for Vista
Let the battle begin! Along with the snarky new television ad, Apple is arming retail store employees with information to share with customers regarding Microsoft's Vista. According to Think Secret, a six-page document that emphasizes Vista upgrade hassles, the OS's multiple versions and the fact that a Mac will run Windows has been distributed to Apple's 170 stores. It's the third point that gets me. If I can have a Mac and run Windows, well that seems like having my cake and eating it, too. The first time I let my Windows-loving friend see my Macbook Pro boot XP, he nearly fell out of his chair. I'm really looking forward to seeing how OS 10.5 improves on this experience.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jack said 12:11PM on 2-07-2007
Wouln't it be funny if Apple stores started selling Windows on the shelves in the software section?
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Kjartan said 12:14PM on 2-07-2007
"I'm really looking forward to seeing how OS 10.5 improves on this experience."
How would the new Mac OS version affect your Windows experience?
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Jon said 12:18PM on 2-07-2007
It seems a bit of a waste to pay lots of money for a Mac and use it solely for Windows. It's like buying a really nice sports car and then putting the cheapest, nastiest fuel in it. It kind of ruins the experience.
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Joe said 12:45PM on 2-07-2007
Kjartan, I imagine the new Mac OS could improve things if, for example, there was a way to run Windows on one display with OS X on the other. I believe that is something that Parallels is working on, but depending on the capabilities of Spaces with mulitple displays, the new OS could definitely improve the experience.
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Boris said 12:46PM on 2-07-2007
if i had to buy a new windows machine, i would definitely consider a imac/windows desktop. the imac is the best hardward experience going.
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Justin Lane said 1:00PM on 2-07-2007
I was at the Apple Store yesterday in Dallas, and (while picking up my brand spanking new MacBook) saw a shirt that said something to the effect of A Step Up From Vista...The cashier girl was wearing it.
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Matthew said 1:00PM on 2-07-2007
The ads are one thing (which I support), but I think Apple should take the high road in the stores.
The bottom line is this, Apple employees can say whatever they want about Windows but Win customers will most likely boil it down to one thing: Cost.
Most of these Win users know how much it costs to buy a PC with Vista and they know how much a Mac costs with Vista. The Mac premium is hard enough to get past for these buyers, but the idea of paying a "Mac tax" plus the cost of Windows to run on their Mac is only going to appeal to fragment of potential switchers.
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Lars said 1:12PM on 2-07-2007
Vista Schmista. I'm still waiting on the slides with info on 10.5 and those features Microsoft photocopiers weren't allowed to see.
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Midas360 said 1:17PM on 2-07-2007
What's even funnier is Microsoft doesn't care what PC hardware Windows runs on. They still have to purchase a license.
It's hilarious because Microsoft doesn't sell pc's. HA HA HA HA. Apple is just another PC manufacturer in Microsoft's mind.
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Midas360 said 1:20PM on 2-07-2007
Alot of the "features" Apple claims was in an earlier longhorn beta build. Remember, Vista is 5 years in the making, long before OS X was a thougt.
Truth hurts fanboys.
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Jules Stoop said 1:29PM on 2-07-2007
@Midas360
I have a beta of OS X lying here which is pre-XP, let alone pre-Vista.
Don't forget that NextStep, the OS that OS X is based on, was pre-Windows '95 and the original Macintosh system was pre Windosw 1.0 (for that matter).
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Randy said 1:59PM on 2-07-2007
Midas360,
You have gotta be kidding. You actually think it took MS 5 years to add "Gadgets" (not Widgets) and they're crappy version of Expose to Vista. Not to mention their spotlight-like search function with the forwards facing magnifying glass (as oposed to Apple's backward facing icon).
Of course not. They added those features after they saw them in Tiger. Just like almost evry other new feature in Windows, they copy someone else's idea, change it a little (just for the sake of change, not because it's an improvement), then call it innovation.
Face it, Microsoft is a follow-on company, not an inovative company.
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Goobimama said 2:08PM on 2-07-2007
Now that Vista is released, Apple knows that they have to come up with some really really cool stuff to keep the gap between OS X and Windows. Earlier the competition was XP, which was no competition at all....
The sound of this makes me...happy (though not in THAAT way)
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SubGenius said 2:31PM on 2-07-2007
"Upgrade to Windows Vista...Cancel or Allow?"
Cancel!
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JumboBob said 3:02PM on 2-07-2007
Apple's Spotlight is horrible. I tried to use it many times and was so frustrated I threw it out the window. Expose is give or take (prettier than a taskbar, but not as efficient). Widgets are first, a ripoff of Konfabulator (Yahoo! Widgets), and second, badly integrated. So take your "microsoft photocopiers" blab and stick it. Apple ripped off Xerox long before Microsoft.
I like Apple hardware and a few apps (all from third party Mac Programmers). Their hardware is probably the best out there.
Their iLife package is a prepackaged .Mac sales ad that is useless unless you buy a .mac account ($89-$99 a year). iDVD and iMovie are pitiful, iWeb is useless without .mac, and iPhoto is worse than the free Picasa 2. Garage Band is nice, but a ripoff of previous PC apps (Sony Acid anyone?). Mail and iCal are useless unless you have .mac, too. Finder is useless altogether.
Compatibility is not an option unless you either 1. buy a Windows license (choose your MS OS: XP or Vista) and use boot camp or 2. buy Parallels($79) and a Windows license (choose your MS OS).
Viruses aren't a problem for Mac OS X only because virus programmers don't program them for OS X. Sounds like a plus for OS X, huh? Then you realize that NO ONE PROGRAMS FOR MAC OS X! That great game you found at Walmart: Not for Mac. And all those iLife apps that aren't so great, yeah, try and find free replacements on the internet. Your selection is limited. Every piece of software you look at will have to pass through this phrase: "Do they make it for Mac?" Probably not.
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Wheels said 3:28PM on 2-07-2007
" If I can have a Mac and run Windows, well that seems like having my cake and eating it, too."
Yeah. only thing is that the cake your eating is tainted with Ex-lax. It's going to catch up with you sometime.
And I love how this post has brought out the clueless. ;P
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Midas360 said 3:31PM on 2-07-2007
Not kidding at all. Show me the exact date in which Apple decided to add the features and I will give you the Longhorn build and date that PROVES it.
I hope Apple sells a but load of Mac's using Bootcamp and Windows as their selling points.
Goes to show you they can't sell shit without Windows.
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kopernikus said 4:41PM on 2-07-2007
I honestly don't care who was "first" with announcing a feature. What I care about is who implements it best, and we all know who that tends to be...
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Jason said 4:43PM on 2-07-2007
Please disregard JumboBob's comments above. There is so much in there that's just flat-out not true, or just stupid!
iWeb: Not worthless without Dot Mac. Publish via FTP.
iDVD, iMovie: Pitiful? Please tell me what Vista ships with that even remotely compares to the free pair of iDVD and iMovie? They're actually great for beginning and intermediate movie making.
Mail and iCal: Useless without Dot Mac? Not true. I don't have Dot Mac and use them everyday. They work great, I use them in conjunction with gmail and Google calendar.
No one programs for Mac? Put down the crack pipe JumboBob. You are an idiot.
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swissfondue said 5:08PM on 2-07-2007
"If I can have a Mac and run Windows, well that seems like having my cake and eating it, too." That is like eating the crumbs, when you can instead have the wedding cake (Mac OS X).
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