Novell releases Get a Mac spoofs
Apple's Get a Mac ads have inarguably struck a chord with both the advertising and our culture. People clearly either love 'em, hate 'em or wanna spoof 'em, and one only needs to comb our archives or check YouTube to see what we mean. Recently, Novell (yea, the Linux guys) tossed their hand into the mix with their own spoofs which debuted at their BrainShare conference (which you can attend virtually). The first video, linked here at YouTube, plays off the Win/Mac rivalry and pokes fun at how the industry often ignores Linux and its surprising (to some) user base size. The second video, embedded in this post, is arguably funnier, as it does a great job of poking fun at the way Microsoft and Apple market their products while pointing out open source software's advantage of being a community effort. They're both good for a chuckle and a nice effort from Novell, or whoever actually put them together.
Thanks, geezer.

![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)


Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Johnny Thrash said 12:41PM on 3-22-2007
Pleather! LOL... ROFL
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dan1el said 1:06PM on 3-22-2007
as if the strong part of Linux is only that you can change GUI every other day....shouldn't be the argument.
I like that they choose a female for representing linux, they are hard to understand and configure too.
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spencermc said 1:23PM on 3-22-2007
Lame. Everyone knows it's really like this:
http://fuhrerchan.be/ma/src/1157960476967.jpg
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Wojtek said 1:26PM on 3-22-2007
@spencermc: I just wanted to add the very same photo... LOL
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MariusAZ said 1:31PM on 3-22-2007
This is lame. It's funny cause I don't seem to have any problems whatsoever running almost any *nix software on my Mac including KDE apps. I would consider Mac OS X to have a huge advantage over Novell considering you have the best of both worlds in one OS.
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Christopher Lloyd said 1:36PM on 3-22-2007
Ah Novell! Netware was my first love in network administration. Then I got a divorce and a restraining order. Even with amazing advances in Linux it's still not ready for prime time yet. This ad is a great example of how Novell has lost its way in recent years. I've watched it 3 times and still don't know what they're talking about.
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Thomas Deliduka said 1:54PM on 3-22-2007
Dude, did you notice that she is larger then them in the second video? It's like they filmed her separately to be more prominent.
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Michael said 1:56PM on 3-22-2007
Digg it
http://digg.com/apple/Novell_releases_Get_a_Mac_spoofs
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Alex said 2:18PM on 3-22-2007
This is the same novel which has special relationships with microsoft. They have no right to represent the Linux community.
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Mike Harris said 2:24PM on 3-22-2007
I like her saying "it might work on you" to the Mac: a nice tip of the hat to Mac OS X's Unix core.
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Sarah said 3:16PM on 3-22-2007
I like that they choose a female for representing linux, they are hard to understand and configure too.
Yeah, because we also know it's just as easy to stereotype linux as it is women too!
/sarcasm
jees, any more sexist comments you want to drop dan1el?
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mayo said 3:49PM on 3-22-2007
@thomas (8.) If you notice their feet, she actually stends in front of them.
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Aaron Davies said 4:16PM on 3-22-2007
i'd hit it
had to be said
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dylandigits said 5:12PM on 3-22-2007
@ #16: no, your sexist comment really didn't need to be said at all. wish you hadn't, in fact. thanks for taking the initiative, though.
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Peter Garner said 5:18PM on 3-22-2007
Is it just me, or does the girl bear a striking resemblance to Ellen Feiss?
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Garrick said 5:52PM on 3-22-2007
Yeah, i don't know about Novell Linux, but Novell GroupWise is craptastic!
We can't get it to talk to any other apps.
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Josh* said 7:21PM on 3-22-2007
I too would hit that!
Just to annoy dylandigits. Really, I didn't know it was sexist to divulge who you would or would not like to have sex with. Every day's a school day
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Christofer said 7:24PM on 3-22-2007
I've heard Linux can be a bitch to deal with...
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JeffDM said 9:53PM on 3-22-2007
"the industry often ignores Linux and its surprising (to some) user base size."
Um, what? Linux is very prevalent as a server OS, but if that is referring to it's users as a desktop OS, I've never seen any number that showed it to be over 1% of desktops. This isn't leaving out desktops shipped with Windows but reinstalled with Linux, but measured by counting operating systems by counting systems on the 'net as a desktop system.
Just as Apple's worldwide market share doesn't exceed 3%, I don't think Linux's installed base as a desktop OS exceeds 1%.
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dylandigits said 10:16PM on 3-22-2007
"Really, I didn't know it was sexist to divulge who you would or would not like to have sex with."
It's not. Referring to a woman (or just her vagina) as "it" is, however. A word like "hit" referring to something you'd want to do to a woman, or any part of her, is pretty tasteless, too. All I'm saying is: show a little respect in choosing your words, slang or otherwise. You want to sleep with the pretty lady? Super. Talk about it as if you were telling her yourself and wanted to avoid having a drink thrown in your face. Either way, I'm not sure what your sexual desires have to do with a Novell commercial in the first place, or why you felt the need to share them with us.
Anyway, to get back on topic: pretty good commercial.
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