The Sh– To Just Sh–ty… Mac Versus PC

When these commercials first came out, I loved them.  I’ve worked in IT for almost ten years, and the lowest moment for me was the release of Windows Vista.

Which is why the Mac Vs. PC commercials always made me smile – they had a point.  In reality, if I had to deal with issues involving Vista any more than I did, I would have switched to Apple’s operating system (and more expensive equipment) in a heartbeat.

But now, with the release of Windows 7, which is getting reviewed way higher than its predecessor, are these commercials going to be obsolete:

Will they be like The Daily Show with John Stewart in a post-Bush era?  (Still funny, but not as biting…)  Or will Windows 7 fail to impress in the long run, thus providing continual fodder for the mocking ads?

I think the jump ship mentality that Vista wrought has come to an end, and I have had limited interaction with 7 so far.  I have another friend that works at a different level of IT than I do, and he claims to love it (out of 700 pc’s he’s worked on at clients, less than 2% used Vista… or at least thereabout).

So is the campaign still ripe with humor?  Or has something that was The Shit become Just Shitty?  I’m inclined to think Apple’s advertising team needs to go back to the drawing board or whatever high-end technology they have, despite how funny I think John Hodgman is, or how funny Justin Long arguably may be.

One question remains though.  How did they count to Windows 7?

By my count:

  1. Windows 3.1
  2. Windows 95
  3. Windows 98
  4. Windows Me
  5. Windows XP
  6. Windows Vista
  7. Windows 7

But Windows 3.1 was Version Three-Point-One.  And what about this Windows 2 that’s mentioned in the commercial above?  That’s either Just Shitty writing, or it’s flat-out Just Shitty.

3 comments

  1. Eric Allison · October 29, 2009

    I’ve often pondered how they come up with “7”. Since even your list, you’ve missed Windows 2000. And if one counts from 3.1 being “version 3”, then that’s just as confusing.

    Maybe they’re going by your list but counting one of the mistake versions (like ME or Vista)? Hmmm…

    But I do agree. Win 7 so far has been fantastic. It rivals the startup/shutdown time of my Ubuntu (Linux) machine which was something I didn’t expect from a successor to Vista.

  2. peanut · October 29, 2009

    I think windows me was the same as windows 2000, so nothing was missed and maybe they are simply counting as their 7th version, since it is number 7 on your list.

  3. sgottahurt · October 29, 2009

    See I didn’t count Windows 2000 because I considered that their “business O/S” and a successor to Windows NT.

    What do I know?

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