Apple digs into Microsoft at WWDC
By Donald Melanson 
posted June 8th 2009 12:31PM
posted June 8th 2009 12:31PM
Apple may have plenty of announcements of its own to make at this year's WWDC, but it looks like it just couldn't help itself from taking a few jabs at Microsoft as well. Doing the honors was Bertrand Serlet, who took the stage by saying "what a sharp contrast with Vista our OS is," and only got rolling from there, pointing out "what a big hole Microsoft has dug," and adding that "they're trying to get out of it with Windows 7." Of course, Serlet didn't have many good things to say about Windows 7 either, which he says has "even more complexity" than Vista because it's just based on the "same old tech as Vista."
Old Tech? Haha Leopard is based on Unix, which is one of the oldest in the game.
It's all just Apple PR bullshit.
Also, Apple fanboys freak me out!
Yup apple is gonna crap their pants when Windows 7 Release. I've used Windows 7 beta on my desktop, and I was so confident with it that I put the RC on my new laptop. It works great!
Microsoft is just letting apple have their fun, then ZUNE HD will come out and steal away iPod touch users, windows 7 will hit record sales (its only 50 bucks for an upgrade from vista totally worth it).
I would laugh if apple ever tries to take on Microsoft in the Video game market.
ha ha .. its one of the dumbest event from apple i guess.
I think MS got some share of apple if I am not wrong.
Well then its a SPONSORED / FREE publicity for MS Win 7 at apple's Show. Now tats called the lucky 7.. :)
I haven't see any apple logo in a MS event (No offence but Please let me know if it is there any.) Any way now some so called MAC Fan boys might be waiting to try Win 7 when its out.
Now there's a man whose only experience with Vista is seeing the name writen. Truely sad to make such rash judgements based on a name.
The cries of scared men.
All the MS fanboys have their panties in a bunch now.. LOL
Wow! I've never seen so many low-ranked comments make so much sense!
Seriously... talk about being on the defensive!
On behalf of the Apple community I would like to apologise to anyone who has watched Bertrand Serlet's stand-up comedy show. I'm sure the guy knows his stuff but he's not funny and the whole "let's make Microsoft jokes" was painful the last time he did it at WWDC as well as now. It's this sort of thing that makes Apple look like a bunch of wankers and does the image of the company no favors at all. Whoever OKed this part of the event needs to be given a stern slap.
i'm sorry but at this point i'm pretty convinced that Apple are just a bunch of assholes. like this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epRq2Q6yrJ4&feature=related
it has nothing to do with the operating systems. it's just a 30-second smear against Microsoft.
now, i know Apple's behavior is hardly indicative of their user base. you seem to be a good guy.
and they kill baby seals too =[
engadget comment reply error i was replying to Jacksplat
Best guess is that they're trying to spread uncertainty about it.
If you get enough people yammering on about how 'bad' it is without any substance to their arguments, then people take notice and we get another Vista: There's nothing wrong with the OS, at all. Hell, we're at SP2 now. But people still avoid it because they 'heard it sucks'.
Apple should stop ragging on Windows, 7 or Vista. Frankly, OSX does not even compete with Windows. The day I can go into a store and by a copy of OSX to install on some cheap HP desktop would be the day these two OS's compete with each other. These jabs against windows only puts them in the ring for a fight they are not going to win, and gives credence to Microsoft's (not wholly inaccurate) statement that PC's are cheaper. Apple should be focusing on their strengths. They sell an entire computing experience. Microsoft sells an operating system.
Headline should just read "Apple reverts to childish marketing techniques....Again"
Thanks for keeping it classy, Apple!
Even though there is "a sharp contrast with Vista" and OS X, Apples market share hasn't grown. Does this not concern Apple. It seems that it does, but no one is listening. Microsoft's customers seem to be more concerned with Microsoft releasing a better version of Windows that switching OSes.
We should thank Apple. Their Mac vs PC ads only woke a sleeping Giant. Now the giant is fixated on Apple (and Google). Like I always say...competition is good for us consumers. We end up benefiting with improved products as a result. Apple is in a worse position than Microsoft. MS has huge marketshare with a mediocre product. Now that they are improving the product to very competitive proportions it will be very bad for Apple (and Linux actually - which I love). Those OSes were getting traction because they gave users a reason to switch. If the OS is actually good, why would people want to switch?
@Unix
You have to know how to 'remote desktop' a windows session via a phone. Learn the Windoze speak because it pays the bills, for me anyway.
Endgadget got sucked in again. As Kelmon said above, it was a comedy act. Whoever let that slide go up...
Wow - is 'fanboy' like the buzzword of the year? Not everyone who thinks (insert company here) makes the great products is a fanboy. If you have a point to make about someone's opinion, make it and don't just call them the insult of the week.
Windows 7, Windows Vista, and OSX are all good operating system each with benefits and disadvantages. I run windows 7, XP, and OSX and there's things about each one of them that piss me off, and things about each one that I love. For some people, OSX is a more effective tool to accomplish whatever the're doing; for some its Windows. Lets talk about constructive topics and not just mudsling.
Also, in regards to the actual topic of this article - I think its kinda underhanded that Apple focuses on the negatives of competitors, but this is certainly nothing new in the marketing world. Select products that you enjoy using, and do enough research to make your own opinion. Don't let advertisements make your choices for you.
I applaud Apple for making devices that are fun, exciting, and easy to use. I applaud Microsoft for making products that support any hardware and facilitate ubiquity.
I'm so sick of this apple fanboys and pre fanboys crap.
All you morons are not asking the right question.
How the heck can we get away from this carrier contract nonsense like in asia or parts of europe.
whether its att or sprint they all charge an exorbitant amount for these obviously cheap devices.
I know about 6 people who use MacBooks. Out of those 6, 100% of them run Windows XP (Now Windows 7 RC) as their primary OS. They like the hardware and rave about OSX, but when it comes down to it, they end up using Windows 7 more than anything else. They try to downplay that, telling me they use OSX whenever they're not at University, but I'm not so sure.
What people forget to remember is Windows has to deal with far more compatibility and integration issues. The number of drivers and hardware configurations that Windows has to handle (GRACEFULLY) probably outnumbers the DVD ISO size for Mac OS X.
Mac has always had the advantage of being able to say "our stuff runs great" [on our hardware.] Not every computer can run Mac, nearly every computer can run Windows, even embedded systems. Not every computer is your normal PC/laptop. Not every user buys Mac-branded stuff so that it "just works," and there are about a million choices for each piece of hardware. Microsoft has to support them all, usually out of the box.
A Windows installation requires a working medium (DVD, USB, etc), a Mac OS X installation on a hackintosh (funny in itself) requires internet access to get it installing, finding out why your WLAN/sound doesn't work, and then how to fix it. Not quite plug and play for your "90% marketshare" now is it? Even Ubuntu, especially 9.04, works out of the box for most device drivers.
While I can say that I like Apple products, I can admire their taste in hardware and software design, I will not defend them attacking Windows. 7 is an awesome upgrade and has a lot of fat trimmed off Vista's existing foundation. Honestly, I never had an issue with Vista and most issues I heard of were because manufacturers were not making drivers (NOT Microsoft) compatible. I have Windows 7 dualbooting with Ubuntu 9.04 on every machine, including my Eee PC. Both run very smooth.
Apple is scared of Windows 7 and their lack of details and simple "LOL VISTA WASN'T SO GOOD IN THE PUBLIC'S EYE, WILL 7 BE? I DOUBT IT!" is lame. I can't wait to see Microsoft's comeback to that.
I will most certainly run both OSes when they both become available. I mean, honestly, they each do have their specialties. Windows 7 for games and OS X Snow Leopard for, well, everything else!
'everything else' must be an euphemism for snobbish-people-who-aren't-tech-savy.
You forgot to define linux btw (and OS/2 :)
Are you guys even reading whats going on here??!!??
Microsoft has become the victim. From Evil Empire status to hassled on nerd in the class. And all that from finally trying - good job, microsoft. (Apple, I hope you realize you've become the bully here).
Why is any of this important? Who cares what one company says or doesn't say about the other's products? What matters to me is - Does the product do what I need it to do? Does the product provide the level of value that I expect it to? There is where my buying decision comes from.
Completely insulting.
Let's get this straight.. it's Windows XP 7.
After all, this is what Bootcamp is for...
Ok Apple
...Kill bootcamp, I DARE you.
No wonder their OS's tend to be more stable; they would be laughable if they couldn't optimize the performance of their code in 7-8 products. Windows 7 runs like a champ on almost every PC I've come to see running it. So why instead of being so low, Apple makes it possible for their almighty OS to run on every single PC on the market?
I've never seen a company so smug, yet so insecure as Apple. Clearly, Apple is scared of Windows 7.
One more thing:
This is supposed to be a "Developer's" conference, not "Mac World", right? At Micrososft's developers conferences, they never mention Apple or any "competitor", and display info for actual developers (new API, on-stage demos of new functionality, including stepping through new features with debuggers, etc). I would say that Apple needs to grow up, but they're doing just fine milking their fanbase, so their schtick works, sadly.
You Windows fanboys are ridiculous! Windows still has a larger market share than Mac, therefore, you have nothing to prove. So quit being DICKS!
http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=10209
@Unix
I'm sorry, I find this so hillarious. After 400 comments in this thread bashing Windows, throwing out gems like this:
"Funny that I have more experience with more OSes than 95% (very conservative estimate) than most folks here.. and more Windows experience than OS X experience."
You don't even have experience with Vista, and hardly any with Windows 7 (and are using it in a VM no less)? Classic.
I'll tell you what, maybe you should go get an informed opinion and the come back. Maybe then you won't be instantly low-ranked.
So Apple have managed to find a revolutionary way to use the GPU called OpenCL. I suppose they need to do it seeing as you can rarely use the GPU for GAMES; the GPU may as well be doing something, eh? It's like having a Ferrari so you can store stuff in the boot.
Try and put yellow snow leopard in more than ten types of PC/Laptop hardware configurations. See how that runs.
Then take the piss out of Windows 7.
Test.
Better not be a missile test dammit.
Since it wont let me reply to Wwhat's comments made @ Jun 9th 2009 12:43PM on my original thread, I'll start a new one.
When was I trying to define linux and 'OS/2' (not sure what that is)? I really don't remember every posting anything like that. I may have, I guess... you can quote me on an earlier post if I did say that - might help jog my memory.
As for the first part of your reply, I don't quite follow you there. If you're referring to the fact that Apple hardware is not the absolute best out there, then I would have to agree with you. That's the only connection I can really come up with. I know I can get an absolutely SICK PC setup for the same price as I paid for my MacBook Pro. The biggest difference, of course, would be lack of OS X. Which is, for me, a deal breaker. Not to mention design esthetic, but I guess that's where the 'snobbish-people' part of your statement comes into play. Is it such a bad thing that I want my hardware/gadgets to look good? The fact of the matter is: OS X is actually very superior to Windows 7 or any other Windows version. I'm not trying to provoke anyone or start another flame war, I'm just curious as to why that fact is so hard to swallow? Most of what I post is just my opinion, but that is A FACT. Not to say that Windows hasn't come a long way, because it has (remember Windows ME?)! Something noteworthy while on the topic of coming a long way: System Restore. I used it in Windows 7, and it ACTUALLY WORKED! There's a first timer for me! Anyway... like I said, I will be purchasing Windows 7 whether that be Starter, Ultimate, Corporate, etc etc... Edition, whatever - the version that functions... because I still have a lot of use for it. Mostly for games. I think it is a significant improvement over Vista - mainly speaking of performance. But it still has those stupid, stifling windows attributes. Among the worst of those attributes, of course, being the registry. I've been able to slow down the rate at which Windows eats itself by using programs such as: Ccleaner and Spybot: Search and Destroy, but it's inevitable. And that's great that there are such great freeware programs that enable any windows user to do such mandatory maintenance. But, despite those great tools, the fact remains: Windows WILL eat itself - whether it be to the point of not being able to startup or just not performing NEARLY as well as it should; which is certainly grounds for a reinstall. Beyond that though, you need to consider how the O.S. handles and manages programs and program crashes within itself. Does it isolate the problem to that specific program? Or does it let that problem spread to make everything else currently open inaccessible? I think you know where I'm going with this one.
I don't know... of course people have their preferences and what they're used to. I'm just trying to get the point across that people who use Mac OSX that tell everyone that it's far better than Windows aren't just saying that to get under windows-users' skin. It's because it really is better. You can make fun of my grammar and sentence structure all you want and call me snobby and egotistical, but that fact still remains.
An uninformative critique is not a critique at all. Apple's relative lack of hardware flexibility and outlandish pricing models will always limit their sales, which invariably limit their capacity to become a true competitor in the PC market. With windows based niche multimedia apps ever improving (CS4, Autodesk Apps), even the that corner of the market enjoyed is not so much of a corner anymore.
actually Michael Scrip as a audio, photo, and video pro I use both, and yes I believe macs are rip offs at the end of the day there is absolutely no way to tell if a project is done on a mac or a pc. I edit video on both, I record and edit music on both, and I edit photos on both. and guess what there is no difference apart from the price. both perform well at times and both can ruin your day at times. again there is no way to tell what machine a project was done on apart from certain meta data that states what machine or program. Yes people do use window photo gallery and it performs very well. However if one is serious about the projects they work on then they are not using Ilife anyway they using pro level programs. which guess what are on both machines (apart from the ones apple makes or buys) It comes down to choice and a true professional does the job with the tools at hand. a computer is a computer and inspiration is the driving force not the machine. what pisses me off is guys like you who think that all creative endeavors are born of an apple. This is a farce!! as any true pro will tell you it's not the gear its their unique vision that dictates the success of a project. when mac fanboys admit that apple is not the arbiter of creative success then the rest of us will stop calling bull shit!!!
Mr karmascenic, if your "what pisses me off is guys like you who think that all creative endeavors are born of an apple" is directed at me, I would like to point out that I made no categorical statement one way or t'other. My statement was simply that both platforms have a strong catalogue of creative professional products available. There was a time where when FCP was the weapon of choice for many editors (and editing schools), it isnt the case now. I also resent being called an Apple fanboy because I havent used an Apple since the IIe :)
bleh.. nvm - it seems your quarrel is with Monsieur Scrip - and that I should endeavour to read further pages back in future :D
Move along...move along [/stormtrooper]
For those who claim a computer with the same or better hardware from Apple, when compared to Windows PCs does not cost consirably more, I suggest you configure a 17 inch MacBook Pro and a similar alienware like the m17x. The Apple without the good enough video card for gaming (at least an nVidia 260M) and without a 1 year warranty, costs at least $350 more. And we are talking about Alienware, one of the priciest computer manufacturers with Windows. When you go to Dell or hp, you are getting a lot more for a lot less.