Unless you don’t watch any TV whatsoever, you’ve undoubtedly seen those Mac vs PC commercials. I like them; they tend to be funny:

With the recent release of Windows 7, Mac has launched a counter-campaign, reminding people Microsoft that they keep promising to fix whatever was wrong with their last OS–and failing:

Microsoft’s OS problem

Certainly Windows ME was horrible, and Vista suffered from dreadful launch (although if you waited until Service Pack 1, it was fine). But XP was a good product, and this is Microsoft’s biggest problem. XP works so well for most people, there’s not much motivation to upgrade.

Apple’s commercial problem

Understandably, Apple can’t say in their commercials Windows XP was good, but the most recent attack feels a bit unfair. But there’s a bigger problem with the Mac vs PC campaign:

The PC guy is funny and interesting. The Mac guy is not.

Mac stands there, supposedly hip and cool. Occasionally he has a snappy one-liner. But you know PC is going to be driving the entertainment…you laugh with (or at) PC…subconsciously, good times and feelings are being associated with PC. Mac feels too aloof and arrogant.