Microsoft's Mac Halloween Grab Bag
News Brief. Microsoft has mostly treats for Apple, but there is one trick. |
This week's roundup:
You're an idiot and a Mac, and I'm a PC. Some of the best marketing gimmicks come from Microsoft U.K. Anyone remember the Internet outhouse? Classic. According to AppleInsider, Microsoft has set up an "I'm a PC" booth outside the Apple Store Bullring in Birmingham, England. Why don't you just come on by the booth and record why you are a PC?
The placement isn't just about countermarketing. Apple claims that more than 50 percent of new Mac buyers are Windows users. So the best place to find Windows users at the mall might just be outside the Apple Store. Of course, that 50 percent number is deceptively large. Apple mentions it every earnings call, but shouldn't the number be higher given that statistically nine out of nine computer users run Windows?
Macintosh Business Unit gets new general manager. Today, Eric Wilfrid announced that he had replaced Craig Eisler as MacBU general manager. Craig followed previous MacBU GM Roz Ho to the Entertainment and Devices division. Roz is corporate vice president of Mobile Experiences.
In recent years, MacBU leaders have gone on to better things at Microsoft. It's helpful that the division is quietly profitable. Eric managed teams responsible for Mac Office development. It's a great product.
Microsoft releases Mac Office 2008 Update. Speaking of Mac Office, yesterday the 12.1.4 update released. This minor update mainly fixes an Entourage bug. I use Apple Mail on a Mac, never Entourage. How about you?
It's time to get caught in the Mesh. During this week's Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft released the Mac client beta for its Live Mesh synchronization service. I highly recommend checking it out, but Microsoft isn't making the beta all that obvious. You'll need to sign into Live Mesh using a Windows Live ID and look in an unexpected place for the beta. Under "Your Mac" is "coming soon." Huh? To get the Mac client, click on "Add Device" and choose the Mesh beta from the drop-down menu.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].
Comments (2)
I use Mail every day and find it a far simpler application than either Entourage or GMail.
Posted by Garry Jones | October 31, 2008 10:55 PM
The odd thing is that Microsoft's "I am PC of Borg. Prepare to be assimilated" campaign means nothing to most UK consumers as the equivalent Apple campaign (featuring UK comedians Mitchell & Webb) only ran for a few weeks and only on the Apple web site. They never made it onto TV as Apple UK reckoned it made Mac users appear smug and turned switchers off.
And what were the Bullring owners doing renting booth space discouraging customers from entering one of their tennants shops?
Entourage exists only so Microsoft can sell Exchange and Windows Server to Mac users. Its "everything in one monster file" approach that is a menace to incremental backups regularly goes wrong leaving end users to start again from scratch. No problem for Exchange users where your calendars, contacts and mail will get slowly synced back from the server, but leaves everyone else in tears. Apple's tools can be repaired with the Finder and a text editor and Mail works really well with Time Machine or any other incremental backup system.
Posted by Kevin Davidson | November 1, 2008 4:14 AM