Well, I disagree. Of all the Windows people I've talked to about PCs & Macs, the vast majority don't even KNOW that Macs use a different OS, and most of them probably don't even know that they should care. But that doesn't make the author's point, because Apple SHOULD run ads that tell people there IS a difference and show what that difference is. Otherwise the only thing differentiating Macs from PCs in their minds is the outer container they come in. Apple should educate the public on what makes a Mac different on the INSIDE, and they can do it without getting bogged down in the details. For example, their ad about the new Intel iMac where they leave us saying "Think of the possibilities." Well, unless they TELL us what possibilities are possible, they only thing people will come away with is the clue that the iMac is just another PC that's a bit cuter & fancier than the one they own. Apple's ads remind me of the BASF ads I see all the time. They run cute ads too, but I'll be damned if I know what it is I'm supposed to go buy after seeing one.

Apple has been doing the cute & fancy ads for a while now (when they DO advertise, that is). I think it's time to try something different, like ads that put real information into the viewer's heads.

What magazines do you read? Apple has run lots of ads for OS X, in a variety of print publications.

there is a huge gap between what the OS does -- here's the key -- and seducing a non-technical customer into making a purchase decision.

So true. Listen to otherwise smart but non-technical people talk about whether their computer has "windows". Actually, it reminds me of when I got my first Mac (an SE) in 1987. My Mom was calling around all the computer stores asking whether the price included "a HyperCard". Funny, huh?

Gosh John, your column is going to be a real slap in the face to all the geeks with MBAs and marketing degrees that read this site! haha.

I see automobile ads all the time that talk about dual overhead cams and such. The point of ads is to give people information about your product. If they don't know something, then teach them, or they'll never get it.

It's just like in the political realm: if you keep playing to the lowest common denominator, if you try to sell products (politicians) based on superficial appearances, then consumers (voters) will ultimately make stupid choices (GWB).

Apple innovated an entire industry with the ipod. They have over 75% market share. They have a great interface in itunes. And yet they still advertise both of these. To KEEP market share. Maybe after all macs have been switched over to intel processors, they will begin to advertise their entire line and their OS in the obnoxious way as they do the switch to intel processors. That commercial where the note windows machines as "dull little boxes doing dull little tasks" probably makes zero sense to the user that does everything he/she could want on the computer and can't envision anything else. Imagine this person being sold on Mac OS X from a commercial, comes home, powers up, and can't play the games he/she wants to play, or run the tax software they've used for years. Now their computer becomes a dull little box because they won't know what to do with it.

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Guest wrote:
What magazines do you read? Apple has run lots of ads for OS X, in a variety of print publications.

Oh sure, I see plenty of print ads, too, but they don't really sell the OS in a feature-specific fashion, do they?

There is nothing you can do to convince a non-technical person that any particular OS is better than any other within the miniscule window of opportunity provided by mainstream advertising. Seriously, ask yourself, how many times in your life have you acted out a purchase as a result of seeing an ad? Any ad? I'm guessing a few times. And most of those, I'l bet, were purchases of food, alcohol or some kind of deadly sin. Or perhaps you're the one who went out and spent a year's earnings on a SAAB just because the ad told you to. No? I'm betting most people faced with this question will likely say they have made one major purchase after seeing an ad but, importantly, not without doing some further research to make sure their hard-earned wasn't about to be thrown away.

You must first compel people to take an interest in the fact there is an alternative to what they are already familiar with. After that, their curiosity, if it is sufficiently piqued, will drive them to discover more under their own steam. To this end, IMHO, the Intel Mac ads - buoyed as they are by the omnipresence of another Apple product, the iPod, are doing a great job. Of course, by great job I mean they're probably getting a relatively small percentage of the people who see them to think twice about Apple products, a percentage of those people to visit an Apple store, and a percentage of those people who make it to the store, or the web site, to buy a Mac. And that, in the ad business, is what you call a successful campaign.

"...unless they TELL us what possibilities are possible, they only thing people will come away with is the clue that the iMac is just another PC that's a bit cuter & fancier than the one they own."

To that you could add, "and more expensive." Almost every PC user I've spoken to who begins to consider a Mac looks as far as The Cheapest One, finds out it doesn't come with a monitor, and wanders off to look at Something Cheaper.

I've talk to thousands of computer buyers, switchers mostly, and quite simply stated, the average person doesn't really even know what Windows is. You ask them what kind of software do they use, they say "We use windows" or even worse, "we use IBM". "No what kind of software"... blank stare.

You think it's not true? Go stand around an Apple store for a few hours and listen to the conversations.

It isn't playing to the lowest common denominator, its about making people want to buy your product, then over time they come to learn the differences themsevles. All Apple is really doing is bypassing the argument and getting people to buy using current kareting techniques, and letting people discover for themselves.

My reason for using a Mac is not a pretty box, good design etc, although this helps, but because of these reasons in this order:

1, It runs OS X
2, It doesn't run windows.

I agree with the article that the average person does not know what an OS is even though they may use one every day. The average person thinks that all computers are the same i.e. they run windows.
So how to educate the masses?
Well why not allow users to borrow a computer for a week?
I always said to anyone who would listen "If you used a mac for a week you would not go back to windows"
I think once people do see the difference they will switch, at the minute they don't know there is a difference.

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coaten wrote:

You must first compel people to take an interest in the fact there is an alternative to what they are already familiar with. After that, their curiosity, if it is sufficiently piqued, will drive them to discover more under their own steam. To this end, IMHO, the Intel Mac ads - buoyed as they are by the omnipresence of another Apple product, the iPod, are doing a great job. Of course, by great job I mean they're probably getting a relatively small percentage of the people who see them to think twice about Apple products, a percentage of those people to visit an Apple store, and a percentage of those people who make it to the store, or the web site, to buy a Mac. And that, in the ad business, is what you call a successful campaign.

Well said... except I do wonder about Apple's recent "dull boxes" ads: are they still enforcing the notion that Macs are toys, and not powerful tools that can help you do your work more efficiently than it's competitor(s)?

More on the author's point, though-- I have had a hard time understanding why people don't get what an OS (or at least the GUI part) really is, especially when these people spend 8-10 hours a day doing their work on computers. To me it would be like a carpenter not knowing the difference between a hammer and a nail. I hear people all the time saying, "can you open this in Adobe?". Adobe what? Reader? Photoshop? Illustrator? This is the mentality of who is watching CSI or Lost or Andy Griffith Show reruns or whatever... I agree they'll think the contents of the fridge would be much easier to understand than a commercial touting one OS over the other.

I expect to see that Apple will, in fact, one day increase mainstream-advertising of the Mac as a whole... both hardware and software (heavier emphasis on apps rather than OS) combined... which is really what the Mac is about IMO.

He must be a BSG fan. He used the curse word fraking.

"I always said to anyone who would listen "If you used a mac for a week you would not go back to windows"

Um, not true. I have a mac, Windows, and Linux. I prefer Windows. As an experiment I asked my girlfriend to use the Mac exclusively for a week.

Keep in mind she uses Yahoo mail, so her primary focus is on the web, thus a browser. So it's not like she's overly tied to the OS by software needs, like most of us.

She hated it.

One of the primary reasons? Safari felt clunky to her. She vastly preferred IE. Another (seemingly trivial) reason she disliked OS/X was she couldn't change all the font colors and screen backgrounds to her taste the way she could in Windows.

I love her dearly but I'll be the first to admit her sense of color would blind a cave fish. Still, after the week she went back to her Windows machine and has pretty much refused to use the Mac ever since.

When her friend wanted a new computer because his was trashed by adware (and very old and slow to be honest) I suggested a Mac mini. He already had the monitor/KB/mouse so it wasn't that much more than the computer he ended up with.

She absolutely refused to consider it since she was going to be the one doing support from 500 miles away. On top of which this gentleman likes to play games and use all sorts of oddball software (thus his spyware issues).

So I must dispute your point. Give Windows users a Mac for a week and they'll hate it, especially from a gaming and oddball software POV. There's also the trivia issues, like customizing the screen. They may have the color sense of a parrot on LSD but that's what *they* want and that's what they will have. Sigh.

I'm a Windows user by choice. I view OS/X as a viable alternative and I can get by using a Mac if I have to. But I won't give up my Windows machine, it does too much the Mac can't. I've used it for years and it's gotten reflexive. Not to mention I have a variety of specialized software needs and Windows development platforms (especially Visual Studio) blow away anything available on the Mac.

The same is true for millions of people. As the computer matures you're going to see less newbies. Not to mention Windows users are easier to find when you need to ask a question--it's a simple matter of numbers.

I agree with the article's author. People don't know the difference, it's not that they don't care *they are actively hostile to learning it*.

I think that's why Apple is investing their advertising dollars in opening Apple stores. It's not very feasable to let people borrow a Mac for a week in this day and age with the volumes we're talking about, It's cheaper to put that money into opening more stores that allow people to spend as much time as they want playing.

Back when Apple released the Macintosh, they did have a "test drive" program where people could take one home for a few days. It probably worked well, but the volumes were far lower 22 years ago than today. I just don't think it would be economically viable now since we'd be talking about hundreds of thousands of units to keep track of and sell at a loss afterwards.

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Guest wrote:
What magazines do you read? Apple has run lots of ads for OS X, in a variety of print publications.

They should try a few different magazines, AARP publications, Family Circle, Field and Stream, Car and Driver.

If they advertised in Golf Digest they could reach 99% of people sitting in medical office waiting rooms. I often take my old MacWorlds and MacAddicts and leave them in the waiting rooms when I an donating at the blood bank or where ever.

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Guest wrote:
I see automobile ads all the time that talk about dual overhead cams and such. The point of ads is to give people information about your product. If they don't know something, then teach them, or they'll never get it.

I can see the TV ad now, some fast talking voice over. "Quad USB ports, dual firewire ports, built in video camera, zero to Google.com in .000002 microseconds." With the disclaimer {closed computer lab, professional web surfer}

Hey Plowman,

Next time you start up your Mac, note that there's no slash in Mac OS X.

At least you didn't call it a MAC.

Apple doesn't advertise for the same reason Ferrari doesn't advertise. They don't need to. It's pointless. They don't need to have a bigger market share to be a successful company. They ARE a successful company. Market share is meaningless. Apple makes high-end, quality products and they make lots of money doing just that. The vast majority of people don't want or need such products, so why bother trying to convince them otherwise.

"she couldn't change all the font colors and screen backgrounds to her taste"

All windows are completely user customizable to infinite colors or selected images, there are no preset "themes" but it still can be easily done. I can barely recognize my 13 year old daughter's desktop, and this is all done with standard OS X settings.

They will buy a Mac if you SHOW them how parts of iLife work - especially the ease of iPhoto. Show them how easy it is to make a photo book. Show them the ease of using a Mac in their area of interest, be it photos, music, etc. Front Row is also a great feature to demo and it generates sales. The key is that you have to demo a Mac to sell it.

The best feature about the iPod is that it puts one piece of Apple's software in the Win users' hands. They get their first peak at what iLife is about - their first demo. Mac users showing their friends, or an Apple rep at an Apple Store or CompUSA store showing how to do things on the Mac sells Macs. Advertising money is better spend on new Apple Stores in my opinion - with only a few ads showing how beautiful the Mac is.

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Guest wrote:
They will buy a Mac if you SHOW them how parts of iLife work - especially the ease of iPhoto. Show them how easy it is to make a photo book. Show them the ease of using a Mac in their area of interest, be it photos, music, etc. Front Row is also a great feature to demo and it generates sales. The key is that you have to demo a Mac to sell it.

The best feature about the iPod is that it puts one piece of Apple's software in the Win users' hands. They get their first peak at what iLife is about - their first demo. Mac users showing their friends, or an Apple rep at an Apple Store or CompUSA store showing how to do things on the Mac sells Macs. Advertising money is better spend on new Apple Stores in my opinion - with only a few ads showing how beautiful the Mac is.

My point exactly when I mentioned those magazines. Show soccer moms how to use iPhoto for family photos, sportsmen how to document the fishing trip, that sort of stuff

"uy a Toyota Camry instead of a Brand X because the Camry has dual overhead cams instead of hydraulic lifters."

Lifters are operated by the cam. The better choice would have been solid versus hydraulic lifters or a belt versus chain driven cam.

A nit to be sure but statement that jolted me as I read this.

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Guest wrote:
I see automobile ads all the time that talk about dual overhead cams and such. The point of ads is to give people information about your product. If they don't know something, then teach them, or they'll never get it.

Props to Bosco for that MBA/Marketing degree comment. Here's a great example!

Mr. Guest, do you not understand the point of those commericals? Its just supposed to sound good. Do you even know what dual overhead cams means? Anyone who actually does isn't going to be researching the specs of their cars from a 30 second TV spot. The average person is supposed to be wowed by how "high tech" the car is. So why doesn't Apple do this? Well apparently they don't think this is the best approach for them. Looking at how they are doing, I have to say I agree.

As others have said, the Apple Store is where people will experience OS X. So its just a matter of getting people in the store. iPod ads seem to do that quite nicely... at least judging by how crowded the Apple Stores always are when I see them.

First, I agree with everything stated in the article. The thing I would add, however, is that Apple has done a great job of advertising MacOS X to the target market: developers.

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Wings wrote:
Of all the Windows people I've talked to about PCs & Macs, the vast majority don't even KNOW that Macs use a different OS, and most of them probably don't even know that they should care.

That's exactly it, but even worse a problem in my mind is consumer apathy. I've told a few people about what makes Mac OS X superior--the look, the feel, the stability--but the attitude is always the same: "Windows works fine for me. It does what I need it to do, and that's good enough. Plus I don't want to spend a whole lot of time learning a new system."

Even worse, you bring up things like stability and security, and people seem to shrug it off and accept when things go wrong with Windows. "When something goes wrong in Windows, I'll just call a tech guy, or get my kid to fix it." Viruses, spyware, and lock-ups are just another day at the office for most--so why worry when it happens?

And I would agree that Apple has a good reason for leaving the OS out of ads, because when people buy computers, I think many just see the numbers and say, "Well, this HP has a 3 GHz Pentium, and it's half the price of this iMac, which only has 2 Ghz. The HP is a better deal."

So Apple can't beat 'em in specs (although some of us are aware that such numbers don't really represent what the computer can actually accomplish); they can't beat 'em over their own apathy regarding the OS; and so that just leaves the shiny plastic the computer is encased in.

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Roger Plowman wrote:

Um, not true. I have a mac, Windows, and Linux. I prefer Windows.

Whoa...

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I'm a Windows user by choice. I view OS/X as a viable alternative and I can get by using a Mac if I have to. But I won't give up my Windows machine, it does too much the Mac can't.

...just as the Mac does too much that Windows can't. Like you implied, it depends upon one's needs and what one values.

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(especially Visual Studio) blow away anything available on the Mac.

...other than Xcode.

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The same is true for millions of people. As the computer matures you're going to see less newbies. Not to mention Windows users are easier to find when you need to ask a question--it's a simple matter of numbers.

We may see fewer newbies, but the level of naiveté will remain as high as ever. BTW, it's a good thing that there are more Windows users available to answer questions: There are many more questions to be asked when you use Windows.

Agree with you, and no doubt about it , apple doesn't know how to sell
not only os but its computers too .
most people thinks apple computer is just for graphics business and not
for engineers or other type of business.
talking about apple os is superior than ms-os , but ms always finding
him talking about the future of his os and what it will cover .
while apple is busy in ......

Apple is selling computers/appliances NOT OS's (except for upgrades to existing owners). It doesn't follow the Microsoft model at this time. Even though WE see the superiority of OS X, the non-geek is in the market for a computer. Even though consumers buy a computer to run certain apps, they make their decision based on hardware. Apple will only drop advertizing dollars on OS X, if they start selling it to current pc owners or other OEMs. If they emphasized the OS, people might get confused and think they can get it for their pc's. Think about this. Why do you think their recent ads only end with the word MAC on the screen? They are not as Marketing brain dead as you all might think.

The way you do it is simple you do it conceptually and put across these concepts in a way that acts generally sub consciously in the viewers mind to produce a reaction that is close to that gained by (if it were possible) telling them clearly and in logical fashion the advantages. The latter doesn't work because of the generalisations made in the article but the former can do it with amazing simplicity. The best example is the sony advert for its Brevia LCD tvs. It pretty much distinguishes in the viewers mind, and in the most simple of ways, the Sony product from rivals it is entertaining technically accomplished and amazingly memorable. But also it implies vividly that everything we want in a tv is there in this product. It shows something very complicated in a very simple way. It has also moved the product from a relative alsoran to the leader in LCD tvs.

The iPod adverts work in a similar vein (though the message is simpler in this product than OSX). The latters advantages however and distinct features can be expressed successfully. At the end of the day it is about establishing a brand and branding OSX and familiarising it is important if Apple is too expand market share.

To Roger Plowman,

First, an anecdote about one or two people who like Windows better than OSX does not constitute a fact, so while your story is interesting and telling it does not tell us much about why people use the computer they do. Furthermore, it sounds like your girlfriend was already predisposed to 'hate' the Mac, from her vague Safari seems 'clunky', which totally ignores Camino, IE, Firefox, or other browsers that are also viable on the Mac, to her insistence that all font colors be orange and title bars be purple, or whatever else she was trying to do. It sounds like two Windows users who didn't want to change and made a fascile effort to do so.

Most users clearly don't understand the complexities of an OS, and I agree with the author that selling hardware is much easier than selling an abstract concept, however ads that explain OSX with the advantages in specific magazines or websites, especially ones that cater to more technical people, would be useful.

Lastly, the meme "there are lots of Windows users around, so if I have a problem I can get help" is far-and-away the silliest, in my opinion. Most users don't know enough about Windows to offer any significant troubleshooting to each other and mostly waste time and lead each other astray.

My observation is that many non-tech Windows users can't even differentiate between Windows and Office let alone two different OSes. Ask them what versionof Windows they are running and they will reply with their Office version... and sometimes vice versa.

Forget the non technical users:

for those who even know a little bit of
OS tech speak, Mac OS ads (TV/print) would speak
to them. Those users who know and loathe the
Blue Screen of Death... who know enough but
dont know how to modify registers and get
into BIOS (like me << not that tech savvy)

Getting these people to switch is the answer..
the non-tech masses will follow when they buy iPods


..then and only then will Apple world domination
occur...

mac os x has been advertised... remember the big jaguar X and -jaguar is on the loose?

I must apologize to John Martellaro for not saying welcome and congratulating you on the Hidden Dimensions column.

I am looking forward to your next article

Apple advertises their computers, as such there is no reason to advertise their OS. The Mac OS can't install native on anything but a mac, including from what I have heard the new intel version of the OS (without being a big enough computer geek to hack it up to work, it's not smooth and easy or intended for the average user). Therefore, advertising the OS in addition to the computer is redundant and a waste of time, it's functionality should simply be mentioned in the computer adds. IF they made the OS so that it could install on any PC system, THEN they would advertise it because windows users could convert their OS without buying a new computer. The rest of this discussion is irrelevant and uninformed and I'm surprised TMO posted it.

I think apple is the smartest of the bunch. They choose t