Apple has been buying ad space on Google for people looking for help with downloading Windows 7. Google searches for "Download Windows 7" often result in an ad from Apple titled, "Upgrading to Windows 7?" The ad then advises users that, "There's never been a better time to switch to a Mac. Find out why." It links directly to Apple's site.

The ad came to our attention via Preston Gralla in his "Seeing Through Windows" blog for Computerworld. Mr. Gralla noticed the ad and suggested that Apple was targeting Windows pirates looking to download Windows 7 illegally. This is largely because the same ad is not to be found on Google searches for "Buy Windows 7," something we also found to be the case with several score of test searches.

However, we found the reasoning of a commenter on the post to be more likely. T. Hunter wrote, "Apple are targeting the many millions of people whose copy of Windows 7 will not download properly! Hence the ad being placed on 'download', not 'buy' or 'purchase'."

That's a fairly sound analysis, but whatever the case, we found Apple's ad to be very interesting.

Apple's ad is highlighted in the screenshot above.