I’m an objective opinion
The advertising battle between Microsoft and Apple has seldom been accused of being excessively subtle and the latest broadside is no exception.
Volunteer Lauren is told that if she can find a 17 inch notebook for under $1,000 she can keep it. She theatrically bounces into a Mac Store only to emerge crestfallen after finding she can only afford a 13 inch MacBook.
"I'm just not cool enough to be a Mac person," she sighs bitterly to herself as she drives away from the offending shop.
Amazingly, she finds exactly what she wants when she goes to a PC store, but rather naively short-changes herself by going for a $700 HP model.
Lack of subtlety aside, Microsoft is obviously tapping into the general feeling of global skintness and it does have a point. Tellingly there is no mention of Vista in the ad. This could be because it expects to launch Windows 7 RC in May.