The battle of ads between Microsoft and Apple continues. It was Apple’s time to fight back and it did. In the last two ads, the Cupertino, Calif.-based software company takes aim at Windows Vista and Microsoft’s spending strategy in light, humorous way.

Apple’s first ad takes on Microsoft’s spending habits. The "Bean Counter" which represents Microsoft(“I Am PC” he says) puts almost al of his cash in the pile destined for advertising, while putting just a few bucks for actually fixing and developing the product so its users wont be so frustrated with it anymore. The ad directly pokes Microsoft’s $300 million budget for its latest advertising campaign.

The second ad strikes at Microsoft’s attempts to sell the vista by avoiding mentioning its name instead of fixing the operating system.

Although the series of ads launched by both companies turned into a sort of a volleyball game, Microsoft is pretty aware of the fact that Vista has become a toxic word. It even decided to dropt the V name and cal its next operating system Windows 7.

Microsoft tried to win back some sympathy with its latest ads in which “I’m a PC” plays the victim, but, long story short, Windows Vista didn’t impress and didn’t sell.


This insider baseball game plaid by Microsoft and Apple may not be a point of focus for most consumers, but for those who did follow the ads, one conclusion can be easily reached: Apple always hits the target with it ads.

Maybe it does hit the target because it started the whole ad fight and it still has the upper hand, or maybe because the company made a habit of hitting the target.