Gates on Apple's Ads: "Does honesty matter?"

Bill Gates doesn't like the cute Apple ads, and he's got good reason ... and good responses.

To quote one ad:

Mac: I have alot of applications like video editing, games, etc...

PC: I only have solitaire.

If you think about it, that is blatantly untrue regarding even the most pitiful Windows package, and Gates isn't scared to say it. Read this Q & A from Newsweek:

Newsweek: Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?

Gates: I've never seen it. I don't think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.

Newsweek: How about the implication that you need surgery to upgrade?

Gates: Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it.

Newsweek: Does the entire tenor of that campaign bother you, that Mac is the cool guy and PC—

Gates: That’s for my customers to decide.

— Stewart Rutledge

Finally, Vista Makes Its Debut. Now What? [Newsweek via p2pnet)