Attention Microsoft: I'm A PC (Running Ubuntu Linux)

And Carla Schroeder will play that role in the commercials. ;-)

Reminds me of those Novell ads. Say what you will of Novell, but Mac v.s. PC v.s. Linux was well done. Much better than MS's Seinfeld ads :-D

I agree. I downloaded them for the occasional snicker.

You are all correct. PC meant Personal Computer long before Windows arrived on the scene.

That having been said, the definition has changed. Change is a continuous part of life. Get used to it.

The current perception by the public at large is PC=Windows, Mac=Apple, and I doubt they realize there are any other options. Right or wrong, perception is reality.

BTW, this is not necessarily a bad thing for FOSS. Let's say you introduce someone to Linux and they ask, "What does it run on?" 1998 Answer: "It runs on all types of PCs." Response: "Huh?" 2008 Answer: "It runs on PCs, Macs, PlayStations, XBoxes, smart phones, and just about every other type of computer." Response: "Wow!"

PC, once ambiguous, now neatly defines Windows computers making it easier to explain things to noobs.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it (until it changes.)

Quoting:The current perception by the public at large is PC=Windows, Mac=Apple, and I doubt they realize there are any other options.

Then again there are the more progressive software vendors e.g. mozilla, who offer programs for the platforms "pc, mac, and linux"

Quoting: BTW, this is not necessarily a bad thing for FOSS. Let's say you introduce someone to Linux and they ask, "What does it run on?" 1998 Answer: "It runs on all types of PCs." Response: "Huh?"

Actually, my answer back then was: In addition to normal x86 hardware (i.e. the same garden variety hardware as is used by pc operating systems), it runs on mips, sparc, alpha, power and mainframe hardware.

edit: If you tell people that linux runs on "pcs" they say "oh so it's a windows program then?"

Quoting: edit: If you tell people that linux runs on "pcs" they say "oh so it's a windows program then?"

That's staggering. AFAIK, we didn't get those "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads on the TV in the UK, so I don't think it's got quite that far here. People here tend to talk about a "Windows machine" and a "Linux box" - no idea why the terms arose like that. (Mac is rarely seen here.)

The power of advertising is quite alarming at times!

Quoting:The power of advertising is quite alarming at times!

Perception is reality. People don't make decisions based on actual truth. They make decisions based on perceived truth. Therefore, if the advertiser can control the buyer's perception, he can control their decisions.

> Therefore, if the advertiser can control the buyer's perception, he can control their decisions.

Of course, that only works as long as the advertiser is believed. How many people actually believe anything they see in advertisements anymore? For me, advertisements are entertainment, not information.

To me they're not entertainment but an annoyance.

I'd *die* for a TV that can detect when commercial blocks start/end and automatically mute during commercials.

@Sander - Amen to that!

I watched a TV show on Hulu last night and one of the commercials was just a picture of a Honda Pilot, someone saying the Pilot by Honda, then it showed the Honda H sign. That was it. My type of commercial.

Quoting:I'd *die* for a TV that can detect when commercial blocks start/end and automatically mute during commercials.

Well, I guess that in the future when absofreakinlutely everything will be visual and digital (and there will be no meaningful life for me) we'll have an equivalent of present-day bayesian anti-spam filters, only that they will be filtering our daily fix of "visual content" and, based on a personal training database, throw out everything that doesn't match our preferences.

Just a guess...

@Sander: You'll die before then. It's not that it can't happen. But I can't see the corporates doing anything like that.

Perhaps I should get a Dreambox and reprogram that.

We have the perfect method for avoiding TV advertising at home... we have no TV.

But... but... how do you watch commercials during the Super Bowl? They're the best part!

> We have the perfect method for avoiding TV advertising at home... we have no TV.

We have a TV. What we don't have is television service. We're in a valley, the hills to either side block all the over the air transmissions, there is no cable service, and satellite services cost more than we're willing to pay.

We just whatch ABC (that's Australian Broadcasting Commission), they don't have ads, being publically funded. In addition the programs are better. No dancing with the stars, no Big brother, no Australian (American, British etc) Idol, in fact no "Reality" shows. And ABC has Dr Who.

I want that TV station. No (non-)reality shows, and Dr. Who? sign me up.

azeroth: BBC has the same. My main reason for getting digital TV is so I get BBC 3 and 4 (normal cable only carries BBC 1 and 2). For a while, BBC ran the newer Dr. Who series daily at 18:00h (20:00h my time). Sweet!