Apple Microsoft Flame War Heats Up-Again

The back and forth jumble between Apple and Microsoft has heated up lately with a couple of interesting developments. First, Bill Gates in an interview with Newsweek predictably and finally lashed back at Apple for their very clever advertising campaign featuring the “I’m a Mac” and “I’m a PC guys.” Although he claims he has never seen the commercials, he responded to some of the content when pressed by the interviewer. I’ve been wondering when and if that was going to occur. Personally, I think the previous lack of major comments on the ads was an excellent high road approach. As entertaining as those ads are, some of the claims are obviously stretched to the point of credibility in their efforts to pump up the Mac and I think sensible folks saw through the rhetoric and jingoism.

Second, in announcing a fix for iTunes issues with Vista, Apple fanned the flames by suggesting that iTunes users wait before upgrading to Vista, or, to add insult to both parties’ injury, get a Mac. Of course that opened the floodgates further. Of course it ignores the fact that Apple, (like many PC OEMs) obviously had the time to get their product ready for their customers but failed to do so. (I don’t think they had to wait to buy a copy of Vista off the shelf at Best Buy to begin testing.) Nice deflection there. Score one for the PR guys at Apple.

Certainly some of this is more than expected, but I find the tit for tat really childish, (though perversely entertaining) given how close both companies are to making some real head way on convergence, and consequently making even more money. Even sillier, is that the egos that dance around all of this inadvertently pull themselves lower into the muck by consistently defining their respective excellent-but also flawed–products by demeaning the other guy’s.