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I’m delighted that Apple has initiated a higher-profile, unequivocal campaign aimed at convincing Windows users to forward-migrate to the Mac. What puzzles me is that they didn’t do this is a long time ago.

Apple says its new advertising campaign will feature real people who have switched from PCs to the Macintosh in eight different TV ads, directed by documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, director of “The Thin Blue Line,” each highlighting a different “switcher.” The “switchers” come from diverse backgrounds, including a Windows network administrator, a writer, an illustrator, a small business owner, a programmer, an interactive producer and a DJ. This will be Apple’s largest ad campaign since “Think Different” was launched in 1998.

Apple has also set up a special web site for users interested in learning more about switching at http://www.apple.com/switch

There have been some low-keyed campaigns from time to time aimed at PC users, but nothing quite as in-your-face as this one. Ironically, it comes at a time when Windows itself is more closely comparable with the Mac in terms of usability than has ever been before. That’s not to say that OS X doesn’t still have an edge in user-friendliness, and indeed it is even farther ahead than ever in terms of Microsoft’s licensing hassles and restrictions on administration flexibility.

However, OS X, its many virtues acknowledged, is not nearly as easy to administer and support has the Classic Mac OS traditionally has been. I was asking a university professor friend who dropped by last weekend how he is enjoying 0S X on his QuickSilver Power Mac. He allowed that he likes it fine, except for the fact that every time his tech support guy installs the latest OS X version upgrade, it takes him a while to get all his peripheral device drivers configured again. He didn’t go into detail -- that’s not his field; but I can well imagine.

With the old Mac OS, this sort of thing was pretty simple.Usually you could just install the latest system upgrade on top of your existing system (the prudent user would stuff of a copy of the existing system as insurance first, but it was rarely ever needed), in which case your third party drivers and extensions would be assimilated into the new Extensions folder automatically. Or, if you opted to do a clean install, you could drag the necessary third-party bits over from your old System Folder. This was all visually intuitive, and simplicity itself.

You could also drag entire systems around from hard drive to hard drive. For example, the current copy of OS 9.0 that I have on one of my WallStreet’s hard drive partitions was originally installed from scratch on my UMAX S-900, and just dragged over to the WallStreet after reinitialized the hard drive to make a Linux partition 18 months ago. The relatively small size of the OS 9 System Folder, and the forgiving flexibility of the old Mac OS, made this sort of administration motif easy. Why install from scratch when you can just drag a system on? Indeed, my son’s Lombard came with a draggable complete OS 9 system on one of the bundled CDs. That was the sort of thing you used to be able to wow uninitiated DOS/Windows users with. Hey, want to get rid of something? Just drag it to the trash and flash. No messing about with uninstallers.

However, it’s not like that with OS X, which does remove one of the big traditional advantages of the Mac had over Windows. OS X if still operates like a Mac at the user interface level, but at the administration level it’s a Unix -- the most user-friendly Unix ever to be sure, but still demanding of doing things the Unix way instead of any old way you want to, like you pretty much could with the old Mac OS.

While we’re discussing Apple ad campaigns, I also have to mention the excellent “What’s on your PowerBook?” series of magazine ads that ran in the mid-90’s, with various luminaries and celebrities pictured holding their PowerBooks, with an accompanying inventory of the contents of their hard drives. Of course in those days, hard drives were pretty small. Pardon the long digression.

Aside from that one, I think my favorite Macintosh ad campaign was one that ran in 1992 -- a series of four-page magazine spreads that read:

“If you’re looking for a computer that’s easy to use, there are basically only two ways you can go. The hard way. The easy way.”

The ad then went on to note that:

“The typical PC will never be as easy to use as a Macintosh personal computer. It’s as simple as that. Because the typical PC isn’t the product of a focused, integrated design effort. It’s the product of dozens.One company wrote the operating system. Another designed the actual computer. And still others independently designed parts that handle all kinds of basic operations. Windows 3.1 is only software. And software alone can never take the place of a totally integrated system in which every component has been designed with a single goal in mind: to make easy for you to do the things you want to do. And when it comes right down to it, isn’t that what you really want out of any personal computer?”

On the other hand:

“Every Macintosh personal computer is a completely integrated system. Apple wrote the system software. Apple built the computer itself. Apple designed every aspect of every Macintosh to work the way people work. That’s why every Macintosh runs thousands of programs that work together. So you can take the work you’ve done in one program and move it to thousands of others.That’s why every Macintosh comes with built in networking and file sharing capabilities. So it’s easy for people to work together. Because what matters isn’t just what the computer can do. It’s how much you can do with the power of the computer. The power to be your best.”

They then went on to give several examples, such as how much easier it was on the Mac to install a printer; play quality sound; connect to a network; retrieve a deleted file; rename a directory; connect an external drive; listing the steps required to accomplish these tasks on a PC and a Mac respectively.

For example, to install a printer on a PC in those days required 15 steps; on the Mac it required four.

Another ad in the series explained:

“On a typical PC, even getting a simple hard disk can be extraordinarily complicated. You’ll probably have to “reconfigure” your system -- the time-consuming process of telling your computer what pieces you added. You may have to edit complex, CONFIG.SYS and SYSTEM.INI files, install special device drivers and fiddle with DIP switches. And of course, building even a basic network is extremely difficult -- what with installing cards and networking software. An Apple Macintosh, on the other hand, knows when you’ve added hard drive. Installing a CD-ROM drive or scanner is a matter of plugging a cable and clicking a couple of buttons. Even installing a network requires nothing more than plugging one Mac into another. It’s just one more example of how the Macintosh works in a simple, logical way. So you can too. If you know how to use a plug, you know how to extend a Macintosh.”

Simple, clear, and effective.

The cool thing was that this was all irrefutable fact, but unfortunately that sort of advertising, comparing the Mac user experience directly to that with its Windows archrival, has been the exception rather than the rule. Apple has chosen more often than not to strike an Olympian pose above the fray with esoterica like “Think Different,” apparently content to preach the Mac gospel to loyal converted, leaving the down and dirty work of pointy-end Mac evangelism to user groups and Mac advocacy journalists and individual Mac enthusiasts’ word-of-mouth.

One notable exception was when, with the wolf at the door, Apple in desperation hired Guy Kawasaki as its official chief evangelist back in 1997, but that initiative was abandoned when Apple returned to profitability with the success of the iMac and the G3 PowerBook.

I suppose that, if I had to, I could do my work on a Windows PC, but I can’t imagine that overall, even once I had scaled the learning curve and become PC/Windows-proficient, that I would be more than three-quarters as productivity efficient on the PC as I am on the Mac. There is simply too much user interface angularity and administrative overhead involved with working on a PC. As one of the Apple’s real people, writer Sarah Whistler, observes: “I get it. And I don’t get the PC. I never did.” She calls the PC a “horrid little machine,” and says that it never worked the way her brain does. “Even though I used it for years, I never used it well.”

Apple says that since announcing its “Digital Hub” strategy in January 2001 (personally, I’ve always thought “digital hub” was a rather nebulous and vague slogan), it has delivered:

• the flat-panel iMac, the iBook, the Titanium PowerBook G4, the Power Mac G4, the new eMac and the flat panel Cinema Displays;
• Mac OS X
• the iPod digital music player,
• Digital Lifestyle applications like iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie and iDVD
• the Xserve rack-mount server
• thirty Apple Retail Stores throughout the U.S.

And echoing that 1992 campaign I cited above, Apple’s “Switch” ad copy reads:

“Ask them — the millions of people who use and love their Macs — why it’s become such an integral part of their lives, and most will tell you that it’s because it just works. Letting them do what they want to do. How they want to do it. Intuitively. And there’s good reason. Only with a Mac do you find absolutely flawless integration of hardware and software. Only with a Mac do you get an operating system built by the same people who built the computer it runs on. Take a Mac out of its box, and you experience that hand-and-glove fit from the get-go. Plug it in. Turn it on. And you’re ready for anything. That’s because with a Mac, you’ll find all of the essentials built right in. USB. FireWire (IEEE 1394). Ethernet. Modem. Macs even come with built-in antennas for wireless networks. And every Mac comes with drivers for most of the printers, joy sticks, DV camcorders, keyboards, storage devices, digital cameras, input devices, MP3 players and game pads you’ll be connecting to those ports. So when you plug them in for the first time, they’ll just work, too.”

Plus ça change; plus ça meme chose.

The “it just works” part is certainly why I use a Mac. I want a tool that is ready and waiting when I hit the button, and that lets me get my work done with a minimum of hassle and bother. And the Mac has pretty much flawlessly fulfilled that mission for me for 10 years, the high water mark being this PowerBook WallStreet 233 I’m typing on right now - a machine that has never given a minute’s trouble nor a day of downtime since I bought it in January, 1999. It’s just there, just working, every day.

“Are you just a tad too well acquainted with the notorious ‘blue screen of death’? Bid it a fond farewell. With Mac OS X, you’ll become accustomed instead to industry-leading stability. In this elegant new operating system, memory is fully protected and applications can’t conflict with the OS or one another. And, oh yes, Mac OS X is built on the industrial strength of UNIX. Most Fortune 500 companies, governments and universities rely on UNIX for their mission-critical applications. And now, so can you.

“We think computing on the go should always be a first-class experience. That’s why we design our PowerBook and iBook computers the way we do. Light. Thin. Displays so bright and clear, you’d think you’re working on a desktop system. And they come standard with what some other laptops consider “extras”: capacious hard drives, built-in optical drives, USB, FireWire, Ethernet, modem, video out, audio in, WiFi. Consider this: Can your PC laptop go coast to coast with just one battery? Can you put the system to sleep just by closing the lid? Does it wake up instantly? Can your PC laptop automatically switch between Ethernet, dial-up and wireless connections on the fly? Without a restart? Ours can.

“Internet Applications When did you last configure a PC for the Internet? Take you long? It won’t on a Mac. Fact is, most of our customers are up-and-surfing within 15 minutes. And that includes people who never touched a computer before in their lives. What will your experience be like? You’ll find moving your favorites, email contacts, and email messages to the Mac mere child’s play. And wait till you try the software....”

And so on. It can’t hurt. Apple’s U.S. market share held at 3.8 percent in 2001 and 2000, down from 4.4 percent in 1999. Globally, Apple’s share fell dropped to 2.5 percent in 2001 from 2.8 percent in 2000. However, in the first quarter, Apple’s share of the U.S. market increased to 3.7 percent from 3.4 percent in 2001, according to IDC. If the “Switch” campaign can turn this into sustainable momentum, that will be great news.

Getting back to Sarah Whistler’s comment about the Mac working the way her brain does, macnet2’s John Manzione notes that:

“The bulk of the professionals using Macs do it in creative industries. Industries that moved to the computer because of Apple. And the ones that use Macs for pleasure are more creative people too, slightly off-kilter, thinking different, and falling love with the Mac. Accepting this premise allows us to understand why Mac users are so fiercely loyal. These Macs, these machines, are outlets for creative people, extensions of themselves. If you are one of these creative people, it’s not hard for you to understand your attachment to your Mac. Just as a traditional Painter has his favorite brushes or the Photographer who is loyal to his favorite camera, so it is with Macs....

“So, should Microsoft survive the attack from Open Source, if businesses fail to move to the Xserve en masse, then so be it. There will always be enough of us to carry the day. Only 5 people out of 100 use Macs, but the number of creative people out there that will move to the Mac and fall in love with it like we have is a helluva lot more than 5 out of 100. I’m thinking it’s more like 20 out of a 100. Maybe more.”

And that goes a long way to explaining why the Mac, despite its minuscule market share, has such a high profile in entertainment, advertising, and the media. And, I suppose, it gives the old “Macs are elitist computers” conventional wisdom a bit of objective credence.

As Ars Technica’s Senior CPU Editor Hannibal commented:

“...The other thing I want to say about Apple is that if they don’t change their elitist and insulting ad tactics then they won’t be able to attract any new users. Those Dell commercials with the goofy blonde guy in them are immensely popular with the mom and pop demographic, and if Apple knows what’s good for them they’ll come down off their high horse and pitch their products to ‘the rest of us.’ You can’t reach the Dell demographic with flower power... the Starbucks demographic maybe, but not the Dell demographic.”

Hannibal thinks the “Switch” campaign is more on the right track, although still too upscale: “...kind of like watching Gap ads written and directed by a BF-trolling platform zealot: people standing in front of a white background in khaki pants and trendy glasses, spouting flamebait.”

Oh well. Personally, while I do have a few pair of khaki trousers, I’m really more typically a rumpled slob in naturally-faded blue jeans than a trendy Gap type, and economically, I’m anything but upscale. Nevertheless I have no quarrel with elitism, so long as it’s based in bona fide superior qualities, and IMHO, the Mac experience is vastly superior to Windows aggravation and drudgery, as well as providing better long-term, TCO-based value than PC hardware does. Heck, my nine-year old Mac LC 520 is still in daily use by my wife, and fulfilling her email and word processing needs very nicely. As for Hannibal’s chiding of Jobs and company for “elitist and insulting ad tactics,” I’m reminded of Winston Churchill’s quip when someone praised the Great Man’s electoral nemesis, socialist Labour Party leader Clement Atlee, as being “a very modest man.” “Yes,” agreed Winston, “and he has much to be modest about.” Windows and the PC platform, likewise, have much to be modest about.

I’ll take well-founded elitism any day over the doggedly prosaic proletarian ethos bespoken by Hannibal’s commentary, the sort of thing another guy I admire, London Daily Telegraph and Chicago Sun-Times owner Lord Black of Crossharbour, once characterized as an “envious whinging people’s sadistic desire... to intimidate all those who might aspire to anything in the slightest exceptional.”

So I wish Apple every success with this new campaign. It’s a message that needs to be articulated. The Mac simply offers a better computing experience overall, and in most specific aspects as well, with possible exceptions like gaming (largely due to lukewarm support from developers), it for hard-core hardware geeks who like to build their own computers from parts and then tinker with them endlessly -- about the diametrically opposite of the computer experience I’m after, and I think that the vast majority of computer users are in my camp on that point at least. Apple makes real computers for real people. Always has, and I hope always will.

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Charles W. Moore