What an interesting find! I was nonchalantly strolling through a
Best Buy store when something caught my eye: a brochure for Windows Vista. (Shh.
Don't say the V word!) I flipped through it, expecting nothing more
than the usual propaganda, when the following image caught my eye.
Is that man using a PowerBook? An Apple PowerBook? Has the
fruity company finally subverted Microsoft's authority?
Who knows! But I do know the
laptop is a PowerBook by the charging port, round rather than
MagSafe.
Go Squat on Someone Else's Image
I find it interesting that a prominently featured computer is not
only a product of Microsoft's number one operating system rival, but
also an older model that can't run any version of Windows natively, let
alone Vista. (Shh! Don't say the V word!)
The man in the picture is smiling as he merrily performs some
all-important computational task; maybe he might just realized that
Vista doesn't even run on his computer.
But seriously folks, this is just another example of how Microsoft
continually tries to co-opt Apple's ideas and image - from basic design
to ad campaigns. I wouldn't even be surprised to see Windows 7 feature
a badly made knockoff of GarageBand.
Microsoft Innovation
It's not even that I think Microsoft has no creativity - I think it
did a great job with the Xbox line. I have found the interface has only
gotten better as time has gone on. Its simple overall design reminds me
of an Apple product.
Also, the online experience through Xbox LIVE is exemplary. I don't
know who works in that department, but their talent and creativity may
be the fresh air that Microsoft so desperately requires.
Leveraging Apple's Image
That said, I am beginning to get sick and tired of Microsoft's
blatant rip-offs. If PC laptops aren't attractive enough to include in
a Windows brochure, find some new designers; we Mac users covet the
privilege of owning Macs for their design as much as their superior
technology.
When Microsoft associates the clean look of the PowerBook - or any
other Apple design - with its poorly made OS, it cheapens the elegance
of Jonathan Ive's designs. That, in my opinion, is a disservice to such
a talented designer, truly one of the greats.
To paraphrase president elect Obama, if you put lipstick on a
pig, it's still a pig.
On behalf of Mac users everywhere, I say, "Microsoft, get our
lipstick off your pig." (By the way, if you haven't seen Apple's V
Word television ad, click your way over to Apple's site to view it and
other recent Get a Mac ads.) 
