Apple's (AAPL) Cruel War On Vista

Vista is Microsoft’s (MSFT) flagship now. But, in a series of ads Apple (AAPL) and taken a juvenile and merciless approach to news that the new operating system from Redmond may have too many bugs causing users to turn away.Their alternative, of course, is to use the new Apple OS, Leopard. And, the plan may be working.

All of the information about Vista sales is anecdotal  Computer World says one study finds that 90% of IT managers are delaying installation of the software due to concerns about problems with the OS and half have no plans to upgrade at all. But, the report goes on to say that MSFT has already sold 88 million copies of the software. Another 42 million PC have Vista through volume contracts.

Other reports say that some customers are simply staying with XP, the old operating system. But, no hard numbers are available.

Apple splurging to promote its new Mac Leopard OS X. The company claims that it has more features than Vista, and, of course, it runs on the "super cool" Mac hardware.

Apple does not mention in the ads that OS X 10.4.11 has bugs which can make some systems inoperable, at least according to IT BusinessEdge. Wired ran a report recently titled "This Cat Has Flees! Leopard Early Adopters Encounter Bugs Aplenty."

Everyone gets to tweak the giant’s nose. But, he may tweak back.

Douglas A. McIntyre