Which came first the reporting or the ads?
It was about a week ago when I started seeing a bunch of reporting/blogging on how windows machines come standard with all sorts of trial programs and other forms of advertising, this was dubbed Craplets by Walt Mossberg. This was an annoying problem for many, even requiring the use of software to identify and remove said craplets. Now there’s a new mac/pc ad touting that very problem.
This strikes me as a strange coincidence. The craplets that are coming loaded on pc’s are not any new type of phenomenon. I can remember them the last time I got a pc (a loooong time ago) and this article talks about the same problem and the same software (pcdecrapifier) that Walt did in his post above, but it is from a year ago. So what’s the deal?
I can think of two things, other than coincidence, which is possible, although it would be wierd.
1) Apple saw that this was something they could promote and asked some influential people in the blogging world to talk about this craplet problem prior to the launch of their commercial.
2) Apple’s Get A Mac commercials are so streamlined now, in a South Parkian way they can write and produce them on extremely short notice and thus are positioned to quickly respond to new memes on the net while they are still fresh in people’s minds.
I have no idea, it’s just a thought that occurred to me when it struck me that this ad was quite timely. I hope it’s the latter option, as that would really be interesting on several fronts.
