Did Bill Gates’ Lies Cause Apple’s New TV Ads?

Well, what goes around comes around. Just last week Microsoft honcho Bill Gates was caught lying about Apple, Mac OS X during interviews.

This week, the rebellion strikes back. Apple’s new TV commercials pound Vista with a delightfully barbed wit.

Here’s how it all began. Microsoft launched Vista near the end of January, weeks after Apple’s big news about the widescreen iPod, uh, the Internet Communictor, um, the iPhone.

To ensure a rousing sendoff of the long awaited new Windows, Microsoft’s heads, Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer made the rounds of TV interviews.

In an unexpected show of chutzpah, nearly every interviewer asked Bill Gates questions about the Mac, the iPod, security, and the like. It had to be embarassing for Bill.

At every turn he was asked if Microsoft’s features were simply items already in Mac OS X. Finally, Bill Gates lost his cool to Steven Levy of Newsweek, and simply lied about Windows Vista’s performance compared to the Mac.

We captured a few of the blow by blow, phrase by phrase responses in this article from last week. Wait. There’s more.

This week, Steve Jobs and Apple’s ad agency pulled a nasty tasting rabbit out of the hat in the form of the most biting Mac TV commercial yet; not aimed at just generic PCs, but specifically mentioning Windows Vista.

You see, Vista has this new security technology called Nag. Many onscreen actions which previously required no user response, now receive a pop up “nag screen” which asks the Vista user to “Cancel or Allow.”

Again, and again, and again, the Vista Security Agent standing behind “I’m A PC” asks “Cancel or Allow” to every interchange of communication with the PC.

Frankly, it’s hilarious, and it’s a sweetly timed poke from Apple to Microsoft. Or, is it a poke back from Steve Jobs to Bill Gates, as a taste of revenge for Bill’s lies, as reported in Newsweek.

A QuickTime version of the “Security” TV commercial can be viewed here on the Apple web site.

Whatever the motivation, it looks as if Apple is ready to kick some buns, take some names, and point out a few Windows deficiencies here and there. Judge for yourself. Is Apple pushing the limit? Going too far? Spot on? Share your perspective in the Comments section below.