Microsoft, meet the new Dell.

Last week, Microsoft aired an ad entitled "Laptop Hunters" featuring 'Lauren' who is looking to buy a 17" laptop. She first looks at the 'Mac Store' but can't find a computer meeting her requirements for less than $1,000, and quickly concludes she's not 'cool enough to get a Mac'. Eventually, Lauren chooses an HP valued at $699 from Best Buy.

It's an interesting advertising strategy for Microsoft, in that instead of trying to sell consumers on the benefits of Windows, Microsoft is instead advertising the competitive price of computers sold by one of its licensees. I guess HP is happy to be reaping some value out of the Windows stickers it has to slap onto its computers!

I just find the advertisement odd, in that Microsoft doesn't make PCs, yet is clearly advertising a computer competing against Apple. Windows vs. Apple.

Of course, the HP that Lauren buys is $2,000 less than a 17" MacBook Pro. But, you can bet that the HP is not the equivalent of the MBP in design, features, or specifications. It is, however, cheaper. And, that will be enough for many people to choose it.

A week earlier (apparently foreshadowing the Laptop Hunters ad), Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made a comment at a conference about how the only difference between PCs and Macs was essentially the logo (since they are both Intel PCs), and $500 (the infamous 'Apple tax').

Another reason I find the Microsoft ad odd, is that advertising Windows PCs on price is, I think, a dangerous thing for Microsoft to do. In case you haven't heard of it, there's this free operating system called Linux. When you add the cost of Linux to the price of a PC, that makes the computer cheaper than the same PC with the cost of a Windows license tacked on! Of course, many people won't consider a Linux powered computer, because they like the familiarity of Windows. But, this does put Microsoft between a rock and a hard place - between 'too cool' on one side, and free on the other.

Funny, too, that at around the same time as both Ballmer's comments and the Laptop Hunters ad hit, Dell started promoting its new Adamo brand. Adamo is Dell's style statement, a computer that exudes quality and design, and as a result costs about $2,000 more than the computer Lauren bought! Really, Dell makes a PC that costs more than a Mac! During a recession, even! And, most worrying, this product is from the company that became wildly successful by undercutting its competitors on price! Maybe, Dell is now trying harder to escape from the Race to the Bottom.

Actually, I secretly think this was Dell's subtle way of getting a jab in at Microsoft, by poking a small, stylish, and perfectly manicured fingernail into Microsoft's 'cost' balloon, for not having Lauren choose a Dell!