The ads, which began appearing on television Monday night, poke fun at some of the problems with the Windows operating system and play up Apple's user-friendly reputation. The commercials also come at a crucial time for the Mac.
"We're at a very convenient crossroads for them to say 'Check out the Mac for the first time...again,'" said Richard Shim, an analyst for research firm IDC. "They have a new operating system coming soon, and they're going through a very public transition to the Intel platform. And the biggest player on the block (Windows Vista) is going to be delayed."
Microsoft said in March that the widespread distribution of Windows Vista, which promises to offer such features as improved security, video and photo editing, would be delayed until early 2007. Research firm Gartner is skeptical, announcing Tuesday that it doesn't expect Vista to be ready until the second quarter of 2007.
The past two years have seen Apple spend many of its ad dollars promoting the iPod, the company's hot-selling digital music player. But Apple seems to be picking up where it left off with the Mac.
The ads "are little different in tone from what Apple has taken in the past", said Michael Gartenberg, research director with Jupiter Research. "They're humorous but don't come across as particularly arrogant or elitist. They seem to be doing what they are supposed to: generate buzz about Macs."
Three of the TV ads began appearing Monday night and have run during shows such as 24 and The Tonight Show, as well as some National Basketball Association play-off games. Three more commercials are due to appear over the next few weeks, according to Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris.
All the ads feature a very buttoned-down-looking businessman, who's supposed to represent a PC, debating with a young hipster who represents a Mac. Each spot ridicules an alleged weakness in the Windows operating system, including security and the need for frequent restarting.
In one spot, a sneezing PC cautions the Mac not to get too close. "Last year there were more than 114,000 known viruses for PCs," he says. The Mac responds: "PCs ... but not Macs."
Apple has also experienced security glitches, though. Two concept worms and a serious vulnerability were discovered in OSX earlier this year.
"While no operating system can be completely immune from security threats," Kerris said, "a computer running Windows has so far proven less safe than a computer running Mac OS X."
Representatives from Microsoft did not respond to interview requests.
Talkback
Microsoft has shelved plans to include built-in support for RSA Security's tokens in Windows Vista, even though the company has been testing out the authentication technology for almost two years.
In February 2004, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said Windows would be able to support easy integration with RSA's popular SecurID tokens. That meant businesses would find it far easier to deploy a two-factor authentication system for logging on to networks and applications.
However, almost two years after the SecurID beta-testing programme kicked off, RSA's chief executive, Art Coviello, disclosed that Windows Vista will not natively support the technology.
Coviello said in an interview on Tuesday morning in Sydney: "Microsoft had said they would include the ability to support all kinds of One Time Password (OTP) and challenge-response type authentication in Vista. But they were unable to get it in with all the other issues they have had, so it is going to take longer."
According to Coviello, sales of SecurID for Windows have "gone slowly" because Microsoft decided not to support the tokens natively in Windows.
He explained: "It has gone slowly, and it has gone slowly for a number of reasons. Microsoft has given us source code so we can replace the Microsoft log-on screen. However, it is not yet native to the operating system. So it still requires some work at the desktop, which slows down the adoption rate."
Coviello expects Microsoft to add native support for SecurID in future updates to Vista, after which he hopes demand will increase significantly for two-factor authentication, where people present a second form of identification as well as their password.
He said: "Admittedly, when Vista eventually includes support for onetime passcodes - as is expected in some future point release - people will be more aware generally.
"Right now, we have a competitive advantage, and quite frankly, the adoption rate of our product, SecurID for Windows, is more about inertia in the market than about the technology."
Although Microsoft has been slow to add support for SecurID and other password alternatives, Gates has frequently called on the industry to move away from passwords - including in a speech at this year's RSA Security show.
Vista is expected to include a password management system called InfoCards, which Gates announced at the RSA conference.
Microsoft said on Tuesday that it had worked with several vendors and customers on whether to add native support in Vista for one-time passwords, via its Kerberos authentication protocol. RSA's SecurID token generates a different password for each attempt to log on to a service.
A representative for the software maker said: "Most customers told Microsoft they do not view one-time passwords as strategic and are looking long term to smartcards as their preferred strong-authentication mechanism."
The Vista update will let third-parties write credential providers to add their authentication tool to the operating system, the representative added.
Microsoft latest operating system, Windows Vista is likely be delayed again by at least 3 months according to research group Gartner.
The research note, released to clients on Monday, said the new Windows Vista operating system is too complex to be able to meet Microsoft's targeted November release for volume licence customers and January launch for retail consumers.
The launch of the operating system has been dogged by delays since it was first announced.
Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for the new Windows, then pushed the release out to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be delayed to improve the product's quality.
Although currently available as a beta, Gartner believes that the release won't be until April-June quarter of 2007 at the earliest.
"Microsoft still wants to get it out as soon as possible, but slipping from January to March is nowhere near as bad as slipping from shipping before the holidays to after the holidays", a group of Gartner analysts wrote in the report.
The news is only likely to infuriate Microsoft who insist that it was still on track to meet its launch dates.
Regarding "Apple has also experienced security glitches, though. Two worms and a serious vulnerability were discovered in OSX earlier this year."
Two points that were missing from your article:
Point one. Was the "serious vulnerability" fixed?
Point two. Were the worm "in the wild" or a demo, because I hadn't heard of anything in the wild yet.
This article says there are two worms on the Mac. I must have completely missed something! What are they called?
Lets put things into perspective so people can get a grip on the relative threat of using a Mac verses using Windows.
The chances of being infected using Windows if connected to the internet are equal the the chance that you will die if you stop breathing and you heart stops for thirty minutes.
Using a Mac the chances of catching an as yet non-existent virus, spyware etc. in the wild on the internet are equal to being struck by lightning inside a train travelling through the Chunnel while receiving a cell phone call notifying you your wife just gave birth to thirty seven children today and also finding you've won a 4 billion dollar lottery.
To break it down further Windows 100% certainty of infection - Mac 1/infinity squared not quite an absolute certainty of zero chance of infection if used for the next trillion years.