Here’s an interesting and lighter perspective that compares the two Democratic candidates to a couple of computer brand names that are in turn humanized in the popular Apple ads.
Hillary Clinton, of course, is like Microsoft. Her campaign is a disciplined corporate behemoth that is based almost entirely around a rational offer (in this case, experience) but has very limited emotional appeal. That’s not to say Democrats don’t view her favorably — they do — but she does not excite the kind of emotions in voters that make her a compelling choice.
Even Clinton’s strategy is based on a model similar to the one that fueled Microsoft’s rise: Gobble up enough money, talent and endorsements (i.e., market share) to squeeze out smaller competitors and become the ”inevitable” choice.
Microsoft achieved dominance not necessarily because people felt any joy in buying its products but because at the end of the day, thanks to ruthless tactics and execution, it became impractical for most people to choose anything else. Clinton hopes to achieve the same.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, is like Apple. His brand is driven primarily by its emotional appeal: He is exciting and fresh to some, hip and cool to others. Most important, his brand inspires hope and optimism, two exceedingly powerful emotions that allow people to make a statement about themselves by casting a vote for him.
Apple achieved a great deal of success — though not parity with Microsoft — in much the same way by cultivating its image as hip, cool, and anti-authoritarian. For many people, buying a Mac has been as much about making a statement about who they are as it has been about buying a piece of electronics.
Read the rest here
PC and Mac users how are you lining up?
If I had a nickel for every time a techie analogized any contest to Microsoft and Apple, I’d be richer than Steve Jobs, even with his fraudulently backdated stock options.
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p>If the analogy were to hold true, then the Obama for President campaign would be crush to near-non-existence by Clinton, and then ressurect itself by campaigning successfully for some other office that no one knew we had but which nevertheless turned out to be important to us.
Clinton would crash, maddeningly, at the worst possible moment. And it would be impossible to tell what the hell was going on with her, and how to fix the problem.
It helps them keep track of this stuff or something.
clearly puts you in the Clinton/Microsoft camp
But you do not have the permission to play that file. And get some more memory dammit, it is crowded in here.