Microsoft ads imply Windows 10 computers do more than Macs

Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.

Why do computers exist?

Is it for doing things? Or is it simply to make life, and the inherent entertainment within it, more amusing?

Microsoft seems firmly of the former belief. Redmond's CEO Satya Nadella has insisted that productivity is at the core of his company. He's insisted Microsoft is "reinventing" productivity.

Which, apparently, Apple isn't.

I judge this from a new Microsoft campaign that shows the glories of Windows computers and Windows 10, while sniping at Macs.

The ads feature the Bug Chicks, two women whose small business tries to get kids excited about creepy-crawlies. Which seems less hard than getting people excited about Windows 10.

In one ad, a Bug Chick shows how lovely it is to have a touchscreen on your computer. Her fellow Bug Chick replies: "I don't have a touchscreen on my Mac."

In another ad, the joys of the ever-helpful Cortana are revealed. To which the Mac-owning Bug Chick gripes: "Even on the new Macs they don't have that."

In a third ad, the Windows 10-owning Bug Chick shows her Mac-owning partner how she can unlock her Windows computer with facial recognition. Again comes the entirely natural line from the envious Bug Chick: "Even on the new Macs they don't have that."

Yes, this is Mac vs PC in reverse. Remember those ads?

The features are all in themselves interesting. However, moving someone away from something they feel emotionally committed to is no easy task.

Windows 10 hasn't yet been a universal success. Indeed, Google's head of design Matias Duarte sniffed that it was "more like Windows 10 years ago."

Microsoft is, though, trying to work on the emotional aspects of its brand, as well as the rational features. As the computer market sinks somewhat, perhaps computers in themselves seem less important.

However, every new product -- and every piece of marketing put behind it -- is an attempt to bridge the gap not just between, say, competing computers but between competing brands.

For its part, Apple isn't rushing to create a touchscreen Mac. At least that's what head of software Craig Federighi has said in the past.

I wonder if, just as with the stylus -- I mean, of course, pencil -- Apple will change its mind.