14 DAY TRIAL // Sure enough, Apple makes a good point in its latest Get a Mac ads targeting PC users’ upgrade to Windows 7. However, we have overlooked one tiny aspect about Apple’s own upgrade to Snow Leopard, and the company seems to act like nothing ever happened. You guessed it - it’s the data-eating bug affecting users who unknowingly upgraded to "the most advanced" OS out there only to find their user accounts wiped clean.
After watching Apple’s latest Get a Mac ads, which capitalize on some of the fuss surrounding the Windows 7 upgrade process, we figured Apple was going to have another good Get-a-Mac year. Adding those angry comments over at Microsoft’s forum, I had just about every reason to laud Apple for the way it handled its customers and, implicitly, its business.
However, while the ads don’t lie, Apple had quite a nerve posting them before addressing one of the most serious bugs ever to plague Mac OS X. Ironically, the bug affects those who upgraded to Snow Leopard. Here’s what happened, just in case you haven’t been reading the tech news lately.
Following the public launch of Mac OS X version 10.6 aka Snow Leopard, Apple Discussions (support forum) users started complaining of a Snow Leopard bug eating away their data. The wipeout happens when the user logs into the 'guest' account, then logs back out of the account, and back into their normal one. Many reported that, not only had their settings been reset, but, in most cases, all data had been erased. The home directory would still appear under "/Users/username," but those affected reported that it was completely empty.
Users claimed their data had become unrecoverable in some cases, and could not be found / accessed anywhere on the hard drive. Only a few lucky cases were reported, where the user had backed up their data. While Apple’s OS X 10.6.2 software update is expected to drop soon with the fix, it is still not clear exactly how many users have been affected to date. However, all signs point to the bug existing on machines that upgraded from OS X 10.5 Leopard with the guest account enabled.
So, how does Apple find the courage to post those ads that bash Windows 7? Easy! The Mac maker is strictly referring to the differences between upgrade policies and, of course, its most satisfying customer care services.
Apple's new 'Teeter Tottering' ad portrays a female PC user who finds that it's easier to switch to a Mac, rather than upgrade to Microsoft's new Windows 7
Credits: Apple
Apple even made upgrading from Tiger (OS X 10.4) to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) a seamless process. The company was also shooting the new TV spots as the aforementioned Snow Leopard bug emerged and, with Windows 7 launched to the public, the ads couldn’t wait any longer.
Hadn’t the Snow Leopard upgrade bug existed, Apple could only be praised for its straightforward thinking and user-friendliness. However, since that’s not the case, the Mac maker’s ongoing Get a Mac campaign doesn’t resonate with us so much anymore.