14 DAY TRIAL // Google has rebooted its Chromebook ad effort with a new video that attempts to highlight the main features of its platform by putting rival operating systems in a bad light.
The most recent ad released by Google is mainly about error messages that Windows and macOS users see every once in a while, including virus warnings and BSODs.
Google hopes that by showing the weak points of alternative operating systems, more users would be inclined to choose Chrome OS, putting the emphasis on features like longer battery life, automatic updates, and malware protection.
But on the other hand, this video also comes as a reply to recent moves in the education market. Microsoft itself is trying to win teachers and students with a more affordable Surface model called Surface Go, but also with a Windows 10 version (Windows 10 in S Mode) specifically tailored for this market.
Microsoft’s Surface Go is projected to go on sale in early August, while another major Windows 10 update with improvements for a wide category of users is expected in the fall.
The Windows 10 education push
Google, however, which continues to be the leading choice in the US education sector, has given this refresh to its ad push just ahead of the back-to-school effort, and this is possibly just the first in a series of other ads that may be released in the coming weeks.
Paradoxically, Microsoft and Apple have tried to resolve exactly the issues that Google is using in this ad to promote its own products.
Windows 10, for example, comes with malware protection enabled by default, and Microsoft uses a gradual rollout for each new feature update in order to make sure that error messages like the ones seen in Google’s ad no longer occur. Using machine learning, Microsoft has managed to complete the launch of the April 2018 Update in just a couple of months, thus making the OS update broadly available to all devices.
