Truth in Advertising: "SOHO is the domain of Windows - forget Linux, and don't even mention the Mac". Says who?

There are all sorts of ways for product makers to get their wares into the public's awareness.

They can take out advertisements where it's clear who is advertising what - like a shop advertising a service, or a manufacturer advertising a new range of products.

Sometimes, when shops advertise products, the manufacturer will offer kickbacks or some subsidy for the advertisement, or even take care of the lot, especially if the advertisement features its sole products. To my eye, such behind-the-scenes deals is neither here nor there, although proprietors of competing retailers may take another view.

Here in Australia, we have had so-called "cash for comments" scandals, where well-known and well-paid radio talk-back hosts have boosted certain products and canned others, only for contracts with the former to come into the public domain, clearly outlining the relationship - hence "cash for comments." This is seen as disturbing the relationship between trusted public affairs commentators and their public.

It's OK for the commentator to state they are now delivering an advertisement on behalf of company X. But when they sneak in positive comments for them, and badmouth company X's competitors without revealing they are on X's payroll, it stinks.

Occasionally, print journalists are caught out doing the same, writing so-called "advertorials" where they laud a product (often based on PR releases they have slightly modified) with the outfit they have praised taking out paid advertisements.

The other technique is to write a feature story - often a supplement or lift-out - which is often titled "Special Advertising report". The copy then reads like a magazine story, except the products mentioned have paid to be included, although that fact is never mentioned. The article looks and feels like the genuine article, in the sense that it is written by a journalist in a style one usually sees in the main magazine.

However, the writing is clearly biased since it mentions products by name as examples, and one can only assume this was not done randomly but because payment was made.

It does require the reader to remain skeptical, that in fact the writer is boosting the product rather than being critical.

I found an example of such writing this weekend (August 14-15) and it angered me for its misleading the average reader, in my opinion. I also wonder who paid for the advertisement and whether newspapers ought to be required to declare this.

The article was about Working from Home, and what was needed to equip a Home Office. It was written by former News Corporation IT editor Ian Grayson, whose work has appeared in that publisher's Tuesday IT edition of The Australian newspaper.

After describing the hardware a home office PC might require in terms of CPU speed, hard drive size, and RAM requirement, Grayson offers a paragraph on the preferred operating system (OS):

"The vast majority of computers being sold come with Microsoft 's Windows XP operating system. Windows XP provides a range of features, including a comprehensive online help system and wizards that guide the user through tasks such as connecting to the internet or setting up a small office network. Windows also incorporates an update feature where, once connected to the Internet, the software can automatically check for new versions or patches designed to fix any identified problems. While it is possible to replace Windows with other types of operating systems, such as Linux, its compatibility with most office software products makes it a natural choice for home and small office users."


Now does anything strike you as odd about this paragraph? I think even the most vociferous booster of Linux would give their best friend who is putting together a home office sage advice about Linux not being quite ready for this particular domain of use. But would they say Windows is your "natural" (=no need to think further) choice? I think not! What is missing from this picture then? Oh yes, the possibility of using the Mac OS in the small office/home office (SOHO) environment like tens of thousands of people do!

Why was the Macintosh platform omitted from Grayson's article?

Probably because the article was paid for in part or in full by Microsoft Australia is my guess - but it's only a guess as there is no declaration of who paid for this advertising feature. Or perhaps it was Grayson's attempt to stay within Microsoft's good graces.

What peripherals are mentioned by Grayson that might also spell the lack of utility for Linux for the SOHO, as well as software products?

Let's see what's mentioned in the body of the article:

1. We see a picture of the Epson Stylus CX5300 multipurpose copier/scanner/printer (the article is preceded by a full page advertisement for Epson laser printers)

2. A picture of Lexar storage medium in the form of the JumpDrive USB thumbdrive (a full-page advertisement for Lexar media appears in the article)

3. Mention of a Canon laser printer (LBP-1210), Brother fax copier (737MC), and HP's multifunction PSC2410.

There are mentions too of external hard drives by name (Maxtor - and a full page advertisement) and Iomega's REV drive.

Now what do all these mentioned peripherals have in common?

1. The Epson is Windows and Mac compatible, for OS 9 and X.

2. All the media are Windows and Mac compatible

3. The Canon has been downrated by one independent site for the following reason:
"However the lack of ethernet and Mac support does limit this printers appeal."

The HP is Windows and Mac compatible, both OS 9 and X.

So much for needing Windows to run necessary peripherals in the SOHO environment.


But more importantly what was left out of this advertorial?

As much as it advocated the use of high-speed "always on" cable or ADSL internet connectivity, no mention was made of how to protect that "natural" Windows system from malware, spyware, and virus attacks, for which the Mac at this time seems immune, and which any fair article would have mentioned, including hardware and software-based firewalls. But this was never meant to be a fair article, was it?

For me the choice of Windows has the natural SOHO choice is so off the planet, as to make me laugh and cry at the same time. What a poor effort from Grayson! I hope he was paid well for this piece of journalistic whoring.

For the SOHO operator without a paid IT department to look after technical issues, umpteen monthly security updates, and almost daily virus checks and pop-up nonsense, the Mac is not the natural choice, but the logical and rational choice to consider. If you have loads of software based in Windows and it would require more to crossover than the hardware costs, stay with Windows. If your Windows accountancy or invoice software is what your vendors, suppliers or accountant demands, then stay with Windows.

But, if you're starting from scratch, don't have the above limitations on you, or are just heartily sick of the security updates, pop-ups and malware, then you owe it to yourself to ignore Grayson's paid-for advice, and visit a Mac dealer or visit a Mac networking club and ask the right questions. Such as if Microsoft Office is available for the Mac. (It is and arguably better than that for Windows - and you can easily exchange files). Check out if MYOB, and Quickbooks is available for the Mac, or mind-mapping software, or notetaking software or cross-platform database apps... They are.

If you go with Windows because all your friends run it, and you can pirate their's, then I wish you good luck because it may well be a means of making a vital business decision you may come to regret. My guess is more people are moving to self-employed SOHO in a sea-change from corporate life and are migrating from the Windows environment to the Mac, than from Mac to Windows. Perhaps it is a way to say, "I'm outa here and independent", or something else.

But there is one thing to keep in mind: initial outlay is only part of your financial consideration. You need to estimate how much your system will cost your business (hardware, software, downtime, tech support etc) over its three year life cycle. And which OS will get out of your way when you want to get creative or get work done.

If you want an opinion about the Windows versus Mac for small business, you can read David Coursey's 2003 column. He has a history of being a Windows booster who came late to the Mac party.

Or why not just skip that and go straight to Microsoft's own website to see what it has to say about the Mac and SOHO. Here is a paragraph from its Macinstosh Business Unit homepage:

"Extensive research conducted with thousands of people reveals that Mac users tend to be home users, students, teachers, creative professionals, and small-business operators. That's why Office v. X for Mac is more likely to present features for working directly with a document than, say, features that let users retrieve information from a corporate data warehouse."

Hmm, sounds like Microsoft gets how the Mac is ideal for the SOHO environment. Oh, and if you want to know if Macs are reliable, why not go to PC Magazine's Annual review and see why its readers rated Apple products No. 1.

"...Apple's impressive reliability scores are at least a point higher than the industry averages. Nearly all respondents to our survey who supplied quotes about their Apple desktops found them extremely reliable. Compared with other brands, a much lower percentage of Apple desktop systems needed repairs over the last year."

Update (August 24, 2004): "Apple Computer reported the highest score among personal computer makers in U.S. customer satisfaction for 2004, according to the results from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), released Tuesday. Apple's score improved by four points for a second consecutive year... (Apple) has the highest score any PC manufacturer has achieved in the 11 years of ACSI measurement," said Professor Claes Fornell, Director, National Quality Research Center, University of Michigan Business School. "Much of this is due to successful innovation and a lot of it."

Although Dell has been supplanted by Apple as the industry leader in customer satisfaction, it remains the most consistently high-scoring
computer manufacturer with a score of 79, up 1%, Prof. Fornell said.

The ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. It is updated each quarter with new measures for different sectors of the economy replacing data from the prior year. The overall ACSI score for a given quarter factors in scores from about 200 companies in 40 industries and from government agencies over the previous four quarters.