According to Novell ads, Linux is a cute girl who needs a haircut
Novell has made a series of ads parodying the iconic (can we call them "iconic" now?) "I'm a Mac" commercials. Like Apple's ads, they feature a dweeby PC and a "cool kid" Mac, although Novell's Mac looks less like a 2007-era hipster and more like a Freddie Prinze, Jr.-ish jock from a late '90s teen movie. (I mean, a Mac would at least be more inclined to resemble a slightly edgier character played by Ethan Embry.)
Then there's Novell's addition, Linux. In an obvious pander to male geeks, Linux is female, and she's cute. Unfortunately, her style of dress is a tad boring, she looks a little bit shy, and she could use a haircut to get rid of those overgrown bangs. But I suppose your average basement programmer won't care. Dude, Linux is like a whole new species!
Here at Crave, we love to deconstruct the "I'm a Mac" ads. See also the 1996 vintage, the Japanese version, and Candace's observation that it's a bit erroneous for the British ads to have a PC who looks like Al Gore.
P.S.: With regard to PC/Mac/Linux comparisons, I still prefer this graphic that somebody made:
(Credit: fuhrerchan.be)
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
personifying it as this gorgeous young woman is quite right.
For one thing, for all its power and efficiency, Linux is not pretty. Modern
Gnome iterations such as Ubuntu are a lot more appealing than they were,
but they are a long way from Mac OS X's standards of design elegance. And
all Linux distros also never let you forget you're only a shell prompt away
from having to edit a config file.
For another, the majority of those "30 million users" or really the headless
server installations they are configured for are not in the least bit appealing:
they belong in their windowless server room dungeons. This girl should
definitely not be locked away.
Lastly, the young woman seems far too smart to waste her life customizing
Linux to actually get some work done. She's more inclined to be actually
doing creative work.
From the cast of characters in this ad, the true roles should really be:
Smartass geek jock = Someone who configures Linux in between Slashdot
postings
Boring suit = Someone who triumphs in getting his Excel spreadsheets to
tally and his virus scanner to complete in under 25 mins
Gorgeous woman = Mac-using designer more at home in Photoshop than
Eclipse