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If by "getting it", you mean Apple misleading consumers with ridiculous hyperbole, then I'm glad Microsoft didn't "get it". That's the wrong message.

I disagree.

When Apple created the Mac/PC ads, they deliberatley chose a dorky, middle-aged guy to play the PC, and a younger, more casual guy to play the Mac. The goal in doing so was create the impression that these were "typical" users of each platform. Since we live in a youth-driven culture, the implication is that buying a Mac is a way to associate oneself with the "cooler" crowd. Just as, for example, an ad for a sports car might feature a young attractive woman, even though most sports cars are probably bought by middle-aged men--often in an attempt, consciously or not, to attract the attention of young women. This kind of cultural association is common in modern advertising, and the subtext it creates in Apple's ads was just as significant as whatever each one poked fun at (UAC, crapware, etc.). To say the actors were simply stand-ins for computers grossly misses the point.

Microsoft's initial goal with the "I'm a PC" campaign was to break that association, by having people from all different backgrounds substitute themselves for John Hodgeman's character. In doing so, they hoped to convey the idea that the PC is a sort of egalitarian device for every man, woman and child. You can debate the effectiveness those ads had in communicating that message, but I've certainly never come across anyone who felt "degraded" because they thought they were being literally compared to a few pounds of silicon, plastic, and precious metals.

Also, FWIW, Apple clearly asks "Which Mac are you?" on its website:

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

(The second item to the left of the header.) Do you feel degraded? :-)

Personally, I think these new Windows 7 ads are pretty decent. Actually, they do what even Apple hasn't managed to do up to this point: clearly and succintly demonstrate features of the product being advertised.

Edited 2009-10-23 02:20 UTC

I would gave said "retarded" but either works, I guess.

I think MS gets it, and in the campaign is subtly but purposefully rejecting it.

The kid in the "I'm a Mac" looks like he's single, watches B&W foreign films, drinks fair trade coffee, and that his entire life is comprehended by understanding those few things. In a word, he is cool, and like very few actual people. The PC guy looks like an accountant who's been working the same job for 20y, and goes home every night thinking of how someday he'll really tell his boss what he thinks. He looks like more people than the Mac guy, but still a few sigmas away from the mean.

Now look at the people in the MS adds. A mechanic, a guy and his wife, a guy _working_ while in a coffee shop, a guy at home with his kids relaxing.

I think MS knows exactly what they are doing when they show "real people" with the "I'm a PC" tag line. Everyone does know the Apple ads, and everybody knows they are over-the-top, which is perfectly fine in advertising. However, if taken a just a bit too far, the "choose your identity" angle -- the implicit point of the Apple add is: Who do you want to be? the old nerd or the cool kid? -- you open yourself up to this kind of thing. It has an element of conversion. Stop being the old guy, join us and be cool...

MS is basically answering, "Which one?" with, "Neither," and saying that people that use Windows have jobs (manual and white collar), families, and leisure time. Everyone of those is represented in these adds. In short, they are the normal people that make up 80-90% of the market, and that MS wants to offer them something they can use as they are, not as the first step of a transformation.

Edited 2009-10-23 18:27 UTC