This post was published 3 months 11 days ago. This info might have changed or might have become outdated.

The New York Times this weekend is showing Microsoft yet more love and running a feature article about the way that Microsoft has been restoring it’s image. Specifically, the NYT sees the turning point as having been Microsoft’s embracing of the “I’m a PC “sneer from Apple and making it into a mark of distinction…and a key point in their new advertising campaigns

Admit it all you Windows users, when you saw the ad below for the first time, didn’t you feel a little rush of pride?

In the article, Microsoft is given a very sympathetic spin as the recent ad war between Cupertino and Redmond is looked at and declared, for the first time, a draw. The article also paints Apple as a painfully cool, “hipper then thou” outfit micromanaged by Steve Jobs, right down to the details of the ads. This follows the current trend which no longer seems to view Apple as sacred.

For example…

Surprisingly, Microsoft, which has never been known for running cool ads, has landed some punches. Shortly after the Microsoft campaign started, Apple unleashed commercials that mocked its competitor as spending money on advertising when it should have been fixing Vista, its much-maligned operating system.

“It got Apple’s attention, didn’t it?” says Robert X. Cringely, host of PBS’s NerdTV.

FOR years, Microsoft was the stodgy market leader. It sold 90 percent of the world’s operating system software, and generally left the advertising to Dell, H.P. and other hardware makers who licensed Windows. The only time Microsoft hawked its most recognizable brand on television was when the latest version of the software hit the shelves. Then the company flooded the airwaves with commercials full of loud music and swirling imagery saying that the new version of Windows is out — and that it’s awesome!

Apple is the classic smaller insurgent. Its share for desktops and laptops in the United States is just over 8 percent. Every time Apple grabs another point of market share from Microsoft’s partners, its stock price climbs. And one way that Apple has tried to gain share is by running clever ads that ridicule everything Microsoft stands for.

After so many years, I for one am thrilled to see the media worm has turned…and is taking a bite out of Apple for once. Apple is still being given credit as the innovative, creative company it is, but people are finally seeing more of the merits of Microsoft, it seems.

Read the entire article HERE.