Microsoft believes Apple is winning the battle on the desktop using "lies" and "myths" against Windows Vista, and has promised to fight back.

Evoking the spirit of his apple-cheeked little daughter, Microsoft's vice president for Windows consumer product marketing Brad Brooks promised partners that by telling the "truth" about Windows Vista, they can overcome lies of a "highly vocal minority".

"They say it's the i-way or the highway," Brooks told Microsoft's worldwide partner conference in Houston, Texas, on Tuesday, without actually naming Apple. "We think that's a sad message."

"There's a conversation in the market place right now and it's plain wrong," he claimed. "Windows is awesome... Windows Vista is a good product."

He closed: "As my daughter said, the 'truth will make us strong'."

Not a laughing matter in Redmond

Brooks skirted over what the lies were. Apple has for two years, though, been running a popular series of TV ads skewering Windows Vista, and those commercials have clearly been rubbing up Microsoft the wrong way. Microsoft's own Windows Vista "wow" campaign vanished long, long ago.

And whether it's the power of the TV spot or Microsoft's own ineptitude in delivering a delayed operating system that was too bloated for most PCs already out there to handle and that lacked adequate third-party support, Apple's has grabbed 6.6 per cent of the desktop market in the US during Windows Vista's lifetime.

Related stories

• Developers to get Windows 7 pre beta next month (25 September 2008)
• Secret Windows 7 screens leaked? (23 September 2008)
• Intel and Yahoo! go TV ad mad (20 August 2008)
• Microsoft starts stoking hype for Windows 7 (15 August 2008)
• Vista 'perfection' dream over for iPhone? (29 July 2008)
• MS products just too cool to comprehend, say MS geeks (25 July 2008)
• Ballmer upset by Apple cart (24 July 2008)
• Microsoft bigwig jumps ship in re-org wake (24 July 2008)
• MS takes Windows 3.11 out of embed to put to bed (11 July 2008)
• Vista woes fuel Mac sales surge - analyst (9 July 2008)
• Microsoft tells SMBs Vista isn't a risky business (9 July 2008)
• Microsoft hopes third time is lucky with XP SP3 update (8 July 2008)
• MS readies Vista code injection risk fix (4 July 2008)
• Radio Reg Strange cults, vocal surgery and the quiet man: Inside Microsoft (3 July 2008)
• Comment Microsoft flogs subscriptions to the unwary and confused (3 July 2008)
• Microsoft touts trustworthy browsing with IE8 (3 July 2008)
• Google a broken hell for five-year-olds (2 July 2008)
• Apple's fourth Leopard spits out 25 patches (1 July 2008)
• Bill Gates has gone, what's his legacy? (30 June 2008)
• Intel says 'no' to Windows Vista (26 June 2008)
• Microsoft says ‘hasta la vista XP’ - well, kinda (24 June 2008)
• Windows Vista has been battered, says Wall Street fan (11 June 2008)
• Dell touts Windows XP to 2009 - and 'likely longer' (9 June 2008)