Ads: 'Microsoft vs. Apple' heats up

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Apple's Steve Jobs (l.) and Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Those Microsoft "Laptop Hunter" ads are creating more stir.

Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner reports fielding a call from Apple legal, asking that the company to pull them, citing updates and price drops in Apple's computer lineup.

Will Microsoft comply?

As Borat would say, "not so much." "We're just going to keep running them and running them and running them," Turner told the audience at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference.

But should they pull them?

PC World's Mitchell Ashley doesn't think so, but he would like to see new ads that better reflect the current lineup.

Ars Technica's Emil Protalinski agrees. He isn't necessarily down on the Laptop Hunters spots, but would like to see them phased out. "These are the best ads Microsoft has run in a while; they're clearly working, but we're not sure Microsoft should keep them going for much longer," he writes. "Hopefully the software giant will think of something fresh once Windows 7 rolls out."

Howdy, neighbor! 

In the same speech, Turner let on that Microsoft has plans this fall to open its own retail stores next to existing Apple stores.

Microsoft's official line on the new stores goes like this, according to ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley: "As we progress on our retail strategy there will be scenarios where we have stores in proximity to Apple. We are on track to open stores in the Fall timeframe. Beyond that we have no additional details to share."

Anyone else thinking Apple and Microsoft won't exactly be Tim Taylor and Wilson? Or here's one – what if the rumored "Microsoft phone" or its successor releases the same day as a new iPhone? As Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters (1984) so perfectly put it, "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together ... mass hysteria!"

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