[Nobody]

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Actually it started as part of a FUD campaign to frighten people away from installing cheaper 3rd-party math coprocessor chips into their 386 PCs, or buying systems with AMD CPUs. The implication was that if it wasn't Intel inside, it would be some unreliable counterfeit components made of cheap cardboard that would corrupt your spreadsheets

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But it worked in part because, in the early days, it was often true. Not always, but AMD, Cyrix and other companies did tend to have enormous quality-control issues. AMD was not cranking out consistently quality, high-performance product like they do today.
The line of FUD is difficult to define. I think it is when it becomes malicious and untrue that it rises to FUD. Simply promoting the components you use is simply branding. Would it be FUD for Apple to advertise that they use a brand new new IBM G4 chip in their machines? No. But it might be FUD if Apple were to say "this has been banned because it is a supercomputer" and picture it surrounded by tanks.
My memory is a bit sketchy of those days, especially as I used 95% Amigas and Macs at the time. but did intel actually spread lies about other processors, or did they just highlight problems that were actually happening? I remember a lot of cursing from my my PC-using friends when they decided to buy non-Intel CPUs. A level of frustration not seen again until the Pentium math-error problems which caused the PR tide to turn back against Intel.
For all I know, they did engage in a full-on FUD campaign. But branding your product as being reputable is just sound marketing strategy. No company is going to say "hey it doesn't matter if you buy that box without our product in it, because ours isn't any better."

[Nobody]

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Only a tiny fraction of their target audience is going to make a connection between "The Great Leap Forward" and "Leap Ahead" in any way that's going to have any real negative impact.

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I dunno, the connotations of the name kind of jumped out at me.
Thank you, try the veal.

[moose_n_squirrel]

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Here's the thing about language. Computers aren't good at it. You shouldn't let a computer do your thinking for you, you should get it to work for you.
"Ahead" is a synonym of "forward."
You just searched on a mechanical string match, rather than looking at semantics and connotations.

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Yeah yeah yeah. The point is, either you take the statement literally or you don't. If you do, there's no match, and the argument fails. If you don't, then 90% of all other marketing slogans sound too similar, and the argument fails again, because 90% of all marketing slogans promise giving you power, advantage, superiority, and ultimate victory. Can't win. For example, if we have to take "Leap Ahead" loosely, then we must also recoil in horror at any marketing slogan suggesting a "revolution" or "revolutionary" (darn insurgents! Oh wait...American Revolution good, other revolutions bad) "ultimate" product solutions (sounds too much like "final"), etc. due to possible historical allusions. Heck, Apple writes half of these "revolutionary power to the people" slogans. It's silly!

[Netizen_Kane]

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WWII and the Holocaust was over 40 years ago. Does it still seem weird to you that evoking Hitler, Nazis, or using the swastikas is a major social taboo?

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There's a major difference. There are no positive reference points for Hitler, Nazis or swastikas. "Great Leap Forward" was and is an optimistic phrase only slightly weighted down by the misguided campaign it was tacked onto. We have no problems with the phrase "living space," even though Hitler appropriated and twisted it as his justification ("Lebensraum"). If WWII never happened, we would still look askance at any product named "Holocaust," unless it was Black Flag's latest roach killer. If Mao hadn't taken power, we wouldn't think twice about any great leaps forward. Even today, if an American politician said, "We are taking a great leap forward into the 21st century," it wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Besides, it's doubtful many people under the age of 30 know of the history and will make such an esoteric connection. Let it go. Outside of the halls of academia, it's a dead issue.

[Nobody]

In reply to:

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There's a major difference. There are no positive reference points for Hitler, Nazis or swastikas. "Great Leap Forward" was and is an optimistic phrase only slightly weighted down by the misguided campaign it was tacked o

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In America you might see it that way. but what about the Chinese? Where do you think our computers are made? China and Taiwan!
Consider the irony - the "Great Leap Forward" was failed industrialization. Now, what's going on now? Oh right. The West wants a "Leap Ahead" by having the Chinese industrialize and use their cheap labor to make products like Intel processors.

In reply to:

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Besides, it's doubtful many people under the age of 30 know of the history and will make such an esoteric connection. Let it go. Outside of the halls of academia, it's a dead issu

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Do you even consider the rest of the world? China is massive, and I assure you it is not an "academic" question to them. It is a very real memory and piece of popular history. With the growing importance of China globally, one would think that Chinese perceptions would be a little more carefully considered.
i just don't understand why so many Westerners refuse to think of other people as significant, just because they are not taught about foreign history.

[leroybrown]

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Not likely. Remember the security, spyware and virus nightmare of Windows. Besides, Mac OS X is more stable and also easier and a visual pleasure compared to the awkward ugly Windows interface.

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Yeah, I know, but Macs have those advantages today, and face it, somewhere in excess of 90% of all computer users can do everything that they currently do on their Wintel computers on a Mac, but they do not. Why? I don't know. Reasons I commonly hear sound like "I can get software off the shelf of a local store - there's no software for Macs" or "Them PCs is cheaper[sic]." Funny thing is that those excuses would never work if you were, say, choosing a hammer, or a replacement window.
I'd like to think that you are right, but people don't choose computers based solidly on reliability and ease of use. If they did, people wouldn't have bought e-Machines or Packard Bell... and sure those companies aren't around anymore, but they were successful enough to be bought out by bigger companies (NEC and Gateway, iirc).

[Nobody]

In a parallel move Apple will also be changing its slogan to move with the times.
The old "Think Different" slogan will now be adjusted ito reflect the "New Apple", including the move to Intel chips.

The new slogan will be "Think the Same" eventually to be shortened to "Ditto" and then just to the mark ".
The slogan will be partnered with a standardised 6 story high portrait of Steve Jobs to be hung outside all Apple buildings. A smaller one story version will be provided to Apple employees to display at home.

[pdrayton]

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OK, perhaps the connection is a bit tenuous, and memories have faded over the past 40 years. It just seems to me that certain historical events should be tiptoed around by marketers. Think about the uproar that would ensue if a company changed their marketing slogan to "A More Final Solution" or "The Last Crusade".

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Spare us, please!
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
What will you want to do next, ban "leap frog" from playgrounds so that innocent children won't become traumatized by playing a game that has frightening Moaist connotations?
No consumer has yet been perturbed by Leap Wireless, and none will be by Intel's new tag line.
People, get a life!

[ddogg]

I read that the Black eyed peas will be promoeting leap ahead. oh leap ahead leeepe ahead. That's replacing the chime

[kingkerryA]

All manner of religious iconography HAS been used to sell porn. Christians were forced to get over it.
Or do you not remember Jerry Fallwell sueing Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine?
Perhaps we should all just NOT use the word "leap" in advertising anymore. Unless we are referring to a leap in a direection other than forward.
Personaly I think the slogan is pretty weak to begin with. My bet is that it will have no where near the lifespan enjoyed by "Intel Inside".

[Nobody]

[indent]In reply to:

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WWII and the Holocaust was over 40 years ago

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[/indent]
60, but who's counting?

[MCJ]

Presumably the marketing gurus over at Intel have translated the slogan into a suitable word or phrase for the Chinese market that will convey a similar message without causing any undue offense. Big corporations like them have learnt the hard way that their product marketing has to be carefully researched to work in foreign markets.

[bastion]

[indent]In reply to:

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Does it still seem weird to you that evoking Hitler, Nazis, or using the swastikas is a major social taboo?

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[/indent]Hitler or Nazis, no. But frankly, yes, it does seem strange to me that a simple geometric figure well-established as a religious icon and architectural design element a long time before the Nazis misappropriated it is somehow "evil" itself more than half a century later. But we're not talking about evil people. We're not talking about a symbol that was associated with evil people. We're talking about a phrase that for some people bears a resemblance to another phrase used to denote a failed attempt at improvement. Saying "Leap Ahead" will be too painful for those with direct or cultural memory of "The Great Leap Forward" is like saying that owning a Kiss album is an insult to those affected by the holocaust. After all, look at the shape of the 'ss' at the end of the name.
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Today, it's still not particularly appropriate to use religious symbology within a business setting.

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[/indent]Um. Even leaving aside the question of televangelists, the use of religious imagery for commercial gain runs rampant in western culture.
(Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley are both Jewish, btw.)