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Apple greeted the release of Microsoft's Vista operating system with another round of snarky ads, prompting an angry response from Bill Gates.

The Mac manufacturer has run ads for a year in which Apple is portrayed by a cool hipster and the PC by a dorky goofball.

"I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it's superior," the Microsoft boss told Newsweek. "Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it?"

One new Apple ad shows the PC character in a hospital gown, saying he's set for surgery to upgrade to Vista. He tells the Mac character that if he doesn't make it, Mac can have his peripherals.

Microsoft's Vista, its first upgrade of Windows in five years, has slick new security and search features, but Apple backers say most already exist on Macs.