Microsoft’ exec admits Windows 7 look and feel a knockoff of Apple’s Mac OS X

[Dybbuk]

Story was updated:

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/wi...-designed-the-look-and-feel-of-windows-7.aspx

Not that Microsoft should be ashamed of taking inspiration from a competing product, but, whatever.

 

[mac2x]

[...]
Oh yeah and OS X isn't UNIX. Just thought I'd point that out.

And I'm the Queen of England. Pretty obvious you aren't a command line user...

 

[MorphingDragon]

Oh yeah and OS X isn't UNIX. Just thought I'd point that out.

So Mach, NeXTStep, BSD aren't UNIXs. What dimension have I been transported into! Though the only thing not Unix about Mac OSX is XNU.

 

[kroeks]

Every employee at Microsoft has an Apple at home.
I would DIE if i had to work with Winturds all day!

 

[BongoBanger]

So Mach, NeXTStep, BSD aren't UNIXs. What dimension have I been transported into! Though the only thing not Unix about Mac OSX is XNU.

Actually, it's more the lack of flexibility. The Open Group may have allowed Leopard to be branded as UNIX but it's nothing like 'Unix' in the sense of the mainframes I used to program - through an Atari ST as a terminal of all things - back in the 80's.

I kind of feel the Open Group have whored the Unix name out a bit. Just my opinion though.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Actually, it's more the lack of flexibility. The Open Group may have allowed Leopard to be branded as UNIX but it's nothing like 'Unix' in the sense of the mainframes I used to program - through an Atari ST as a terminal of all things - back in the 80's.

I kind of feel the Open Group have whored the Unix name out a bit. Just my opinion though.

So you're basing your opinion on ideals rather than facts?

 

[BongoBanger]

So you're basing your opinion on ideals rather than facts?

In this case, yes, I suppose I am.

*shrugs*

 

[notjustjay]

The weak link in most notebooks is the hard drive. You will be surprised how many people will junk a 3 year old notebook because of a dead HD.

Yup. My 12" PowerBook G4 was my workhorse computer every day from fall 2003 until about August 2007 when the hard drive began to seriously act up. I didn't have the time or, uh, cajones, to do the hard drive replacement surgery myself, so I ended up buying a new aluminum iMac at that point. I eventually did get the drive replaced but by then I was enjoying the benefits of OS X on intel. I finally sold the PowerBook the following summer.

Meaning it lasted in my house a total of just about exactly.... five years.

 

[cjmillsnun]

Oh yeah and OS X isn't UNIX. Just thought I'd point that out.

Really?

http://www.opengroup.org/csq/public/search.mhtml?t=XY1&sort=bycomponent


And yes I am a command line user. It may not be the same as the UNIX I used back in 1996 but things have moved on... It meets the UNIX 03 standard, ie updated standard.

 

[Consultant]

Back to MS fails. Just like how Microsoft didn't copy the Apple Store.

Related Microsoft Press Release Fails:

Microsoft claim: "2009, First Microsoft Retail Store" = FALSE
http://obamapacman.com/2009/10/micr...ening-reveals-extent-of-blatant-plagiarism/2/

Microsoft claim: “Design of the stores is uniquely Microsoft” = FALSE
http://obamapacman.com/2009/10/micr...ening-reveals-extent-of-blatant-plagiarism/3/

 

[jaw04005]

Looks like Windows Enthusiast Paul Thurrott agreed with the first guy.

While the Mac community has been chortling over a supposed Microsoft admission that Windows 7 copies the Mac OS X look and feel, the company decided to set the record straight, or at least provide a more official comment about this claim:

...

That said, there is little doubt that Windows has followed Mac OS X into the world of hardware-backed transparent graphical effects in their respective UIs. And anyone who believes that the Windows 7 taskbar is anything other than a copy of the Mac OS X Dock just isn't paying attention.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/default.aspx

 

[jemeinc]

You macheads are drooling over nothing. The title of the article is way off base and misleading.

All the MS exec is doing is recognizing that Apple is a valid competitor and says nothing about copying any part of it.

Carry on fanboys...

Well, this IS a forum for people to discuss Apple and their products, so the fact that people tend to portray them in a positive light should come as no surprise..

As far as Apple being a competitor to microsoft goes, well, that's really not the case.. The Apple-MS relationship is MUCH closer to one of partners than it is one of competitors.. For many years (and probably still to this very day) Apple was MS's biggest customer.. Add to that the fact that MS has made LARGE financial investments into Apple over the years and it's easy to see why the myth that they're somehow competitors isn't really shared by the companies themselves..

Sure, they WERE competitors many years ago but that battle is long over- MS won.. These days Apple is a hardware company while MS is still a software company.. Sure, they both have an OS, and given their history together it's only natural to compare the two but that doesn't make them competitors.. Apples software exists for one reason- to sell their hardware.. OSX exits to sell macs & iTunes exists to sell iPods.. People may criticize them for being proprietary but there's no denying that it's a business plan that works for them..

Apple's a hardware company with a great OS & MS is a software company..

 

[stridemat]

Nice to see the BBC are on top of the news. Only a couple of days late.

I don't see any problem with windows 7 copying OSX, just hope it drives innovation for Apple to work even harder.

 

[Topher15]

I don't really see what's wrong or shocking about this "admission".

OS X looked a lot nicer than Windows did for a long time. Microsoft realised that people do care/like things to be pretty and shiny. So they went with the flow and did what they needed to do. Window 7 now looks much nicer.

I think it's more of the fact that Microsoft always deny it is 'influenced' by Apple when it clearly is. If they just acknowledged from the beginning that Apple do good on the UI front (and on other things) and that going in that direction is the best thing for customers then it wouldn't be do bad. But they try to pretend that they are being original.

There really isn't such an issue with being influenced by or even copying competitors when they have it right. Apple does it although they do often just come out and say that a competitor was there first and they're going to do the same thing but better.

 

[Topher15]

Sure, they WERE competitors many years ago but that battle is long over- MS won.. These days Apple is a hardware company while MS is still a software company.. Sure, they both have an OS, and given their history together it's only natural to compare the two but that doesn't make them competitors.. Apples software exists for one reason- to sell their hardware.. OSX exits to sell macs & iTunes exists to sell iPods.. People may criticize them for being proprietary but there's no denying that it's a business plan that works for them..

Apple's a hardware company with a great OS & MS is a software company..

Actually, Apple are firstly a software company. They run by this motto:

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." -- Alan Jay

Mac's would be nothing without OS X. It's why most Mac users are Mac users to begin with.

 

[synth3tik]

I have no idea about how Windows 7 runs as I have never used it. However I can say that even OS 9 was nicer looking then vista.

 

[pdjudd]

Actually, Apple are firstly a software company. They run by this motto:

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." -- Alan Jay

Mac's would be nothing without OS X. It's why most Mac users are Mac users to begin with.

I fail to see how that quote makes them a software company first. That quote implies to me that Apple is a hardware company first and foremost. They may not make their own hardware much anymore but to me that does not make them just a software company first.

 

[kate-willbury]

Actually, Apple are firstly a software company. They run by this motto:

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." -- Alan Jay

Mac's would be nothing without OS X. It's why most Mac users are Mac users to begin with.

lol are you kidding me??? and what hardware inside a mac does apple actually make?

 

[kate-willbury]

can someone please list some things that windows 7 apparently stole from mac osx? i have a feeling NO ONE can actually do this without making random crap up. i use both and hardly see any similarities really.

hilarious that NO ONE in this thread actually answered this question at all.

 

[kate-willbury]

Looks like Windows Enthusiast Paul Thurrott agreed with the first guy.

While the Mac community has been chortling over a supposed Microsoft admission that Windows 7 copies the Mac OS X look and feel, the company decided to set the record straight, or at least provide a more official comment about this claim:

...

That said, there is little doubt that Windows has followed Mac OS X into the world of hardware-backed transparent graphical effects in their respective UIs. And anyone who believes that the Windows 7 taskbar is anything other than a copy of the Mac OS X Dock just isn't paying attention.

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/default.aspx

have you actually used windows 7? the dock is NOTHING like mac osx. in fact the win 7 taskbar is lightyears beyond the rudimentary mac osx dock. the win7 dock actually allows for real multi-tasking between applications and windows within applications. the mac dock is just mainly eye candy.

 

[Topher15]

I fail to see how that quote makes them a software company first. That quote implies to me that Apple is a hardware company first and foremost. They may not make their own hardware much anymore but to me that does not make them just a software company first.

I say they are firstly a software company because it's what sets them apart from an actual hardware companies like Dell, Acer, etc.

To me the quote implies that Apple only makes hardware because they are serious about software.

Although Apple hardware is their big money earner that does not make them primarily a hardware company.

 

[kdarling]

Actually, Apple are firstly a software company. They run by this motto:

"People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware." -- Alan Jay

That's spelled Alan Kay, of course. One of computing's greats.

He was nice enough to act as a research Fellow at the Apple Advanced Technology Group... at least up until Steve Jobs closed it down when he came back as CEO in 1997.