• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

"Windows 7 'took ideas' from Apple"

Darat

Lackey
Staff member
Darat
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
Messages
125,789
Location
South East, UK
"Windows 7 'took ideas' from Apple"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8358712.stm

"One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," Mr Aldous told PCR.

"What we've tried to do with Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format - is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics.
Click to expand...

(And please lets not get into any mac v pc, Apple v Microsoft fanboy crap.)

I've been using Windows 7 as my main PC's OS since it was released and my secondary PC is a Mac running OS/X and I have to say I really can't see what MS is meant to have borrowed from the Mac with the release of Windows 7. And certainly to me the two OSs have a very distinct "look and feel in terms of graphics".

The nearest I can think of anything that approaches a "borrow" from OS/X would be the changes to Windows' Taskbar and Apple's Dock, but they look and feel very different to me.

Anyone spotted any obvious "borrows"?
 
Well, I haven't used an OS X since Panther, and just started using Windows 7, but I would say the taskbar is the biggest "borrow" from Mac.
 
I haven't used a mac in 15 years, so I can't comment on specifics. However I have a nagging suspicion that saying "it's more mac-like than before" is a marketing gambit designed to lure people who hear nothing but how superior the Mac experience is.
 
Every time Windows or Mac or linux (gnome, kde etc.) does a release I see these claims. Best as I can tell it's nothing more than fanboyisms.
 
According to the article on el reg (on phone so no link) this guy had no involvment with windows 7 development and MS have distanced themselveas from his claims, not sure what is going on here.
 
I was just using that as a stepping stone to the topic - I've heard similar claims from other sources.
 
While the changes in Vista/7 are more evolutionary than a straight clone of OS X (obviously), I think you'd have to be pretty delusional not to believe that Microsoft didn't get the "inspiration" to pretty their OS up from Apple (their biggest competitor).
 
But I don't see where any such "inspiration" shows through in terms of taking any design cues etc. from OS/X. Sure MS tarted it up so it would look good against the competition but that is quite different from borrowing elements.
 
Ducky said:
Every time Windows or Mac or linux (gnome, kde etc.) does a release I see these claims. Best as I can tell it's nothing more than fanboyisms.
Click to expand...
++

OS comparisons are stuck in BASIC.

10 Release New OS
20 Competitors Claim Copying
30 GOTO 10


The new Taskbar doesn't even work like the Dock (thank goodness). As for looks, it looks like the Dock in the same way that Windows Quick Launch resembled the dock, except Quick Launch has been in Windows for more than a decade and Windows finally integrated it with the older Taskbar in a seamless manner. Both systems created their launchers similarly because that works best from a UI perspective, much like how the Widgets/Gadgets thing came from similar roots that originally belonged to neither Microsoft nor Apple.
 
Darat said:
The nearest I can think of anything that approaches a "borrow" from OS/X would be the changes to Windows' Taskbar and Apple's Dock, but they look and feel very different to me.

Anyone spotted any obvious "borrows"?
Click to expand...

It's just reducing the argument to the difference in a few pieces of graphical sugar on the screen. The OS wars are over, they all do the same thing reasonably competently.
 
a_unique_person said:
The OS wars are over, they all do the same thing reasonably competently.
Click to expand...

From the perspective of the average consumer, I would agree. For people who have very-specific technical requirements, not necessarily. Thus, I suppose it really comes down to how one defines "OS wars."
 
Last edited:
daSkeptic said:
From the perspective of the average consumer, I would agree. For people who have very-specific technical requirements, not necessarily. Thus, I suppose it really comes down to how one defines "OS wars."
Click to expand...

Like people who play video games :p
 
Well, I haven't seen Win7, but if they did copy from Apple, that's a good thing. I mean, I'm all for UI designers copying concepts from each other, as long as they try to only copy the good ones. Everyone gets better UIs that way.

Apple is not exactly innocent in that regard, all the way back to Xerox and the original Mac they've had a policy of copying the best bits of other software, and improving on the bits that are not as good.

What I can only hope for is a shift at MS towards more usability-driven design. More testing with non-engineers, and more of a final word for the usability people (as opposed to the hard-core engineering types). Would make my life as the go-to-tech-support guy in my circle of friends that much easier.
 
ThatSoundAgain said:
Apple is not exactly innocent in that regard, all the way back to Xerox and the original Mac they've had a policy of copying the best bits of other software
Click to expand...

In the case of Apple and Xerox didn't millions of dollars in stock change hands?
 
It sounds to me like poisoning the well. It's the kind of thing I'd expect someone to say ahead of time, when they expect that the thing in question will probably do well. Gotta get out there right away and paint it badly to color the impressions people get. Can't let them run it and go "wow, this is the nicest version of Windows so far". That's not acceptable. We must first accuse them of copying us totally. And then we'll make a new snarky ad that implies that Windows claims "this one will fix all the problems, trust us this time!" to run like crazy.

This is just poisoning the well from Apple people and fans who sense their own irrelevance is growing, and that Microsoft is starting to get some things right. We must do all we can to stop that in it's tracks!'

And no, I'm not "pro PC" as much as I am "anti MAC". And not without good reason. They have spent a decade or more being arrogant, insulting jerks. So I don't like them, and am untrusting of things they say and claim.
 
Last edited:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8358712.stm

"One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," Mr Aldous told PCR.

"What we've tried to do with Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format - is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics.
Click to expand...

The oddest thing about this quote is that, at first, it seems to acknowledge the importance of an OS's qualities beyond the graphical ("ease of use"), and then goes on to say that the graphics, the surface was all that was copied.

This quote seems to have an odd disconnect with itself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom