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Thu, Dec 4, 2008 14:14 EST

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Posted by: Shane ONeill in Soapbox Topic: ArchitectureBlog: Eye on Microsoft
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News that Windows 7 beta 1 will be available on or around Jan. 13 got me thinking about the new look and feel of the OS and Microsoft's deliberate effort to have a cooler-looking interface.
Then I came across a thoughtful, though somewhat alarmist, post by SuperSite for Windows blogger Paul Thurrott that accuses Microsoft of hiding complexity rather than removing it with Windows 7. This is a common criticism of the Mac OS interface and Thurrott expresses concern that Windows 7 is drifting too close to the design architecture of a Mac.
It's too soon for copy cat accusations, but I did recognize Mac resemblances in the Windows 7 screenshots and demos I've seen, especially in the Windows 7 taskbar, which has a physical appearance and functionality similar to the Mac OS X dock. Another Mac likeness in Windows 7 is the ability to drag and drop icons into the taskbar and access them quickly.
Microsoft is only asking for trouble by emulating the Mac OS X design and functionality. Mac users will gloat; PC users will feel deceived; Apple will tear Windows 7 apart in ads.
I do like that Microsoft is trying to break new UI ground with Windows 7; we're overdue for more visual flair and, dare I say it, eye candy in Windows. But the OS better be easy to use. I'll take a more colorful Windows experience as long as it makes my life easier. As long as it's better than Vista.
A Windows 7 demo where a Microsoft rep dismisses Mac OS X comparisons.
Microsoft has to walk a fine line with the Windows 7 interface. It's been touted as a streamlined and lean OS, which most agree is a necessary change after Vista. But if its graphics and functionality start resembling Apple, it's a no-win situation. If a devoted PC user flips open his or her new laptop running Windows 7 and is reminded, even for a second, of his or her friend's MacBook that he or she borrowed last week, how is said PC user supposed to feel? Betrayed is not too strong a word.
To quote veteran Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley on this subject: "If I wanted a Mac-like environment, I'd buy a Mac."
It really is that simple.
Don't get me wrong. Everyone steals or borrows: musicians, filmmakers, politicians, and yes technology companies. But there is an art to stealing. You steal concepts from obscure sources that the mainstream doesn't know about and then integrate them with your own vision. Or you steal from two or three different sources so that the finished product is fresh yet vaguely familiar.
What you don't do is steal from your very public enemy. That's a death wish.
However, it is early yet and Microsoft will be making plenty of tweaks to the Windows 7 UI before it is released. But with an established reputation for copying its rival, Microsoft can't afford to exacerbate that notion with a taskbar and desktop apps in Windows 7 that smell like Apple.
"Betrayed is not too strong a word."
Who cares whether or not Windows 7 will resemble the Mac OS more?
If the changes are improvements, only idiots would complain just because they resemble Mac aspects. If the changes are detractions, users will rightfully complain about them.
Judge an OS on it's intrinsic value, not on it's resemblance to another platform.
Let's not forget that the Mac OS X Dock is a rip-off of the Windows 95 Taskbar. The Taskbar was the innovation introduced with Win95. The Dock iterated it design-wise, but hardly functionally.
The guy doing the demo in the vid got a fact wrong. Alt+Tab (a-k-a CoolSwitch), was introduced in Windows 3.xx, not Windows 95. I was using it in the early 90s.
Let's also not forget that the Mac itself is a rip-off of the Xerox Star, which both SteveJ and BillG saw. SteveJ was first to rip-off the Star, but that doesn't make him any more of an innovator than BillG, who was next to rip it off.
Both the original Mac and Windows implementations were basically unusable due to engineering limitations (memory limits and no internal expandability on the Mac, and overall hardware limitations on the PC).
We should be glad Jobs brought Apple back from a death watch, and reintroduced competition to the desktop. Nothing makes Microsoft work harder than a competitive threat. The inverse is also true.
Bottom line: It's all 1s and 0s in the end. I prefer Windows, because it's much more fun to build apps for (better tools), EVERYTHING runs on it, and it doesn't assume all I use is a mouse.
Now about that WIn7 Taskbar: I sure hope they finally realized that users also want to sort and reorder their Taskbar icons. If not, it's still lame.
Know how at the end of the video, the speaker alludes to the "most-requested feature"?
That's it.
They did indeed add reordering to the taskbar, and even in the shown stage, it was working beautifully.
/reply
As to this whole "similar to OS X" uproar... I have to wonder why. I have a OS X 5 (to include the 10 would be redundant) computer, with XP in the Boot Camp partition. I find that I have to use both regularly, and often switch at least once a day. As far as software goes, I have had no reason to choose between the two. I use OS X for 90% of my web design, including all coding, server maintenance, and Photoshop mockups (and, admittedly some World of Warcraft on the side). I use XP for real Photoshop work, as well as ASP.NET coding/testing and my game habit. At the end of the day, I don't ever switch to a specific one for casual use, I just use the one that I've already got booted. It does not matter.
Besides, saying the new Taskbar looks like the OS X dock is like saying that Gmail looks like Outlook. Yeah, they're the same general thing, but the functionality of one is quite different from the other.
And visually, the resemblance just isn't there. The Dock has a better look, the Taskbar is half its size, and also takes care of the need to eliminate extra screen real estate at the top of the screen. It's the whole form vs. function thing that's always been the issue. OS X wins is the former, Windows is the latter.
By the time it will be released in its 1.0 form, Apple will have Snow Leopard released, fixed , and adding 2 years more of distance in features and innovation wrt Windows 7. It's the only way they can gain market. By having a better product. I don't believe Windows will lose significant market quote, but I truly hope so. We're still stuck workin' with XP, a 2003 product, that is light years behind what OS X can do (besides what does better, almost eveything).
This article and many of the comments miss the point. It makes no difference what something "looks like". Appearance is not the point. Like an attractive person lacking intelligence and personality, copycat appearance is nothing but a seduction that soon grows old.
The point is how well the relationship works, and the benefits that accrue to the user of a system. For computer systems, reliability and stability always come first. Productivity is the primary value of a computer system, and anything about it that negatively impacts productivity is a detriment. Focusing on appearance misses this point.
Apple has understood this far better than most technology companies. They aren't perfect by any stretch, but they are certainly the leader today. And Microsoft has a lot of ground to cover to catch up. They can catch up if they focus on the primary value of information systems by delivering productivity improvements in every area of their system, starting with how efficiently the system runs on typical hardware. Given what they talk about and seem to focus their efforts on changing, I doubt that Microsoft understands this, yet.