So, Is Windows 7 inspired by Mac OS X and does Microsoft owe Apple?
Windows 7 is a brilliant operating system. Of that there is no doubt. It’s what Vista should have been, built along the same lines but with less bloat and more features. So what’s the problem? The problem is that the look and feel of Windows 7 may have been inspired by the look and feel of Mac OS X, the operating system of Microsoft’s arch rival Apple. And that’s causing a hell of a storm of controversy.
Having used Windows 7 RTM for a few weeks now, I’m happy to recommend it to anyone. It’s not without its faults but 90 percent of the OS feels like a marked improvement over its failed predecessor Vista.
It actually looks very similar to Vista, with the only real noticeable difference on first glance being the new taskbar. The small icons have disappeared to be replaced with visually impressive large icons and a feeling that the taskbar is now a dominant part of the OS rather than being a submissive wallflower hiding in the corner.
Anyone with half a brain would recognize that the new taskbar in particular, and Windows 7 overall, owes something to Apple’s Mac OS X. That’s just fact which could only be denied by true Microsoft fanboys or employees determined to toe the party line. Microsoft’s partner group manager, Simon Aldous, didn’t do that when he told PCR:
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. 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. We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.
Despite that fact that what he says makes perfect sense, Microsoft denied the claim that Windows 7 was even the least bit inspired by Mac OS X. Brandon LeBlanc stated:
An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was “borrowed” from Mac OS X. Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7. I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.
I’m no fan of Apple or the overpriced Mac, but even I can see the influences seeping through from Mac OS X to Windows 7. Maybe I’m dumb or maybe everyone at Microsoft is blind, but whether the company admits it was an intentional or conscious decision, Windows 7 owes some debt of gratitude to Apple and Mac OS X on this occasion. And denying it just looks petty and pathetic.
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November 13th, 2009
I thought it was more like KDE than OSX. Of course, that is not good flame fuel.
November 13th, 2009
I have to say two things.
For one, if anyone actually has the guts to say that the new taskbar was a rip-off of the dock, than I guess you don’t have a good memory. Before OS X, there was no dock, where on earth do you think apple got the idea for the dock? Hmmm… Well, I know one thing before apple introduced the dock the apple interface reminded me of windows 3, there was not taskbar/dock-like system, it just had file options, and just confusion in design. Comparing it to windows 3, well, windows 95 was released in 1995, and ever since then windows has had what they call a taskbar. When the dock was intorduced, it actually was an apple rip-off of the taskbar, with a apple-twist. Since the whole concept of a taskbar/dock was orignated by microsoft 7 years before apple had the brilliant idea to rip-off the concept, microsoft should have every right to borrow from the dock which is just a mutated taskbar knock off in the first place.
All that aside, I must say, I never liked the taskbar knock off that they called the dock, as I don’t like anything at all that is mac. That is why on my windows 7, I have altered the settings to allow me to switch it back to the way they did it with vista. That is another great thing about windows, it’s just so much better, easier to use, PLUS, it’s so customizable to every angle, whether customization of the OS and features, customization as to what software you want to use, because there just is a multiitude of many more apps on windows compared to the puny options the mac system offer, plus the customization of the hardware. It’s just much better to be a pc user, period!
November 13th, 2009
I’d say it looks like KDE too.
November 13th, 2009
More MS hating flame bait from Parrack.
No surprise there.
There is no such thing as a unique OS look Dave. ALL oS’s borrow in some way from the look of OS’s that preceeded them and to take MS to task for it without also taking the rest to task equally is disingenuous.
From my BlackBerry Storm…
November 14th, 2009
@DavidB
That’s a rather strange comment to make: accusing Dave Parrack of MS hating flame biat.
If you have read a smany of his columns as I have, you would realise by now that Dave’s sympathies lie much more with Redmond than Cupertino.
November 14th, 2009
Designing an operating system and GUI is a process of evolution as much as revolution, so each advance on an iniuitive interface is bound to be imitated and tweaked.
Where a useful and innovative feature is quickly adopted in another OS, a truly wise mature developer would be philosophical and remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
November 14th, 2009
“Windows 7 is a brilliant operating system” ?
It’s no more than good. OSX is brilliant. Always was.
November 14th, 2009
If MSFT looked at Linux (including KDE) to get ideas for Windows 7. I am impressed. Regardless, most experts say Windows 7 is a success and most people seem to like it.
January 4th, 2010
@Someone
Dock a rip off of the Task Bar?
The Dock is just where links are kept for your programs, The 95 style task bar holds tabs for your windows.. I’m failing to see the similarity here? at least, past the location they both hold.
I run XP, with a 3rd party dock as I got so tired of having to go program hunting all the time, and yeah, I could have put links on my desktop.. but that’s full of files!