CNN’s Miles O’Brien interviewed Bill Gates about the debut of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista, this morning.
One portion was especially interesting:
O’Brien: Frankly, a lot of what I see here, um, seems to mimic a little bit [Apple’s Mac] OS X. Were you going after a specific look there, the Mac look, or?
MacDailyNews Take: A little bit? Ya think?
Gates: No, no, no. Actually, uh, the, we’re ahead [slight pause] on a lot, uh, there’s whole areas where we’ve innovated like Media Center and tablet, uh, that, uh, no one else is doing and the parental control, that’s the first time that’s been done. Even in this photo area, you know, we’d love to have you compare how we’ve done, make it easy to make a DVD, edit high definition movies.
Snippet of Miles O’Brien’s CNN interview with Microsoft’s Bill Gates:
Full video interview here.
MacDailyNews Take: Note Gates’ uncomfortable squirming in his chair, frequent pauses, and “uhs.” Wow.
Gates’ body language reminds us of PC’s squirming here:
Mr. Gates, perhaps the reason that no one else is doing “innovations” like Media Center and tablet is because of your, uh, sales figures for those products?
As for the rest:
• Parental Controls: Apple debuted Parental Controls in Mac OS X Tiger, released on April 29. 2005. That’s nearly two years ago. (Gates yesterday spoke with NBC’s Today Show host Meredith Vieira and tried out the same “parental controls” lie there, too, at 2:34 into the video here.)
• Photos: Apple debuted iPhoto on January 7, 2002. That’s over five years ago.
• DVD creation: Apple debuted iDVD on January 9, 2001. That’s over six years ago.
• Movies: Apple debuted iMovie on October 5, 1999. That’s over seven years ago. Oh, HD? Okay, Apple debuted iMovie HD on January 11, 2005. That’s over two years ago.
So much for Microsoft’s “whole areas” of innovation.
Related articles:
Gates bristles over Vista, Mac OS X comparisons – January 29, 2007
Pioneer Press: Windows Vista shows ‘Apple is an innovation engine; Microsoft, not so much’ – January 29, 2007
Imitating Apple Computer is no match for innovation – January 17, 2006
Apple’s talent and innovation vs. Microsoft’s hype – October 25, 2005
PC World: Microsoft innovation – an oxymoron – September 14, 2005
Charles Arthur: Microsoft’s definition of ‘innovation’ different from everyone else’s – April 27, 2004
