“I just sat through my second Steve Jobs keynote ever. (My first was MacWorld in New York in 2002.) What struck me at the June 11 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) event wasn’t the glitzy demos, the rockstar-like worship of Apple CEO Steve Jobs or the ‘I’m Steve Jobs’ parody video by the ‘I’m a PC’ guy. Instead, it was the excitement by the 5,000 WWDC attendees about many technologies in the forthcoming Mac OS X ‘Leopard’ release that already exist in Windows Vista,” Mary Jo Foley writes for ZDNet’s “All about Microsoft” blog.
“If you’ve seen Vista, there’s no way you could help but compare the feature-complete Leopard beta Jobs showcased with Windows Vista. And — surprise — Vista looked pretty darn up-to-date in comparison,” Mary Jo writes.
Mary Jo provides a list:
1. New Leopard Desktop: Not a whole lot different from Vista’s Aero and Sidebar.
MacDailyNews Take: Mary Jo’s timeline must have gone through the wash. Apple’s Aqua came first – way first, then Aero, Mary Jo. And Vista’s sidebar is Microsoft’s screwed up rip-off of Mac OS X Dashboard, not the Dock. Dashboard was released with Mac OS X Tiger on April 29, 2005.
2. New Finder: Many of the same capabilities as the integrated “Instant Search” in Vista (the subsystem that Google is trying to get the Department of Justice to rule as being anti-competitive). The new Leopard Coverflow viewing capability looked almost identical to Vista’s Flip 3D to me.
MacDailyNews Take: Mary Jo has timeline issues again. Spotlight was released with Mac OS X Tiger on April 29, 2005. Vista’s Flip 3D is an inefficient rip-off of Apple’s Exposé, previewed on June 23, 2003 and released as part of Mac OS X Panther on October 24, 2003. Cover Flow is simply a fourth Finder view option. It’s clear so far that Mary Jo probably shouldn’t be writing about technology.
3. QuickLook: Live file previews — just like the thumbnail preview capability available in Vista.
MacDailyNews Take: QuickLook allows users to view the contents of a file without even opening it. Vista’s “Live Icons” only shows thumbnail previews of files – something Macs have done for ages.
4. 64-bitness: Leopard is the first 64-bit only version of a desktop client. Vista comes in 32-bit and 64-bit varieties. And most expect Windows Seven will still be available in 32-bit flavors. Until 32-bit machines go away, it seems like a good idea to offer 32-bit operating systems.
MacDailyNews Take: Do they actually pay Mary Jo for this stuff? Leopard delivers full 64-bit and 32-bit compatibility in a single universal OS. Microsoft is many years behind.
5. Core animation: Not sure what the Vista comparison is here. The demo reminded me of Microsoft Max photo-sharing application.
MacDailyNews Take: Our mouths are agape at the abject stupidity on display here. The poor woman.
Mary Jo continues to plod on with her list, but it’s so insipidly stupid that we’re done wasting our time. In the end, Mary Jo asks, “So, Apple folks: What am I missing? I’m not trying to pull a Dvorak here and use this blog post for click bait.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which, of course, means that Mary Jo is trying to “pull a Dvorak,” but she’s so ill-informed that she can’t even approach that sewer-level standard of ignorant nonsense. This mess reads as if written by somebody’s mom, plucked at random by ZDNet out of some supermarket aisle, who’s clueless about technology past, present, and future. If she’s capable, which we seriously doubt after reading her article, she ought to be embarrassed, as should ZDNet.
Full article, Think before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “John W.,” “Eric,” and “Tomek” for the heads up.]
