Microsoft’s group vice president for platforms, Jim Allchin, the top executive responsible for Longhorn has participated in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Todd Bishop. Allchin talked about Apple in a portion of the interview:
Q: What do you say when Apple says it’s offering features in its new Tiger operating system that you won’t have until next year in Longhorn?
Allchin: I think Apple is a very innovative company, first comment. I think they do a lot of good stuff. I do believe they became fixated on Longhorn after we did the PDC (an October 2003 conference where Microsoft initially showed Longhorn capabilities, including fast file searching).
It’s actually fairly nice to see, because in this particular case I think they saw something that we were doing that was pretty cool. I think Steve (Jobs, Apple’s CEO) would also say this thing about fast user switching, when he saw that in Windows XP, he said, ahh, that was pretty nice, and they ended up adding that. They did it in a nicer visual way than what we did but we put the concept in there first. I think Tiger is a very nice system, and I think what they’re doing is very nice integrated search, and that’s pretty much what we had shown at the PDC in 2003.
We’ve learned a little bit more that you have to slice and dice the data, and seeing visualizations of the data is really important. But frankly it’s only one little piece of what’s in Longhorn. … We didn’t show any of the security stuff, the safety stuff … There is a question of how much we should show, so that they can try to copy again.
Q: Is that a concern?
Allchin: Oh, a little bit, a little bit.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The pressure has obviously gotten to Allchin; he’s lost it. Microsoft is like floundering and gasping like a fish out of water. This is fun! 
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The end is near! I give Windows 5 more years before it falls to less than 50 %. That is if Apple can capitalize on the situation properly (i.e. ADVERTISING!)
“We didn’t show any of the security stuff, the safety stuff … “
Good for you ! You will be hacked soon and again and again and again…
Apple copying Microsoft? That’s the biggest lie MS has ever told.
That boy Allcin jes’ don’ know when ta shut his yap.
Note we have new rhetoric here — the insinuation that there’s stuff in Longhorn that’s so great, it hasn’t been released to the public because they’re afraid Apple would copy it.
Microsoft is now fighting about the most aggressive vaporware campaign I’ve ever seen.
“Tiger is a very nice system, and I think what they’re doing is very nice integrated search, and that’s pretty much what we had shown at the PDC in 2003.”
so you mean to tell us, they saw the idea for spotlight from you in 2003, then fully developed it in a year to have it ready for Tiger? and it’s going on 3 yrs and still no Longhorn???
c’mon man….
ROFLMAO!!
So, Apple starting behind MS, copied Longhorn features and put them in Tiger – upto 18 months before MS!!!!!!!!!
I’m impressed!!! Those guys at Apple really know how to cut code quick!
You can’t win Allchin. If they copied you, you should be ashamed that you had the headstart and they still beat you my so much. But if Apple didn’t copy, then they’re the innovators, and the ones you’re copying.
Is that why the Longhorn date keeps slipping? Everytime you’ve nearly got it ready, Apple release an OS X update that puts you a generation behind, so you have to go back and code in all the new stuff from Apple. But then when you’re nearly there again, Apple skips ahead again. And so it goes.
We’ll never see Longhorn! And OS X is starting to get two generations ahead of Longhorn.
Well at least he’s gracious. Which is more than can be said for most of the goons on this site.
Also, he’s partially right about user-switching. XP did it before MacOS. Of course, they didn’t think of it — it’s been part of *nix and others forever.
What kind of drugs is this bloke on…and where do I get some?
I must give M$ credit for the fast user switching–though Apple made it _much_ nicer.
As for spotlight, look here: Tiger ships in 2 days with the search features. Longwait ships in 18 months, possibly with search features. Now regardless of who planted what idea first, Apple’s clearly to market waaaay in advance of M$, so Allchin’s spreading FUD about that!
Well, he’s at least correct about the fast user switching. Steve, I believe, even admitted as much during the pertinent keynote. But I also believe he added the caveat: “They’ve been copying us for so long, I think they can cut us a little slack.” Or something to that effect….
Wow, and they call us mac users the “koolaid drinkers”
He must be drunk
Mix an outright lie witha truth… classic propaganda. Yes Jobs acknowledge that Microsoft did user swithching first… and in almost the same words as this Jack-as Allchin used (funny he can’t even right his own speeches) but the rest of it is a load of crud… searching has been an apsect of Apple for a long time… who can forget Sherlock nee V-Twin… Microsoft. Copy 99% and claim that Apple copied 1 % and call Apple the copier…
John –
You better get together with the zealots and decide on a party line. When MS stole the GUI from Apple for the original Windows interface and got to market first, it was nasty awful stealing. But when Apple does it to Microsoft, it’s laudable?
Silly hypocrites.
Why would Apple copy MS security? The UNIX security model is completely different. Besides OS X deosn’t have many security flaws and most of (all of?) those are in third-party utilities that most people dont/won’t use.
I think it is clear to see that Apple is doing it completely different than MS.
As far as copying: Apple improve greatly on the things they copy whether it be Application switching, User switching, Widgets, Task Bar (Dock), Security, Stability, Threading, Icons…
When MS copies they simply copy and usually rather poorly.
You’ll see, Longhorn is a sort of “clean slate” that MS has given themselves, but where will it lead? An update to XP. It’ll look nicer. It might run better, but it’ll still be Windows we all know and loathe.
I hope Apple keeps innovating and we don’t have the 90’s all over again. That’s all I want out of this. I don’t care to rub MS-lovers noses in it, I just want my computing experience to improve in the end, just as it has been since the slow, but beautiful X beta.
Oh! BTW!
Allchin says, “We didn’t show any of the security stuff, the safety stuff … There is a question of how much we should show, so that they can try to copy again.”
That is so frickin’ hilarious! Allchin has simply got to have a brain tumor that allows him to view alternate universes ’cause he ain’t livin’ in this one. That’s for damn sure!
It’s kind of like how Pixar ripped off DreamWorks’ Shark Tale when they made Finding Nemo.
PC Apologist:
“and got to market first”
Whaaaaat? Win95 was first close aproxomation of Mac GUI and functionality (Win3.x didn’t have a desktop metaphor). So how did they get what to market first? MacOS 7 v. Win95.
aproxomation ->whoops<- approximation
“We didn’t show any of the security stuff, the safety stuff … “
Now why would Apple have any need to copy this from MS? There simply aren’t any Mac viruses!
Guy MUST be smokin’ some heavy stuff.
Fast User Switching copied?
I hardly think so….
In Winblows, a user can go to the Start menu and log off, and another user can log on.
In OSX, the user remains logged on, another user can log on, but the big difference is that both users can remain logged on. You can seemlessly switch between users, and it happens in a much more abrievated time line. Hence the name “fast user switching”
The biggest advantage on the server level is Terminal Services, or more importantly Citrix MetaFrame. This multiuser environment would be really cool on 10.x. It would reduce the deployment of enterprise apps and would work in a hetrogeneous network.
Things dont look good for MS, Apple is making good headway, some marketing of the computers would help though. But lets not forget LInux, the up and comer, its not as polished as OSX but the repackagers are hard at work trying to unseat XP, check out Novell’s 10 system. I was impressed for a Linux desktop. I wont leave Apple, but its worth paying attention to the other underdog.
Hopefully Apple is hard at work on the next version of iWork cause we need more features in Pages and a spreadsheet program to put shame to Office.
Agree. One would have to be seriously lame brained to believe that MS are hiding all the great new security features in Longhorn to stop Apple from stealing that particular concept. But then it was only a few months ago that Billy boy claimed that windows security problems were the fault of everyone elses’s OS rather than his own so what can one seriously expect from this tawdry bunch. As we all know from this forum amongst others there are still some brain dead fellow travellers out there who still lap all this party nonsense up.
I wanna party with that guy…