“Several sources here have insisted that not only is Microsoft highly unlikely to get its up and coming Longhorn OS out by Yuletide next year, it may not manage to deliver the real McCoy until four or five months later,” The Inquirer reports in a brief article.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why wait forever for something that’ll still be a poor substitute for the world’s most advanced operating system, Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger, that also happens to be available right now? Longhorn is already a stripped-down shell of what Microsoft had promised it to be; it’s already being referred to as “Windows XP Service Pack 3.” If Microsoft’s Longhorn, which is currently described (charitably, perhaps) as a “train wreck” by Windows expert Paul Thurrott, is going to require many people to have to purchase of a new PC just to run it, why not just buy a Mac and cross-grade your software instead? It’s a no-brainer. The vast majority of the world would be far better off with a Mac for personal computing and, if you want, a Sony PlayStation for games. Moo.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
PC World names Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘Best Operating System’ – June 01, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘is the most advanced operating system on the planet’ – May 31, 2005
Wait over a year for Windows Longhorn to buy a new PC or buy a new Mac with Mac OS X Tiger today? – May 27, 2005
TrustedReviews: After using Mac OS X Tiger ‘going back to Windows XP is something of a joke at best’ – May 18, 2005
The Butler Group: ‘Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger the best desktop operating system in the world to date’ – May 13, 2005
BBC News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘the most stable and reliable OS, well ahead of Windows XP’ – May 10, 2005
Windows users show strong curiosity about Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger – May 09, 2005
Windows tech writer Thurrott: ‘In many ways, Mac OS X Tiger is simply better than Windows’ – May 07, 2005
EarthWeb: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger is a ‘serious enterprise operating system, a pivotal release’ – May 06, 2005
BusinessWeek: ‘Tiger bolsters Mac OS X’s edge as the best personal-computer operating system’ – May 06, 2005
The Guardian: Mac OS X Tiger a powerful solution while Microsoft’s Longhorn remains on drawing board – May 06, 2005
Chicago Sun-Times: Mac OS X Tiger shows ‘there’s never been a more compelling time to switch to Mac’ – May 05, 2005
Dan Gillmor: ‘With Mac OS X Tiger, Apple is plainly in the lead today’ – May 05, 2005
Jupiter Research VP: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘runs rings around Microsoft Windows’ – May 04, 2005
The Independent: Apple’s ‘faster, smarter, simpler’ Mac OS X Tiger ‘a must-have’ – May 04, 2005
Mac OS X Tiger review for a Windows PC audience finds Tiger’s ‘far, far better than Windows XP’ – May 03, 2005
Boston Herald: Mac OS X Tiger should compel Windows PC users to think about switching to Apple Mac – May 02, 2005
Mac OS X Tiger will likely improve performance of your Macintosh – April 30, 2005
PC World review gives Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger 4.5 stars out of 5 – April 30, 2005
Ars Technica: Mac OS X Tiger ‘at least twice as significant as any single past update’ – April 28, 2005
BusinessWeek: ‘Tiger bolsters Mac OS X’s edge as the best personal-computer operating system around’ – April 28, 2005
Associated Press: Mac OS X Tiger ‘provides another excellent incentive to switch from Windows’ – April 28, 2005
Mossberg: Apple’s Tiger ‘the best, most advanced personal computer operating system on the market’ – April 28, 2005
InformationWeek columnist: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘a compelling upgrade’ – April 28, 2005
NY Times: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger is the most secure, stable and satisfying OS on earth – April 28, 2005
Wired News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘full of welcome surprises’ – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: ‘Longhorn is in complete disarray and in danger of collapsing under its own weight’ – April 27, 2005
Wired News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘full of welcome surprises’ – April 27, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn ‘has the makings of a train wreck’ – April 26, 2005
Thurrott: Longhorn demos ‘unimpressive, fall short of graphical excellence found today in Mac OS X’ – April 26, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
If Apple continues with the cat theme the only probable one left is “Lion” king of the digital Jungle (I know Carl, no real trees on my computer)
The Tiger may be a large animal, but the impression people get is more important that the actual animal’s stature.
Anyway, then Apple could get James Earl Jones to VO a commercial!
Go with a fast feline, rather than wait for something that may, repeat, may, MOO!
does this mean that they are going to extend their 18 month advertising campaign also?
i know you aren’t going to believe this, but my magic word was quality!!!
This can’t POSSIBLY be true. I can’t imagine they would miss late 2006 especially after committing to this advertising blitz.
MY prediction? They’re spreading rumors that they’re going to miss late 2006… THEN when they ship in late 2006, they’re going to say they shipped EARLY!!!
Folks, none of this Longhorn news benefits Apple at all if Apple DOESN’T ADVERTISE THE MACINTOSH. Most people in the nation that are not computer literate like us still do not even know that there is a difference between Macs and PCs. It’s true, but most people do not know. Ask an average, NON tech person… they have no idea about the difference between a Dell or an HP or a Compaq or an Apple. To them, a computer is a computer is a computer… and the cheapest one usually wins out. It’s gonna be tough, but Apple really needs to do a major re-education of the public with a MASSIVE ad campaign.
Reminds me of another big company…
Schwinn Bicycle Company once ruled the US bike market but they became so bloated they were not able to update their manufacturing processes to compete with smaller firms. When mountain bikes came on the market Schwinn execs laughed at the idea. Those same execs saw the family business go into bankruptcy.
I don’t think we will see Microsoft in bankruptcy court but they are clearly suffering due to their size. Five years from now they will be a much smaller company and Apple will be much bigger.
—-MASSIVE ad campaign.—-
This always makes me laugh! What are you going to show in an ad? Someone using Pages? (Most people would think it’s Word) Someone using Safari? (Most people would think it’s Internet Explorer) Someone using iMovie (Most people would think it’s any number of video editors on the PC).
The only way to know about the Mac is to USE one. An ad is nothing but pretty pictures and/or video. Oh, I guess they COULD show Dashboard…yeah, drop at least $500 on a new computer for… ummm, Dashboard.
I want, I need that image desktop sized!! Please.. Send me that image!
:::looking into my crystal ball to 2007:::
Apple will have by-passed the (PC) PDA craze, and will be ready to release the iPod MobileMac, a small, hand-held device incorporting high speed internet, digital video and music (capture and playback), cell phone, and PDA cababilites running a scaled down version of Mac OS XI – not OS 10.5, but XI.
…and Microsoft releases Longhorn?
My theory is that M$ is taking the time to build trojans, viruses, spyware, and malware right into the operating system. Then they’ll go after the script kiddies with copyright and patent infringement lawsuits.
Its just a theory…
I noticed we haven’t had a comment from MS troll sputnik on this subject.
What say you, Mr. Sputnik? Could it be the “OS that will change eveyones lives” will actually be the disaster that destroys the 90%+ of all computer users who feed on the puke that MS spews forth?
MW = addition, as in “in addition I don’t care about Longhorn since it won’t run on my iMac”.
What a bunch of assclowns! Ballmer is the dumbass our our time.
They need to rename it LongWaitHorn.
Who knows? Maybe they’re working on ultra sleek 3-D Solitaire and Minesweeper apps with transparent windows. Spiffy!
(I’ll see your moo and raise you one big cat roar.)
informed-
I think you got that one spot on. They always look for ne revenue sources.
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“new” revenue sources
OK, repeat after me – Sputnik is being satirical when he/she posts what are effectively pastiches of the kind of Windows fanboy nonsense so beloved of people like NMFY (aka No Mac For You).
Now, back to taking the piss out of M$…
This is really not going to help MSFT’s relationships with its hardware manufacturing friends, who have been languishing in the doldrums simply because no new OS equates to no new machine for so many people. They are desperate to have something new to sell for the holiday quarter of 2006, so – if true – expect to see HP, Dell and others take a bath on Wall Street.
I can’t imagine that Steve Jobs will start to talk about “Cougar” or whatever until next January, but that might mean a release in the first half of 2007 (two years from Tiger) so I hope Jim Allchin’s troupe of badly managed, ill-disciplined code-monkeys are prepared to be looking down the barrel of an even more capable Mac OS X running on dual-core 65nm 6GHz G6 systems.
MCCFR –
Point taken. I’m relatively new here and didn’t recognise sputnik as being satirical. I’ll mind my Ps and Qs.
I do know some people who sound just like sputs comments, breathlessly waiitng for the next nugget of wisdom to fall from the mouht of Gates or Ballmer.
Sad really.
MW = them, as in “MS has them all fooled”.
‘good. The longer longhorn takes, the longer they will support their good os, w2000’
‘and their most popular App, Word 97’
Mike, Mike, Mike,
Their most popular app is SOLITAIRE!
Everyone knows that.
Yes!!one1eleven!
I want that picture as my desktop, where can I download it?
64-bit, WinFS, stable, secure, a significant advance in functionality and elegance in 2007.
Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it, and not some pathetic patched up version of XP either.
TydalForce wrote:
“I hope Apple comes up with some really spiffy amazing things for 10.5, and then just sits on them… waiting, lurking in the shadows. Then, about 3 weeks before Longhorn is being released, Steve Jobs stands up and says ‘oh, one more thing…'”
Nooo! If Apple goes that route we’ll never see the goods. Someone once told me that “Cupertino’s clock doesn’t run on Redmond’s time”. Apple should just keep on turning out regular updates like clockwork. Gotta love the cool, professional style that delivers.
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As for Longhorn, as long as MS continues “rescheduling” ship dates this far in advance, it means they have no idea when it’ll ever be ready. Longhorn has become a black hole that’d make even the pork-barreled US government blush. I hope Apple is ready for the deluge, because the PC market’s patience is running out.
Microsoft makes me want to laugh…
Think of the children…