Computerworld has conducted an “OS deathmatch: Snow Leopard vs. Windows 7,” and concluded that, by their scorecard, and conveniently for their advertising sales staff, it’s a “tie — Windows 7 and Snow Leopard each win five categories. Of course, going by a scorecard is too simplistic, because not all of the categories carry equal weight,” Preston Gralla writes.
“So which operating system is better? The near-simultaneous release of Snow Leopard and Windows 7 doesn’t change the dynamic that has been in place for many years in the operating system competition between Apple and Microsoft,” Gralla writes.
“Snow Leopard is more beautiful and elegant as well as simpler to use — although with Windows 7, Microsoft has closed the gap between the operating systems, particularly when it comes to taskbar improvements,” Gralla writes.
“Windows 7, on the other hand, remains the corporate standard, and nothing in Snow Leopard is likely to change that. And it’s still a more tweakable operating system (although its critics may say that tweaking is mandatory in order to get it running right),” Gralla writes.
MacDailyNews Take: The categories and the “winner” as determined by Computerworld’s Preston Gralla (plus why he’s right or wrong):
• Operating system name: Snow Leopard (yes, an exceedingly stupid category)
• Price: Snow Leopard
• Installation: Snow Leopard
• Launching Abilities: Windows 7 (because Peston doesn’t seem to fully understand how to use the Dock or Spotlight)
• System Configuration: Windows 7 (because Preston, obviously a Window sufferer at heart, likes to dick around with things ad infinitum instead of actually getting work done, and has obviously never seen Mac OS X’s Terminal)
• Software compatibility: Windows 7 (another joke because Macs run the world’s largest library of software of which Windows programs are but a subset)
• Hardware Compatibility: Windows 7 (fine, you can have it. Mac users get to choose from middling on up to the cream of the crop and don’t have to deal with horribly cheap dreck)
• Ease of use and elegance: Snow Leopard (duh, even Preston couldn’t manage to get this one wrong)
• Enterprise readiness: Windows 7 (because, according to Preston, Windows is the “business standard,” not because it’s actually better for business)
• Extras: Snow Leopard
The actual score should be 9 to 1 in favor of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gil B.” for the heads up.]
why no mention at all of malware?
A tie?!!! Vista service pack is not as good as Tiger or Leopard!
doh! that would be a catagory that Win7 would loose badly, “breaking” the tie.
“Windows 7, on the other hand, remains the corporate standard…”
ERROR. Wrong. You receive no points. Windows XP is the corporate/business standard because companies are terrified Vista/7 will unmake Western society in ways Al Qaeda could never even dream of.
Windows 7 isn’t the “business standard”- how can an unreleased product be the standard?
Vista isn’t even the standard- I haven’t yet seen it running in an office.
Windows XP is the business world’s standard OS, and there’s little evidence that businesses are clamoring to upgrade to 7.
Yeah. It’s obvious from this that Preston is just another Microsoft wank hankey.
All this article has managed to do for the Doze-centric readers is show them that while it’s a “tie”, for now, many of the things are only a temporary nature, such as name, price and installation. By this article, once you get Doze 7 installed, it “wins” hands-down form then on the rest on the time you use it.
This article comes close to being a hit piece considering all of the other far more positive articles written so far on SL by less biased writers.
Enterprise Readiness… what a load of gyp.
What Apple inc isn’t an enterprise in itself?
Computerworld blows it,
The headline says it all.
I read this article in Computerworld yesterday while holding my nose. When I reached the part about Windows being better at System Configuration I knew the author was recovering from unsuccessful brain surgery. How many computer users want to spend their time screwing around with their system configuration isues? Maybe 1% max. And most of those guys are using Linux.
When I read between the lines, I see a writer who is enthusiastic about Snow Leopard, and an editor who doesn’t want to lose an advertiser.
No you don’t
” Snow Leopard is a $29 upgrade (unless you’re still using Tiger, in which case you have to buy the Mac Box Set — which includes iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 — for $169).”
Remember folks. Many businesses and government sites are still using ActiveX. Thats means you are “FORCED” to use Internet Explorer running on “WINDOWS ONLY”. Thats the success of the Microsoft campaign. The three “E”s.
As far as messing with “system configuration” issues go, this guy has obviously never heard of Terminal.
If Preston was pressed on the particulars, he would admit that a tie means Snow Leopard wins.
They’ve done like CNET and come up with asinine categories such as “Compatibility with the 18th century muskets” to give Mud Cougar an edge over Snow Leopard.
“Installation
Here’s what you need to do in order to install Snow Leopard: Insert the installation disc and then go through a simple setup routine. …
In Windows,…it may take you some time to figure out which version of Windows 7 you can upgrade to.
…Snow Leopard did do a better job of recognizing the hardware — it did it without a hitch. Windows 7 at first didn’t recognize my video card and so I had problems with screen resolution. However, Windows 7 quickly resolved the problem without any intervention on my part via Windows Update.
The Winner: Snow Leopard. It wins by a hair… ” should have been spelt ‘hare’, about a thousand of them.
Windows is still Windows. This article could’ve been (and was) written about Vista vs. Tiger. We know how Vista turned out..
I didn’t read the article because I knew in advance it would aggravate me. Computerworld and pretty much most tech pundits are so biased it’s sickening.
Yes, the environment will remain- malware, viruses, DOS with a mask.
System Configuration
“The Winner: Windows 7. Many people might consider this a toss-up, but this choice reflects my predilection for tweaking and customizing. Those who want simplicity will appreciate Snow Leopard’s System Preferences’ easy and accessible way to configure the operating system. Tweakers who like as many choices as possible, no matter how confusing and inelegantly presented, will prefer Windows 7’s Control Panel.”
Wasn’t it MicroSoft that did the study that showed their Office users only used about 5-10% of the application.
As the adage goes, “the more choices one has, the longer it takes to make a decision.” With Windows, it usually goes, “the more choices they had, the odds are they don’t bother to to use it.”
System Configuration
I don’t get this. Snow Leopard is UNIX at its’ heart, so there are literally millions of things you can tinker with under the hood.
If you want the headache of a Registry and DLLs, go right ahead and get W7. But if you want elegance, stability and the ability to tweak far more than Windoze, get Snow Leopard.
I forget, which OS has MS Exchange built in? Oh right, Snow Leopard.
Oh, gee. I think I’ll switch to Windows now.
Stupid, useless, article.
To these idiots Business Standard is IE only because of ActiveX. Sharepoint. Also full comparability with .aspx and .net. These are the tools that has put a stranglehold in business and locks out competing Browsers and Operating Systems.
“software compatibility” goes to windows? SL runs windows. so wouldn’t SL be more compatible with software in the world since it runs both MAC and WINDOWS software?
Not that I need to say this here… but I have SL and 7 installed on my iMac.. and while 7 is an improvement… there is no contest.
you’re wrong. Macs can run windows. Macs also can have snow leopard installed on them. Snow leopard can only have windows shown in their operating system if one runs parallels, which is a 3rd party add on and does not come with the computer. Boot camp lets you Mac either run windows 7 or snow leopard.