“In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows. That’s no longer true. I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows,” Walter S. Mossberg reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Now, however, it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities,” Mossberg reports. “So Apple will have to scramble now that the gift of a flawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows.”
Mossberg reports, “Windows 7 is a very good, versatile operating system that should help Microsoft bury the memory of Vista and make PC users happy.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mossberg seems so enamored of Windows 7’s upside-down and backwards copies of features that Apple’s Mac OS X began introducing 9 years ago, that he forgets it’s still Windows underneath. New installs are one thing, but Windows rots over time because it’s built on an ancient garbage dump of code. That lovely Registry is still there, for example; along with the same bloated, rickety foundation. A pig in lipstick is still a pig. And what’s ‘new’ on the surface of Microsoft’s Vista service pack, er… ‘Windows 7’ is old in Apple’s Mac OS X. And Windows still can’t run iLife, iWork, Final Cut, etc.
That said, perceptions often trump reality, so therefore Apple’s “Vista Window” is now officially closed. Selling a Mac to a Windows-only user just became a much more difficult proposition.
Some might say that Apple CEO Steve Jobs squandered the opportunity, at least partially, that Microsoft handed to Apple on a silver platter. We’d have to agree: Apple’s Mac made gains while Vista floundered, but more – we believe much more – could have been gained than was. What do you think, did Apple take all they could from the gift that was Windows Vista or did they leave a significant amount of would-be Mac users on the table?
UPDATE, Oct. 9, 11:35am EDT: Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune (crediting reader Jon T. of Cardiff, Wales) on two quotes from Mossberg’s Windows Vista and Windows 7 reviews:
“After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced.” — Wall Street Journal, Jan. 18, 2007
“After using pre-release versions of Windows 7 for nine months, and intensively testing the final version for the past month on many different machines, I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced.” — Wall Street Journal, Oct. 8, 2009
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Windows rots. And we don’t just mean that’s inferior to our Macs, but that also over time, in the hands of everyday users, it clogs up, slows down, and generally deteriorates. Let’s give Windows 7 the time it needs for its inherent issues to begin showing up.
Slow and Steady wins the race.
The obvious focus has been on the iPhone/ touch markets. Which could be a better revenue stream, and thus the smarter route. Only time will tell.
Apple failed to fully exploit the Vista debacle. Yes, Apple had a lot of ads. I would have cut the price on the Mac Mini’s.
Sure, if Apple wanted market share there would have been a number of things they could have done — like cheaper low margin systems.
But that’s not a winning formula in the long run (see Dell).
As MDN pointed out, the underlying code is still Windows, while OS X has been rewritten to be a modern system.
My question for Walt — who I think we all admire for his consistent honesty over the years in tech — is whether or not that Windows 7 computer he tested will be running well a couple of years from now with the registry at its guts.
Because that’s the difference between the systems. Reliability and maintenance. With Windows, you get a cheaper system up front that mimics what the Mac can do. That deteriorates over time, though.
Microsoft may have woken up and realized that elegance matters. Good for the whole industry if that’s true. I’m betting that the chrome washes off as time goes on.
Mossberg just wants to be in the media – whether it is for Mac or Windows. He knows that many (or most) of his readers are stuck with Vista and want something better without going to Mac.
None of his points made are even valid. Sheer pandering to Windows fans. Not a true review.
And by the way, included software and protection from virus attacks are crucial and those features alone make Snow Leopard (and all versions of OS X) vastly superior to Windows 7.
The Unix underpinnings of OS X are vastly superior to the Windows underpinnings of Windows 7, period.
Windows 7 does computer science another disservice and will send millions of developers and users scrambling, taking up time, and all for an OS that has market share but that is inferior and is holding back our futures. Computer science needs to move forward, not be stuck in Windows land.
Windows 7 has a number of very nice UI enhancements on the surface that OS X simply doesn’t. I refer to being able to auto-resize windows by using gestures, do instant split screens simply by dragging windows to the sides of the screen, amongst others.
The new Windows Start bar is also greatly enhanced, mimicking the OS X Dock in many ways.
But what Mossberg fails to recognize is that unlike Apple, Microsoft has done little to the underlying OS to relieve long standing concerns. I refer specifically to the registry (a bad architecture decision that will continue to haunt Microsoft for years) and also a distinct lack of optimization for multi-processing and little in the way of framework for developers to take advantage of it.
Excuse the pun, but Windows 7 is little more than window dressing on its flawed predecessor.
@breeze
I agree slow and steady wins the race. I think Apple took the opportunity to create Snow Leopard. Although it may not look like much on the surface, but underneath they took advantage of the quiet to do some major cleaning. This was a great opportunity to do that. Now they have an even more solid foundation to leap forward. When will Windows ever have a chance to clean up.
I suspect, the next version after Leopard will be a major leap because of all of their housecleaning. The next version of Windows will probably take 10 more years because of the mess they have underneath.
The race is not over.
My question would be, “What was Apple supposed to do?” It wasn’t on their schedule to have Vista collapse. I appreciate that Apple (usually) puts good things out there where they’re good and ready rather than putting things out there just to get ’em out there. I don’t think Apple is quite as obsessed with dominating the world as MS. Don’t get me wrong – they are a corporation with a bottom line. But I think that line is in pencil for Apple & permanent marker for MS. Things change, so does Apple. Things change, MS pummels them back. I think Jobs & Co. did what they wanted to do. I don’t want my favorite company to become the next MS.
One question. Will Vista users still have to wipe their machines and reinstall the OS every six months? I assume they will because of the registry, but does anyone here know for sure?
“not by much?”
getting a virus is Ok?
no decent built-in software is Ok?
I hope his readers will see through his Microsoft pandering.
A big ass convoluted OS with a registry and proprietary organization is not a good thing and that’s what makes it so vulnerable to virus and malware attacks. Its not Unix.
I think Mossberg is a just looking for attention and should be addressed as a fake reporter.
I’ll give up my Mac only when it’s pried from my cold dead fingers. But I have to admit that Windows 7 is not that bad.
For MDN to continually call it a service pack is just blind fanboy junk. Better take it seriously!
From what I understand about Snow Leopard, it was based on an established superior desktop with a few small visual improvements, with underpinnings and APIs that poise it for future software coming from Apple and outside developers. 64 bit, Open CL, and Grand Central should lead to an influx of superior applications, running on these “tracks.” Let’s hope the iPhone halo draws good developers to the Mac.
In the meantime, we can go about our computing ways secure in the knowledge that we are using Unix further developed by Apple. We don’t suffer the normal MS glitches, and we have hardware that was developed for matching software. . . . It’s good looking stuff, as well.
I agree with MDN.
We could have seen a massive explosion of MAC OS X developers just like with the iPhone.
Even in its worse day, Mac OS were so much better than Windows in so many ways for the normal, everyday user and even small enterprise users. That will not change with Vista/7, no matter what Walt the man implies.
“If I’ve lost Mossberg, I’ve lost middle America.” — Steve Jobs
Mojave Vista 7 – This Time, We’ll Get it Right. We Promise™
@ CWA107
You say Windows has some nice UI features?
Yeah, I’m sure all the users out there will have no confusion or problems figuring all that out. Note my sarcasm. Many XP users are afraid to open the Control Panel. They misplace their taskbar and can’t get it back. They move Windows off the screen and can’t get them back. They could not understand widgets and overlays. They can’t tell what is online and what is on their local computer half the time. That’s the Windows user base, around the world, not just clever people like you.
The point of Apple design is an emphasis on simplicity – not bloat. More UI features = bloat. That’s what Windows 7 is.
So, in order or Apple to increase presence in the Business market (I’m not just saying market share but presence), do they need to license OS X to selected hardware vendors?
I’m not sure. The business sector most often make purchase decisions based on price and not quality. It’s like the productivity responsability totally depends on their employees (and they’re right to a certain point).
I think Apple should somehow offer a better productivity/business suite while keeping integration to the default products like MS Exchange. Think Bento for Business + iWork + Address Book + iCal + Mail + iChat + and a neat iWork.com web products, all wrapped up in a unexpensive package ($79) call… er… AppleWorks?
And also a Windows 7 version to act as a troyan horse.
Who cares? As a consumer I just want a hardware/software that meets my needs and is relatively cheap but reliable.
I think competition is what brought Windows to what it is now… the same competition should make Apple a better Apple.
Mossberg is crazy. Nothing in the world is worth viruses. Period. People need to understand that to create an anti-virus, someone needs to get a virus. It’s like saying “if you go into this room, 1/3 of you will die from this virus – but we’ll use that information to develop a cure!”. People don’t understand a anti-virus is a cure for something you DEFINITELY will get in some form some day. Who needs that, especially on a machine with your important data?
Apple store is down for maintenance.
It will be back up when they can compete with Windows 7, the ultimate OS for the power users with brown Zunes.
* “This Time, We’ll Get it Right. We Promise™” is a registered trademark of Microsloth, Inc. and is not a promise of past, current, or future performance or suitability to any task. Any resemblance to any OS past or present it purely coincidental. Offer subject to change at any time. Must be 18 or older. Void everywhere.
Apple could have expanded its reach, but at what cost? Apple wants users who have a passion for their products, not just anyone that wants a computer. There’s a difference there.
There is a substantial learning curve for both Mac development and Windows development. Ultimately, I feel that the Mac development environment is superior with superior (unix-backed) tools. Mac’s NextStep derived object-oriented Cocoa frameworks are well designed but it takes time to understand their MVC patterns and usage.
Windows developers used to be able to develop using a lot of third party products and a lot of languages. However, Visual Studio and C# and .Net (shiver) have become the leading the leaders for development. However, they are both buggy and the whole Windows apparatus is overblown, bloated, massive, and problematic. Performance is terrible and for developers who get knee deep in Windows development, its tough for them to get out and to even see opportunity elsewhere as they are trying to make a living. Windows development is like an addictive drug that is not good for you.
The personal computer operating system is important for the software it serves and the way it does so. Businesses want cheap boxes and have IT staffs that depend on lots of problems to maintain these cheap boxes. Windows is an expensive software proposition and businesses are not upgrading. Microsoft will force this with Windows 7 and businesses will decide if they wish to do so. Apple ceded this market for high end consumer hearts and minds a long time ago. In doing so they introduced iPod, iPhone and iPod Touch. Next up is a iPad of some sort with Telephony and without and entree into a much larger market then pc’s with much greater portability and interoperability, while still being able to maintain a small market share of traditional desktops and laptops. This affords cloud computing and more traditional computing without cannibalizing the current desktop/laptop market. One hardware, one software, verticle market through computing, music. telephony, entertainment. Different devices are owned by the same person and all are interoperable at high and sometimes subsidized profit margins. Jobs didn’t squander anything. He will let windows have the low margin business market supported by cheap hardware and create a vertical hardware/software market that has made high end cars, boats, planes, appliances, furniture all quite popular and profitable. Anyone notice Apple’s stock in the last year and MFT? Nothing squandered, just a different strategy. If it sputters, Apple can always open the OS to cheap generic hardware, but I doubt that will ever be necessary.
An Microsoft’esque idea:
Apple should bundle Business Edition AppleWorks for Windows and Mac (see previous post: Bento, iCal, iWork, Address Book, Mail, Things (think Daylite made by Apple)) in every iPhone sold.
That would make 50 million copies in the street every year/year-and-a-half.