“In an interview published Tuesday, Simon Aldous, partner group manager at Microsoft, acknowledged that the company had used Mac OS X as its muse,” Computerworld reports. “‘One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it’s very graphical and easy to use,’ Aldous told PCR from a partner conference in the U.K. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 — whether its traditional format or in a touch format — is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics.'”
MacDailyNews Note: In the same interview, Aldous also said that Windows 7ista was “built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.”
Computerworld continues, “Late Wednesday, Microsoft repudiated Aldous. ‘Unfortunately, this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7,’ said Brandon LeBlanc, a company spokesman who authors most of the Windows 7 blog posts. ‘I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.'”
Computerworld reports, “Comparisons between Microsoft’s and Apple’s operating systems, common because of the short gap between their releases, have often noted Windows 7’s resemblance to Mac OS X 10.6, particularly the similarities between the revamped task bar of the former and the dock of the latter.”
Full article here.
Microsoft’s official disavowal via “The Windows Blog” is here.
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft has been banking on ignorance for 30+ years. It’s no wonder they fear the truth, especially when it emanates from inside their own ranks. Calling more attention to it via this lame rebuke only highlights Microsoft’s endemic ineptitude. That said, glasses up, “May Steve Ballmer remain Microsoft’s CEO for as long as it takes!”
‘Unfortunately, this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7,’
But I thought we all made Windows 7?
Hilarious. He actually says that Windows 7 is a Vista SP with a look copied from OS X.
I wonder how long he keeps that job at Microsoft?
Windows IS A COPY OF THE MAC! Since the beginning!
Period.
End of discussion.
Steve Jobs has said so publicly. People who know the history of computers know it too.
It may be bad PR for Microsoft. Bill Gates tried to side step this and say Windows came from the original Zerox mouse GUI which inspired SJ at Apple. But we all know Gates was trying to imitate the Mac GUI and gobble Apple’s market up. And he was successful at that, until now.
Oh! This deserves a good nice laghter! ;D
Unfortunately…he is now unemployed!
‘I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed. The Vista core OS IS NOT more secure and stable than Mac OS X. We apologize for the confusion'”
“Windows 7’s resemblance to Mac OS X 10.6”
Oh, please. It’s more like an inane copy of 10.0, sadly raped by the mutant seed of Me and XP.
Uh Oh. This guy will get no bonus, and worse, will have to stay with Vista on his work computer.
So where is the Mac vs PC ad where PC ties to copy Mac?
WHIP that boy! No telling the truth around here at Microsoft!
As I have stated for many years, the Mac Business Unit of MS is their total R&D;Department. Case in point, whenever new Windows OS comes out all they ever say is it is “more MAC like, easy to use just like a Mac. “
> uninformed and inaccurate
Simon Aldous sounds like the most well-informed and accurate Microsoft executive they have. Anyone who does not already believe Microsoft has been “inspired” by Apple’s Mac OS since Windows 1.0 is a fool. So it sound ridiculous for another exec to deny it.
Isn’t it Microsoft’s design methodology to put all of the competing product’s features on a big wall and knock them off one by one?
I guess Windows 7 wasn’t Simon’s idea.
Hell, I’d copy the Mac OS too if I were Microsoft. You can hardly blame them.
—
Sure you can. They’re liars and con artists. There was a lawsuit back in the late 80’s that should have gone Apple’s way. It didn’t so the hackers got all the marketshare. No reason Apple can’t be self righteous about that.
“Liars and con artists”? Who? Microsoft?!
My favorite story remains the time, circa 1997, when Microsoft deliberately STOLE Quicktime code from one of Apple’s collaborating developers. Apple asked for it back and Microsoft said “NO!” So Steve Jobs sat down with Bill Gates and made him a deal he couldn’t refuse: Either have your ass sued off or do what I tell you:
1) Invest $150 million in Apple non-voting stock for five years.
2) Guarantee the Mac Microsoft Office for the next five years.
3) Do a kiss and make up session at MacWorld where you, Bill Gates, are projected on a huge screen looking like Big Brother from the 1984 Mac ad, HAHAHAHA!
4) Hand Apple a publicly undisclosed amount of money to keep our mouths shut about your crime.
And of course the trolls and press interpreted all this to mean that Microsoft had either bought Apple or had saved the company from bankruptcy.
Classic (o_0)
I’m Mac OS X, and Windows 7 was my idea!
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@MacRaven- the first comment from a reader of the page that you linked says it all:
“Apple’s corporate ethos evolved from the work of men like Steve Wozniac, Alan Kay, and Bill Atkinson. Microsoft got its corporate roots from Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. It’s like comparing Albert Einstein to a carnival barker. One will fundamentally change the world, while the other sells lots of tickets to the freak show tent.”
Thanks for the link.
‘I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.'” I guess the next news item that has Simon Aldous, partner group manager at Microsoft, as the center of the article will be dealing with his recent departure from his current position at Microsoft. He is leaving to spend more time with his family and to pursue other employment opportunities, will be the announcement from M$.
Lets get Bill & Balmer in a room, a mac and windows 7 running side by side and see how the audience reacts. Block the exits.