Microsoft Manager: We Copied the Mac OS X Look-and-Feel

Okay, so this is new. When it comes to graphical user interfaces, everyone is copying everyone, but you’ll always find supporters of platform Abc claiming platform Xyz is stealing from them – and vice versa. Mac supporters have often stated that Vista and Windows 7 were copying from Apple, and according to Microsoft’s partner group manager, Simon Aldous, this is true. Wait, what?

I stumbled upon this one just now on an Apple news website, and it made me stare at my screen for a few blinking seconds. A Microsoft manager saying flat-out that Windows 7 copied Mac OS X? Surely, he had been misquoted. Or something. Well, turns out he wasn’t.

Microsoft is currently holding a partner conference in Wembley Stadium, and as such, PCR Online decided to interview Microsoft’s partner group manager, Simon Aldous. When asked “is Windows 7 really a much more agile operating system, in terms of the specific uses it can be moulded to?”, he replied:

The interesting thing is, it’s basically the next version of Vista. Vista was a totally redesigned operating system from XP. We’ve improved upon Vista in that way. We’ve stripped out a lot of the code, we’ve made a lot of it much more efficient, it sits on a smaller footprint, it operates far more quickly, it’s far more agile and effective in terms of the calls it makes. I saw an article recently that described it as ‘Vista on steroids’, and in some ways you can absolutely relate to that.

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. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.

I have a faint feeling we’ll see a redaction or a I’ve-been-misquoted claim soon, because something like this surely shouldn’t be said by a Microsoft manager. It sure is refreshing, but at the same time, it’s also complete nonsense. I see little in Windows 7 that makes it look or function like Mac OS X, and I see little Aqua in Aero either.

I’m having the feeling a certain group of people are going to have a field day with this one. I have to say, if this is indeed what Microsoft wants to profess – than more power to them. The honesty would be a welcome change of pace in this industry.

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