Simon Aldous: Windows 7 'Inspired' By Mac, Microsoft Manager Admits

In an interview with PCR, Simon Aldous, Microsoft's partner group manager, went on the record acknowledging that Microsoft's new Windows 7 software was inspired by the company's major rival, Apple.

Aldous told PCR that the graphical style of Windows 7 was influenced by Macs:

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.

Aldous isn't the first to highlight the influence.

In one of his early Windows 7 reviews, Walt Mossberg also noted some similarities between the two operating systems, writing that the new Windows 7 taskbar, "is a concept borrowed from Apple's similar feature, the Dock."

Microsoft responded quickly to Aldous' 'admission' with a statement on its blog intending to 'clarify' his comments.

Titled "How we really designed the look and feel of Windows 7," the blog states:

An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was "borrowed" from Mac OS X. Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7.

The blog, which links to 'authorized' posts discussing the design process of Windows 7, goes on to say,

I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.

Follow the live Twitter feed below for people's real-time reactions to Aldous' comments.

One Twitter user Tweeted,

dovella @MSWindows who is Simon Aldous ? FIRED!!!

Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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Comments

[ReedYoung]

And even carbon-copying their top competitor isn't saving the company's image.

http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/11/shareholders_quiz_ballmer_about_macs_windows_mobile_phones.html

People still buy Windows, but they don't choose it. It's just cheaper. Unfortunately, cheaper in both senses.

"We're working hard on it. Windows 7 I think gives us a real opportunity to come back again at some audiences that have been tougher for us. Frankly, the economy is good for us, because people do understand that Macintoshes are quite a bit more expensive for essentially the same computer ... but we have opportunities to improve among exactly the constituency that you identify."

[cagevice]

There was a fool on here just posting comment after comment, just the same thing over and over about Xerox. He's one of those guys, ready to pounce and trash Macs irrationally just to naysay without reason, to be "anti-cool."
Here, pal: "The final Lisa and Macintosh operating systems mostly used concepts from the Xerox Alto, BUT many elements of the graphical user interface were created by Apple including the menubar, pop-up menus and the concepts of drag and drop and direct manipulation."

Get a clue before you post.

[Goliadkin]

"...but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance."

ROTFL. This guy cracks me up! Hahahahahahahaha! Jeez.

[Retrofuturistic]

I wanted to reply to all the people who gave me advice about my problems with Windows 7, but when I opened my comments tab, something changed. Now I can read what people replied to my comments, but there's no Reply button anymore, so I can't answer back. Did they change the Huffington Post format, is it my weird new Windows 7 computer, or am I just going crazy?

[ReedYoung]

You can post a comment when you come back to the main article, by clicking above the comment on your comments tab, on the article title, which is also a hyperlink to the article.

You can also get there from your profile by skimming through the list "Posts this user has commented on" at the far right of the profile page -- actually, that's there on both the "Profile" and "Comments" tabs. Depending how many people you're a fan of, you might have to scroll down a bit.

[Retrofuturistic]

Thank you. That was driving me crazy. I thought I did something to make the format different. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh.

[alexunlv]

O RLY?

Who cares. Windows 7 is cool, I like it and I WONT be switching back to Mac. Why would I want to switch over to such a price gauging company? Nobody cares. Go away.

[PortlandZoo]

it's only professionals and enlightened amateurs that stick to Macs - it's called reliability and performance. All the windows operating systems were designed to emulate the Apple gui - the two companies were in court for years but Microserf won out cause it has more lawyers and deeper pockets - it needs them. Msoft's new slogans is: Making our customers beta test our products for us so we can increase profits. Productive machines vs. boat anchors - it's not a tough choice. Buyers always get what they pay for - no more, no less.

[jsgaetano]

Windows users get far more than they pay for.

But feel free to keep paying the Apple Tax. Steve Jobs and his Ferrari Enzo thank you.

[jsgaetano]

And OSX was "inspired by" Windows NT.

Remeber- MacOS didn't support TCP/IP, so it really wasn't good for connecting to the internet. Like all Apple products, it was still stuck in an age of proprietary technology, and would only natively recognize AppleTalk. To get TCP/IP to work, you needed an application to translate TCP/IP to/from AppleTalk.

Windows NT 4 was released in 1996. OSX was released in 2001.

Not only that, but OSX dropped compatibility with all MacOS apps... whereas Microsoft continues to be backward compatible. And if it's not, you can get a free copy of Microsoft Virtual PC, and run it in a VM.

[ReedYoung]

"Windows NT 4 was released in 1996. OSX was released in 2001."

So, from 13 years ago until eight years ago, MSFT had that one technological advantage. Wow!

[jsgaetano]

Yeah... and in 2000, guess what was released?

Thus making OSX two generations, and over a decade, late to the show... and in Microsoft's tail lights.

[ReedYoung]

That was nine years ago. What have you done for me lately?

[jsgaetano]

If you don't know what Microsoft has been doing in the last ten years, you really aren't fit to participate in an intelligent discussion of operating systems.

Do a little research, maybe finish high school, then come back and talk.

[DRaymond]

Oh come on, the whole of graphical user interfaces­...windows and mac, has been incrementalism from the truly groundbreaking work done by Xerox PARC.

Meanwhile both Microsoft and Apple continue to be 'inspired' not so much by each other as by the public domain work of the open source community. Only by building on the core of unix could Apple continue to economically make an OS of their own. Without that huge contribution from outside Apple today would probably today be in the position of making very sleekly designed Windows computers.

[OswegoKayaker]

Ideas go back and forth between the two. The biggest difference is that Apple makes the whole deal -- the operating system is tied to the computer. The OS for a Mac Mini is different from the one for the iMac and that is different than the one for the Mac Pro 8-Core, it is tailor-made for each machine. Windows has to operate on such a wide variety of machines that it is a wonder that the experience is as good as it is. This is the big difference between Apple and Microsoft philosophy -- Apple went for a seamless, elegant user experience and Microsoft went for the big market. It is why there is such a fierce loyalty among Mac users -- we don't mind paying more for the the sports car and Microsoft users proudly wave the flag of saving a lot of money. Neither is wrong,

Apple was trying to make the best experience possible and almost collapsed because of this philosophy -- trying to attain the perfect user experience; meanwhile Microsoft turned out a product that was good enough. It is just a different philosophy.

[Eris23]

I disagree with your sports car analogy. It's not a "luxury car" as my PCs have always been "luxury cars" too. I need my machines to function as DAWs for multitrack live recording, in addition to composition and mastering with a large array of software plugins. I need my machines to handle video editing and rendering in reasonable time, with at least one to do real time video capture. These are not "surf the web and play music" machines. They are top of the line work horses. The guts in them are better than what you'll get in most Macs in Apple's store right now that are priced higher.

Apple isa "status symbol" more than a luxury car. Do I like the fact that non-Apple PCs are cheaper? Absolutely. It's the only reason I stopped using Apple computers. Once,a Mac was that "luxury car" in that it was worlds ahead of the PC withsoftware for music and video creation. Then, in 1998, that gap was closed. I bought one more Mac after that date and stopped using it almost entirely by 2004. I got rid of it in 2006. Notbecause I think their computers are bad. There simply was nothing I could do with it that I couldn't do on my PC.

Claiming that I've somehow downgraded to a "Chevy" in comparison to someone's Apple Mercedes is untrue. I have stronger machines than a lot of the models sold by Apple. It simply doesn't have the Apple logo onit.

[OswegoKayaker]

You are right -- a sports car was a bad analogy -- one of my favorite pc machines was a Gateway and it was fantastic. It cost a lot more than most of them and so it didn't go over as well -- but it had a lot of loyalty and was really very good and well put together. We all like what we like and I meant no disrespect. I would not go back to pcs but that is a personal preference. I used to try to get people to get Macs because I wanted everyone I cared about to have the same great experience I had but one person got the one I picked out for him and hated it -- he had used pcs all his computing life and it didn't turn out to be a good experience. I learned a lot from that. After that I always tried to find the perfect system for THEM. Something that fit into their lives. I learned that it is about THEIR comfort zone. It really is just about what is important to you -- for me it was design and interface. PCs always felt clunky to me -- but it is a personal thing.

It really isn't important what you use, but how much enjoyment or productivity you get out of it. So enjoy your machine and don't give a second thought to people, like me, who get over enthusiastic about what we like. All that is important is

[Fogy]

As a Windows and Mac user, I'm thrilled Windows is becoming more Mac-like. Combining grace and elegance with virtual-monopoly brute force acquiescence sure beats the old days.

[jsgaetano]

Windows has over 94% market share.

Apple folks, we realize you are bitterly jealous, but get over it. You claim to be better, yet almost everyone on the planet tells you otherwise, every single day.

Think of it this way- if everyone used OSX, it would take away your ability to be a snooty elitist. You wouldn't really want that, would you?

[ReedYoung]

Securitized debt instruments were valued many times as many "dollars" as the mortgages on which they're supposedly based, and the United States has a higher "market share" of swine flu than other countries. Significance?

[Eris23]

It's not rocket science. For a decade, Apple has been running ad campaigns that have focused on exaggerated flaws of PCs, and later characterized it through an actor posing as Gates to represent everything but Apple. Yet, despite doing that, and despite so many talking about how brilliant the campaigns were in getting recognition of the Apple brand, the sales simply haven't ever carried over in their favor. Nobody in the US market, for example, that owns a computer can claim they've never heard of Apple. Yet, they have not been convinced to buy the product. Why is that? Because even most novice computer users can spot the exaggerations and, when confronted with the cost of an Apple, decide it isn't worth the price. People who simply want to surf the web, read and write e-mail, listen to music and watch youtube can get a good PC that does all of that with no problems for under $500.

That's the "market share" significance.

[jsgaetano]

Yawn. Another false equivalency.

Try living in the real world for a little while, among people solving real world problems every day. Come down from the Apple/Linux ivory tower.

[alexunlv]

Your continued responses.­..signific­ance? Nobody cares! Windows 7 is cool, people like it. Now go away!

[ReedYoung]

jsgaetano:
It is not any "equivalency" at all, it is an analogy, to express the fact that "bigger" does not logically imply "better." Even Eris23 comprehended that, and replied accurately, albeit with prejudice and lots of irrelevant noise added, that MSFT has nothing to offer but cheapness.

[RevSpaminator]

Not to bash Windows, but this is silly. We all know that Windows has been a "me too" product from day one. To think that Microsoft didn't "borrow" as many ideas as possible would be like saying that 2+2=5, only the well inducted and mentally trained could believe such double think. (Having worked at Redmond campus, there is about a 50% saturation of those who drink the kool-aid. The other half just hope to make the product suck less than the last release.) Simon isn't saying anything anyone else doesn't already know.

[Retrofuturistic]

I left the Mac world in 1998, but after buying a Dell that is running Windows 7, I am ready to go back.

Windows 7 does remind me of a Macintosh OS, but that bad thing is that NOTHING is compatible with Windows 7. Trust me, NOTHING that you own now is compatible with Windows 7.

I was using Windows XP before, on a Sony Vaio, but with the new computer I had to buy a new version of Office (2007) and I was not eligible for an upgrade, my speakers didn't work, my scanner is not compatible, my CS2 wouldn't install, and I haven't even tried to install my games yet. Not only that, but I couldn't import my emails. I did manage to import my documents and my bookmarks, but with the bookmarks, it wouldn't let me save any new ones in the old folders, so I had to make all new folders.

I haven't even tried yet to upload any pictures from my Sony Cybershot. I am worried that that might not be compatible with Windows 7 either....

Honestly, I really really wish I had bought a Mac instead of the Windows 7 Dell.

[AmandaBC]

Oh yeah sure. Ask any intel-mac user how their software from 1998 is working on their brand new machines... Hint: no mac software pre-dating intel-macs is compatible with today's Apple computers.

[ReedYoung]

"Ask any intel-mac user how their software from 1998 is working on their brand new machines..."

Oh, Amanda! That comparison is based on an exception for Apple (the one-time change to Intel hardware) and the norm for MSFT. Your other comments in this thread -- about addressable memory of 64-bit operating systems in particular -- show that you know exactly why it isn't reasonable to expect that discontinuity in software for Macs to be repeated any time soon.

The other salient point is that obsolescence is eventually expected of any retail software, or retail electronics more generally, even. The failure of *brand new* software to work on *brand new* hardware is all but isolated to operating systems from Redmond, WA.

I can understand that gratuitous Windows-bashing, like gratuitous bashing of anything else, gets monotonous, but I think you're over-compensating. Windows isn't all you make it out to be and Retrofuturistic's complaint is common with all new versions of Windows in their first year.

You clearly know enough that I believe you when you say you can keep Windows working smoothly, but you're also ignoring the fact that it's marketed *primarily* to people with less knowledge of, and less interest in knowing, about the inner workings of the machine and its programming.

[ReedYoung]

Just to be absolutely clear, my disrespect to Eris23 and jsgaetano is intended solely for them. You made some fair points earlier, although I disagree with this one, and I expect we can talk civilly about advertised vs. real ease of use.

[Amalek]

Using software dated from 1998? That's over a decade ago. Did they have software way back then?

[ReedYoung]

Early adopters do for MSFT what is considered "beta testing" in software houses that are not too big to have to compete. Sorry you had to learn that the hard way. On the bright side, based on previous versions of Windows, within about a year your brand new Dell will work, approximately as reliably as you expect it to work based on your likely experiences with properly patched XP, 2000 or 98SE. Of course, by then the hardware will no longer be cutting edge, but will instead be just borderline adequate . . . :-(

The problems you're having are peculiar to the new version of Windows -- every version of Windows that is, soon after their respective release dates. This is well-known to information technology professionals (no, not "Geek Squad" guys, I mean real professionals: programmers, engineers and the unlucky scientists whose employers "chose" MSFT), but there is no legitimate reason a typical end-user should have to shop with this caveat in mind.

In the professional practice of computer science, the problems you're having are supposed to be solved before the general "release to market" of any software package. The only reason this can happen is that MSFT has been allowed, by lackadaisical regulation, to become and to remain too big to have to compete.

[jsgaetano]

Go back to Slashdot with your B.S. talking points.

[RevSpaminator]

Download Ubuntu and load that on your machine. (allow the installer to resize Windows partition and set you up as dual-boot) Ubuntu is easy to use and well designed. If you are that unhappy, it won't hurt anything to try something that is free. Then you can see how the other other-side lives. :)

[ReedYoung]

For any Windoze "apps" that don't work in Ubuntu with the W.IN.E. (Wine is Not an Emulator) package, Retrofuturistic can choose from dozens of equal-or-better replacements. Out of 25,000+ packages compatible with Synaptic package manager, Ubuntu has you covered!

And Synaptic manages dependencies, including during upgrade and removal, AUTOMATICALLY. You just cannot get anything like that with MSFT. For any price.

[jsgaetano]

"Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair".

[ReedYoung]

Your bofh snark might be considered witty in a tech forum for IT pros, although it never appealed to me. Why don't you tell Retrofuturistic how to solve his bookmark problems instead, and prove to all here how easy Windows 7 really is to use.

[ReedYoung]

"He didn't copy his 'favorites' menu. That's all there is to it."
You are so sure of this how? He said he imported his bookmarks, and you assume IE favorites and not Firefox or Safari or Chrome bookmarks files. See, you're trying to be unhelpful and condescending, going out of your way to make the other person the problem, not help him use the technology.

"Like I said, problem exists between chair and keyboard- there's nothing wrong with Windows."
Repeat it like a mantra, cultists and shareholders. It won't make it true though.

[ReedYoung]

"Oh, heaven forbid anyone actually has to know how to use a computer in order to use a computer! Why can't four year olds operate tractor trailers and heavy machinery? It's so unfair!"

Do you deny that they are marketed as though no training is necessary?

[ReedYoung]

That is not a solution, and neither is

"Bookmarks are simple link files, they are like 1kb.
He didn't copy his "favorites" menu. That's all there is to it. Like I said, problem exists between chair and keyboard- there's nothing wrong with Windows."

Is that your final answer? Your argument depends on the premise that Windows is usable to the people to whom it's marketed. So, how does the customer resolve the problem? Plugging your sh*tty attitude into the USB port?

[ReedYoung]

My challenge to you, which you evaded, was to explain the steps so that a real world consumer of a ~$500 Wintel computer (Retrofuturistic) with no specialized training could understand and follow. If you can't do that, with all your self-proclaimed expertise, then Windows is not really such a bargain for 94% of the market.

[ReedYoung]

The Rev is right. Please try Ubuntu before putting your Dell on ebay and spending more on a Mac. The user forums are very friendly and helpful, and you will not need any of your Windows "apps" because Ubuntu has better ones, like OpenOffice.org instead of MS OFFice, XMMS instead of WinAmp and Firefox instead of Windows Exploder. Installing new programs never requires CDs, only an Internet connection and the package manager, apt, which you'll access through a GUI called Synaptic, easy to find under the System menu on the desktop. Just be sure during install to create a new partition from the free space you have, so that you can preserve Windows in case you do decide to sell it.

[jsgaetano]

Yeah... his problem is supposedly that his apps wont run... so your "solution" is to switch to Teh Lunix, thereby guaranteeing his apps won't run.

Not that it matters, since he's making everything up anyway.

[ReedYoung]

... and the GNU Image Manipulation Program for photo editing.

[GeorgeKaplan]

Just the facts...

[revhatchell]

i can't wait to try windows 7 out on my mac.

let's see, what version? what version? oh so many choices.

WOW! $275 for 'pro'
YOW! $295 for 'ultimate'

it's a good thing everyone has extra money lying around.

[AmandaBC]

Win 7 pro and ultimate x64 can use a whopping 192 gb of RAM.
The mac? Theoretically 64 gb, but Apple never really clarified that... Not to mention the little FACT that there are few or no 64-bit applications for the mac. It figures, since Snow Leopard is the FIRST 64-bit Apple OS. Windows, on the other hand, released a 64-bit version since XP and there are now plenty of 64-bit applications available (so much for Apple being a trailblazer...) Graphic applications like Adobe Photoshop are already 64-bit on Windows but still limited to 32-bit on the mac. Now tell me, which graphic artist wouldn't love to use more than 4gb of RAM (the limit for 32-bit apps)?

[jsgaetano]

I find it funny to hear Mac cultists whine about actually... GASP!... paying for Windows, despite the fact that every year they'll gleefully pay $150 for a service pack to Leoptard which may or may not destroy their computer.

[RevSpaminator]

And Linux is how much? :)

[jsgaetano]

Too much.

[seattleblue]

The other night the roommate loaded Windows 7 on the computer and showed me all the new "features". As soon as he went to bed, I shut down and restarted under Vista.

The biggest problem I have these days on the computer is waiting for Huffpost to load a page. I can almost make a cup of espresso while it loads.

[Retrofuturistic]

I'm having that problem too. I didn't know if it was my new computer or the Huffington Post website?

[jsgaetano]

I notice this too. It loads the article, and takes about 10-15 seconds to add the comments page.

[Amalek]

Whoever did the Huffpo website does not know how to do so. The pages load incredibly slow, PC or MAC, Safari, IE or Firefox.

[jsgaetano]

But at least it runs equally bad on every platform.