'Windows 7 copied Mac' claim crushed by Microsoft

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 13 November 2009 14:17

Opinion and Analysis

”I-dont-do-tat” continues: “Then denying this to your customers just makes you look stupid because the very look and feel of Windows 7 is desperately trying to look like a Mac OS - just admit it.

“Oh, and in the less significant UK region, sales of Macs rose 25% in the last quarter, with like for like PC sales down by about the same margin.  I would try to copy that success.

“Keep pretending guys, can't wait for the next Apple 'I'm a PC' ad :-)”.

Of course, Microsoft has been accused of copying Apple for years, with Apple and Microsoft having come to a settlement in the early years of Windows over copying allegations and Apple later directly accusing Microsoft of copying it when advising Redmond to “start your photocopiers”.

As we all know, Xerox pioneered the GUI which everyone else has copied since, and advances have been made in pen tablet and multi-touch, alongside new GUI designs with a very interesting example being Bumptop, a new “3D desktop” for Windows PCs promising to keep you better organised and more productive.

While Apple hasn’t yet introduced a multi-touch LED screen on its MacBook Pro and iMac desktops, it pioneered and popularised multi-touch experiences on its iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.

Microsoft’s introduction of multi-touch on selected desktop, netbook and Tablet PCs with Windows 7 is a very welcome development that certainly seems mightily inspired by the iPhone experience, although Microsoft will clearly point to its own impressive multi-touch “Surface PC” released virtually simultaneously alongside the original January 2007 iPhone.

Similarities in user interfaces are inevitable if popular with consumers, so the whole episode is really but sound and fury signifying nothing but blog entries.

That said, I really like Dave Methvin’s take Information Week best from all that I’ve read so far. He ended so succinctly by noting that: “Microsoft should just say that they took at look at what the Mac does, and did it better.”

Victory can often be snatched from the jaws of "defeat" much more so that Microsoft's actual statement, and such a snappy comeback would probably have done just that – it’s a shame Microsoft didn’t have the foresight to think of that itself.

Windows 7 sales won’t be affected a smidgeon by the affair and might even be increased as a result, but with Windows 7 now out the door, some new Linux distros every six months and regular new OS X releases, one can only hope some truly innovative photocopiers are being applied right now to Windows 8!