Microsoft: ‘We’ve tried to create a Mac look and feel’
You’ve really gotta give Apple and its marketing people credit for always being on message and keeping tight control of what’s said — you just don’t hear faux pas like this from them. Granted, they get caught lying from time to time, but never plumping other companies’ products, especially not Microsoft’s.
PCR is running an interview with Microsoft’s partner group manager Simon Aldous, which chock full o’ softballs and approved questions. In response to the question, “Is Windows 7 really a much more agile operating system, in terms of the specific uses it can be molded to?” he gives a reply that could easily—change a few proper nouns—about Snow Leopard.
However, he goes on to let this bit slip in an unguarded moment:
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.
The interviewer then asks, “So you’ve taken the style of the Mac platform and built it on the more solid foundations of Vista?”
Aldous doesn’t answer the question, at least not in reference to the “we copied the Mac” bit. No, likely realizing his mistake, he gets right back on message and doesn’t mention Apple or OS X again.
His cup overflows…
Seriously, was Aldous talking about how stable Windows 7 is when it’s running the 80 percent of old Windows viruses that are still “compatible” with the new version of the OS? And, what a wonderful piece of work Vista was, eh?
When it comes to drinking the Kool-Aid, it always cracks me up that the 90 percent operating system people, company and users alike, are invariably the ones pointing their fingers at the rest of us. It is to laugh…
What’s your take?
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November 11th, 2009
“Test it on the users…” and call it usability consulting. Isn’t that the MS adage?
It may be cheaper but roll on Linux as a reality check for profit mungering.
November 12th, 2009
@user
Have you ever heard the term “you get what you pay for?
That is Linux.