Microsoft: Windows 7 ‘Inspired’ By Mac OS

Ed Sutherland ()

Signs Macs were used for Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' ad campaign.

Signs Macs were used for Microsoft's 'I'm a PC' ad campaign.

We all know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Now software giant Microsoft admits it had Apple’s OSX in mind when creating the Windows 7 operating system.

“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,” Microsoft partner group manager Simon Aldous said in a Wednesday interview.

Talking to the industry news site PCR, Aldous said: “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.”

Although Windows 7”s graphics borrows heavily from the Mac OS X graphics, the Microsoft executive said it’s new operating system retains the core Vista technology, calling it “far more stable than the current Mac platform.”

Technology columnist Walt Mossberg, while penning a review that Windows 7 is as good as the Mac OS, still comes down in favor of the Mac during his annual shopping guide.

“But in my view, Apple’s built-in software still has the edge. Snow Leopard is fast and reliable. And it comes with a full suite of excellent built-in programs, including email, photo and video software. Microsoft has stripped Windows 7 of such programs,” Mossberg said.

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[Via 9to5Mac and PCR]

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About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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  • Totie

    I don’t know what they consider to be “Mac look and feel”, but I think Windows 7 has more of a Vista feel than Mac OS X. Windows 7 has a lot of eye-candy – a thing Mac OS X definitely has not. While Apple kept the interface consistent, clean and very simple – although this is not the case with Quicktime X and iTunes anymore – Microsoft added a lot of glass and gloss to the interface. Just look at the Explorer on Windows 7 and compare it to the Finder – it’s still clunky and just unappealing to me. If Microsoft thinks it put its inspiration to good use, then it just did not understand Apple’s concept.

    In addition a lot of my friends disable the Aero look of Windows in favor of the traditional layout, to increase performance and have an actual consistent and professional look.

  • ExcuseMe

    This just proves that Microsoft is scared of Apple =D

  • Jim

    This guy actually said that Windows 7 is more stable than the Mac platform? That’s pretty funny.

  • deepkid

    hey Totie,

    They may have been inspired but yes, does not mean that the inspiration=visible/palatable product as a result. Microsoft has been ‘inspired’ by Apple’s products for a long time, but this is the first time I can recall a blunt admission by them. That’s what has my jaw ajar. :o

  • Jim

    Or as the Great Bugs Bunny says, “It is to laugh”!!!

  • http://www.szilveszter.ca WS

    @ Jim

    He actually didn’t just say that W7 is MORE stable than Mac OS X, he also said that “it’s built on that VERY STABLE core Vista technology.” Yeah, I know… delusional much?

    Full quote:

    “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.”

    C’mon Cult of Mac, let’s have a little more robust journalism; or are you guys trying to concern real-estate…

  • J A Allen

    I feel a law suit coming on.

    Having said that I seem to remember the whole “look and feel” was not enough to get Apple a victory in the original law suits when Windows first came out.