Microsoft just unveiled the future of Windows 10 today in Redmond. Along with some crazy holographic goggles that take on Google Glass and Oculus, company executives revealed the ambitious plan to make the next generation of Windows the first truly universal platform for desktop PCs, laptops, smartphones and more.
The 2.5 hour keynote was packed with new features coming to Windows 10 devices and the Xbox, but eagle-eyed Apple fanboys have already noticed a few ways Microsoft was influenced by some of Apple’s best features.
Here are 5 plays Microsoft stole from Apple’s playbook:
Free Upgrades
One of the biggest announcements Windows users will enjoy is the fact that Windows 10 won’t come with a price tag. Apple has been offering free OS X upgrades to Mac users for years. It seemed only inevitable that Microsoft would eventually cave and give out its operating system for free now that its biggest competitors – iOS, OS X, and Android – are all giving away great software.
Microsoft isn’t giving away Windows 10 for free forever though. The company told reporters at today’s event that Windows 10 will be available as a free upgrade for the first year of its release to all Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 users.
Trying to make Windows a cult
“We want people to love Windows on a daily basis,” Satya Nadella said in the closing moments of the keynote. Microsoft definitely appears to be trying to ape Apple’s approach to making products and services that are personal and designed well. Nadella even seems a bit like Jobs — dressed down, pacing the stage as a sagelike savant who just loves tech and has a new super product to take over the world.
Mailbox gestures
Windows 10 phone users will be able to quickly tidy up their inboxes now that Microsoft is adding gestures like those introduced in iOS 8 that let you quickly trash or archive messages. Technically, Apple copied stole the swipe left to delete gesture from Mailbox, so we can’t blame Joe Belfiore for proudly stating that “These modular gestures might look familiar to some of you” when previewing the new app.
Skype is the new iMessage
Skype is great at video calling. Now its ready to be even better at texting. On Windows 10, Skype is basically like Facetime + iMessages. Skype messages are integrated deeper than ever into Windows 10, which will automatically detect when a someone you’re texting has a Skype account and then transitions to sending texts over Skype instead. Just like iMessage.
Continuum = Continuity
Apple revealed its Continuity feature for OS X 10.10 Yosemite in June of 2014 for increasing productivity by allowing Mac users to swap tasks over to their iPad or iPhone and vice versa. Microsoft came out with its own spin on the feature called Continuum. Instead of sending your Word document over to your Windows Phone though, Continuum quickly transforms your touchscreen laptop into a tablet mode so you don’t even have to reach for an iPad. The functionality isn’t exactly the same, but couldn’t they come up with a different name?
Horrible video stream
Microsoft, you don’t want to copy everything Apple did during its huge keynote in September, which also featured painfully horrible livestream. We couldn’t watch a full minute of Microsoft’s keynote this morning without getting stopped in our tracks by the heinous “BUFFERING…” message on our TVs and computers. It’s shocking that two of the biggest tech companies in the world can’t pull off a decent livestream. Maybe they could talk to their friends at YouTube.
Where Microsoft won…
Microsoft didn’t exactly print out a copy of OS X today. The company seriously moved tech forward with some of its major announcements, like HoloLens and Windows 10’s cross-platform functionality. Apple was beat today in a few key areas we weren’t expecting.
Surface Hub tops Apple Television
We’ve given up on the possibility of Apple Television ever being released, but Microsoft gave us a small glimpse into what might have been with the new Surface Hub. It’s basically a giant 84-inch 4K tablet you can stick to your office wall to boost productivity. It features dual cameras, microphones, WiFi, Bluetooth LE, NFC, and some other “advanced sensors.” There’s also a 55-inch option available but Surface Hub is geared toward enterprise, instead of family.
It’s got a cool interactive whiteboard, and can do Skype, but doesn’t look very cool on the entertainment end. A few minutes into the unveil my biggest thought was this must be why Apple never made a television: there’s still only niche uses for a giant iPad. I doubt we’ll see many Surface Hubs in living rooms within the next three years.
Cortana beat Siri to desktop
Mac users have had text to speech on their machines since OS X Mountain Lion was released, but Apple’s been slow to bring Siri completely over to the Mac. Cortana is poised to beat Siri with a slew of new features that make her more conversational for desktop users. Windows 10 still doesn’t have a release date, so Apple could technically come out with Siri for Mac at WWDC 2015 and release it before Cortana lands on Windows 10, but it better have a deep feature set to be a truly competitive alternative to Cortana on PC.
HoloLens
A futuristic set of goggles was the last thing we were expecting to see at today’s keynote. Microsoft shocked us with HoloLens. It’s the most intriguing product to come out of Redmond maybe since the Xbox, but we’re still not sure if we’ll actually want to use one for anything other than super immersive video games. It definitely puts both Google Glass and Oculus on notice, but I don’t think Apple is worrying too much yet about Microsoft’s first wearable.
Windows 10 is a universal OS
Apple fans have anticipated the eventual merging of OS X and iOS for nearly a decade, but that future still seems years away. For PC users it’s here much sooner. Windows 10 gives Microsoft a truly universal platform and we hate to say it, but it looks great on PCs, tablets and phones.
It would be amazing to flip my MacBook Air into an iPad and have the operating system seamlessly transition into a touch-based experience. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like Apple is ready to make that big leap yet, while Microsoft has somehow morphed Windows 8’s horrible experience into something that actually looks cool in Windows 10. One area that Microsoft still can’t compete with iOS is apps, so until developers start making a mass exodus from iOS, Apple still has the upper-hand.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
106 responses to “6 ways Microsoft copied Apple with Windows 10 (plus some truly new ideas)”
came over here to get the Apple perspective. didn’t disappoint.
Now I need to see Phil Schiller’s perspective.
So, you came to Cult of Mac, and were surprised to find an article with an Apple slant?
1. Free upgrades: Umm…Linux based distros have been doing that for quite some time now.
But with Linux, you don’t get to call a tech support center unless you pay for it. Red Hat charges $300 a year for license subscription with support, how is that FREE? That’s the ONLY workstation Linux that’s actually worth using on any professional level, I see these other Linux distros as for hobbyists.
If you’re not technology illiterate you don’t need tech support… Many computer scientists use Linux (Ubuntu is particularly popular) daily for professional tasks, without any problem. (I’m one of those)
Those “FREE” distros aren’t run by publicly traded companies, they are non-profit. Hence the reason why it’s FREE, but they go by donations. Is Microsoft trying to become a non-profit company? This is surely one step closer. I’m wondering what their profits are going to look like and them giving out free OS, is it going to reduce the need for people to upgrade to a new computer? If it does, then the h/w OEMs are going to hurt if this makes it so they can’t sell new computers with the PAID version of Windows 10. This is going to be interesting to see how it works out financially. I wonder if they will get 90% of their install base to migrate to Windows 10. Any bets?
While there are developers that charge for tech support, Canonical is one, free tech support is rampant on the internet. AskUbuntu is one, its there 24-7-365, all you have to do is post your question and wait for a reply. It’s not limited to just Ubuntu based distros. Or if you want, do a Google search. There’s pages of them. The chances are, if you have that problem, someone else has it too, and have probably already solved it.
Here’s where you are going off topic. The OS IS FREE, both in beer and speech. The only one that charges is SUSE, but there is OpenSUSE.
It really doesn’t matter how you see other distros, they are equally suitable for professional use. Want to focus on stability? Go Debian. Security? BlackBox. Media creation? Medibuntu. There are tons to choose from, choose one that fits your needs. Want a feature in another distro? Go into the repos and get it.
“Those “FREE” distros aren’t run by publicly traded companies, they are non-profit. Hence the reason why it’s FREE”
No. The reason its free it is because the developers want it to, or bounded by a licence, Apache or GNU.
As for Microsoft’s profits. Windows is just one of their products. It’s not going to affect them much, they wouldn’t be doing it if it does.
” OEM …can’t sell new computers with the PAID version of Windows 10″
They can install Windows as long as Microsoft allows them to. How OEMs and Microsoft handle deals are quite different from the consumer side. There is no free or paid Windows. Also, The only thing that’s going to affect them is the price of their licensing fee from Microsoft.
I really don’t bother with a free is like Linux. I don’t want to waste my time with it. Too many other things to do with my life. Does Linux support ext. Thunderbolt drives?. That’s all I use.
I don’t know, since I do not have any Thunderbolt devices. However, due thunderbolt being out for a while, if there aren’t any official divers, it is very likely there will be open source drivers.
Well, free upgrades also make more sense when there’s little to no steps between OS´. I mean… Service packs never cost anything ;) I actually see Windows 10 more like a service pack. A good one!
The “converts it to Skype Message” is a bit of a curiosity for me as I’ve got Skype on my iPhone. I’d like to role play that out and know if I’ve got to disassociate my phone number from Skype now.
I’m just surprised they didn’t name it Windows X.
LOL butthurts
jajaja made my day!
Well they still have a chance. Since Windows 10 is really the ninth version of windows. The tenth version could still be X lol.
WindOS X!
Haha you are so clever!
Are you kidding about asking YouTube for help with streaming live events? Their VOD service buffers about 10% of the times that I use it, and VOD is trivial compared to live streaming.
I watched the recent YouTube Music live event and it never buffered once the stream started.
“Apple fans have anticipated the eventual merging of OS X and iOS for nearly a decade”
Um, no, actually. OS X and iOS are two different things for a reason (as Microsoft found out the hard way with Windows 8), and Apple execs have been consistently clear that there are no plans to merge them. Sounds more like you’re projecting your personal wishes as though they were facts here.
Under the hood iOS is basically OS X on ARM with a few additional power saving libraries. That’s the whole reason why iOS development is so easy.
While Windows 8 was terribly conceived, Windows 10 seems to have pulled it off. Now you get the appropriate UI based on the context of your usage. I don’t think Apple intends to create a similar mashup right now, but as ARM processors become more powerful, it’s not difficult to conceive your UI switching from iOS to OS X when docked.
They seem to be bringing aspects of OS X and iOS to the other platform, but I think Apple might eventually have to bring in a file manager, I think that’s the biggest difference that they might eventually bring in. It’s going to be interesting what the Enterprise customers via IBM want.
Apple, so far, has been catering to niche markets and consumers, but with the IBM partnership with iOS devices, I’m sure that IBM and their customer base will have their respective laundry list of features they’ll want to have added to iOS. Trust me, Apple WILL be listening to those customers if you have a potential customer that wants to buy tens of thousands of iPad/iPhones.
IOS only came out in 2007. hmm if my grade 1 maths is correct that’s 8 years. 2 short of a decade.
It seems you missed the word “nearly”
iOS runs on OSX kernel so they really aren’t the same thing and the safest assumption is that there is a plan to merge the two and that was the intention from the very start.
You meant “are the same thing” right?
Free upgrade “For The First Year” of use.
Free upgrade for those who upgrade within a year of release, not use.
that way Microsoft might have the biggest number of PC upgrading to Windows 10 (in a year)
It would be a record-breaker.
If you upgrade WITHIN the first year. Read the facts properly faggot.
Wow is this 2002? Either way. I would never use windows even if it was permanently free. You dumb ass
Run along and play with your iPad mini’s and Safari web browser kid.
You are the kid calling people faggot still. I run a success full business using nothing more than my iPad Air 2. Go play with toys. Kid.
Keep telling yourself that.
I don’t have to. My income does it for me.
I bet it does.
Ahh. Poor little Josh has a problem, doesn’t he ?
Bit of an inferiority complex Josh ? Anyone who calls someone a ‘faggot’ (apparently US slang for gay, though why that should be an insult I don’t know) obviously has a chip on his shoulder.
He probably can’t afford Mac kit. We should feel sorry for him in his homophobic little world.
Wow, I don’t even need to reply to your comment, it just made me laugh. We are talking about Macs and in you come to start talking about gay people. Something is clearly wrong with you.
Don´t worry iOS X will merge OS X on 2016. Late again.
To make this stuff as seamless as its presented will take lots of developer support, which Microsoft is sorely missing. Its a dangerous move for Microsoft. When using the Surface Pro 3, once you step into Metro its like a wasteland, because of lack of developers.
Agreed, however now that “Metro” apps can run in the windowed environment as well and the truly universal app store, things may improve.
I don’t consider it being a dangerous move, because they can only go up after Windows 8.
and OSX became OS 11 :D
Been an Apple fan my entire life. Pretty impressed by some of the things MS announced today. Looking forward to seeing the products launch and seeing how Apple will respond. Good competition = innovation and great products for consumers. Cheers MS and Apple friends.
Agreed. It seems Microsoft might be getting serious. Have to see how well the software actually works, but another participant in the software arms race is good for everybody.
I don’t care still. Rather use Mac OS
cool
I think with Windows 10 I saw for the first time, MS trying to put some culture into their product. Steve would’ve liked that.
The idea of turning a laptop into a touchscreen device sounds nice on paper, and might make sense if the laptop were the physical convertible type. But then you have that step to convert it, which doesn’t work if the laptop is on your desk. And, when a laptop is used as a desktop, or in the case of an actual desktop system, the ergonomics of a vertical touchscreen are terrible. Say goodbye to your shoulder joint. The only way it works is if, perhaps, you’re standing next to it. Reaching and leaning towards a desktop display is terrible for any lengthy task.
You don’t use it as a primary input in those cases. You use it as a primary input in the same instances you’d use a tablet on a stand comfortably. For example, when changing music tracks as it sits on your dresser in the morning.
You can also stand over it without having to sit down and control it very comfortably, as long as your screen will bend back to 150 degree angles etc. Its useful if your laptop doubles as your in-home entertainment controller.
Cortina hasn’t beaten SIRI to the desktop yet. After all, Windows 10 will be released around the same time as Mac OS X 10.11…
Want to bet Siri will be in 10.11?
Chances are good.
At this point who knows
It says exactly that in the article that Siri could be coming to Mac before Windows 10 is even release, so not sure why you even commented when you just reiterated what was in the article.
LOL I know you’re a fanboy but atleast spell CORTANA properly
Autocorrect… I fixed it…
Microsoft beat you, and it will be released before OS X 10.11. Even if Siri did beat Cortana to PC, it would be obvious they copied the idea.
It’s been revealed, therefore, it’s beaten Siri to desktop.
Not first to invent, but first to pull one’s pants down, eh?
I’m sorry but there isn’t a single thing out of Redmond in my 20+ years of computing that remotely impresses me like OSX. Windows to me, is a hodgepodge of elements crammed together with little thought. My .02.
‘butthurtism’ is huge is apple community. Why not just appreciate the truly good things MS did today as innovation is eventually good for user community
90% of the new features in Windows 10 are lifted from released versions of Mac OS X, so don’t get all upity just yet. Some examples: reading mode and reading list in Spartan, the notifications center on the right side of the screen, Microsoft’s version of “Mission Control”, etc.
Plus, the new contacts, email, calendar, and photos apps are near clones of the corresponding apps on OS X. The cloud services integration is another area that has been “inspired” by Apple’s work.
That said, Continuum looks like some pretty nuanced software. However, the name is ripped directly from Apple’s playbook.
It is encouraging, though, to see Microsoft’s new focus on usability and in delighting the customer. Hopefully, this will spur Apple on to differentiate Macs and iDevices in new ways.
Oh, gee! Another OS from MS that will require anti-virus protection.
I just got to get me some of that!!!!!
Don’t need to, best one’s in your head, the rest just aids.
Windows has come bundled with Defender since 7…. That provides all the antivirus you actually need.
I’m not really taking sides but that has been FUD for a long time now.
Yet people still buy Kaspersky.
Well people still use OSX 10.5 too. Some people fear change enough that that is it’s own justification against moving with the times.
Typical Apple fanboy thinking that Macs are impervious to viruses. More people and businesses use Windows on their systems and is a more popular OS in the business world, resulting in hackers designing viruses for Windows based machines as there is more chance of gaining valuable data. Macs are not used in large businesses so hackers dont waste their time building viruses as they will probably only get some photoshop pictures and drama coursework out of it. Nothing worth taking on a Mac…
Typical Windows fanboy rhetoric. Pretty sure he didn’t say any of that.
There are plenty of large businesses that use Macs. Pretty much all the movies that get produced are made on Macs. There is plenty of valuable information to be gotten from Macs so please just shut the hell up with that BS. The marketshare argument is exactly why Macs don’t get viruses, and why Mac users don’t need to run anti-virus software. Fact: there are no viruses for Macs in the wild. Also fact: there are hundreds of thousands of viruses for Windows.
Try thinking logically before commenting next time.
Are you serious? If you disagree with what I am saying you must be a retard or too much of an Apple fan boy to believe any logical fact against Apple. Yes, most movies are made with Macs because their software is the best for video editing and special effects. The only other places you will find Macs are in College and Journalism, places that don’t require a server to operate their business. All of the real work is made in a Windows environment – FACT: Windows owns 80% of the market share. You need to go back school kid and learn about real debates before talking crap and weakening your argument. You have lost my interest now.
Nah, I disagree because I have a brain and use it. You should find yours before commenting again, troll.
Clearly you don’t because you know nothing about technology and are just spewing out random crap you probably read on some Apple retard fan page, just like this one. Go and learn some real facts before you make any more retarded comments.
I would say, apple having iOS and OSX is more of an advantage. transformer machines are more cool than useful.
Bumblebee isn’t thrilled.
As for me, I hope they copy OS X even more, since Apple killed the Mac Pro (there’s nothing Pro if you can’t add cards) I may have no choice than to move to HP and Windows. This is making it easier.
Yeah, Apple’s decision to lock down hardware is really stabbing me in the chest. The soldered RAM on the new Mac Mini appears to be the beginning. If they continue down this road I think they’re going to move backward.
Apple will continue to enjoy the sunshine while the competition is in the gutter, but as soon as momentum shifts, Apple’s restrictive policies are going to screw them.
Except plenty of Pros are using the new Mac Pro. Being able to add cards does not make a machine “Pro”. If you don’t understand that technology evolves and you have to adapt with it, you’re not a pro.
I don’t see HoloLens a hit. Second and Third gen improvements maybe. XBOX One wasn’t a hit for me as you can’t use 360 games.
Everything needs to start somewhere. Microsoft have actually been gaining feedback which is used to make improvements and build around what customers want. Apple use the same basic ideas as they always have.
It all sounds great, but in actuality, it’ll just be more buggy software with tons of security holes. It’s because the underlying OS hasn’t really changed. It’s still an unstable piece of crap, and likely always will be until they (a) ditch it and start fresh, and (b) replace the teams building the crap, because they’re so used to building third-rate crap.
I have the Windows 10 preview installed under VirtualBox. It looks exactly like Windows 8.1 with the Metro crap turned off. Yet so many of the underlying apps have yet to receive any kind of update even 10+ years later. Apps still open in the same cascading way, using tiny windows that never realize the display size is now huge and not 640×480. Other apps refuse to remember their window size or position when closed and reopened.
Then there are the “new” features that started in 8 and are continuing in 10, like the “ribbon” bar in Explorer windows, which are busy and confusing. I guess the new thing now is to copy the Office UI. Ugh.
FWIW, I’ve noticed Skype’s UI and overall stability getting progressively worse since Microsoft took it over. I rather liked Skype; I’m going to have to find a replacement soon I suspect.
Windows 10 is a fresh start with their new CEO who actually has some great ideas. Microsoft have been collecting feedback and building around what customers want. Don’t get mad because MS have stepped up their game and brought ideas out which has taken Apple nearly a decade to come up with. But don’t worry, at least you have your mini iPads and reliable OS structures to go back to which actually have no originality in them. Run along and play with your iChat and Safari web browser, oh, and Office, which Apple had to introduce because they couldn’t introduce their own document kit. Maybe they could have called it iOffice, or iDoc. Ha.
Windows 10 is a fresh start how exactly? Has Microsoft said, “hey, we’ve started 100% fresh and aren’t using any of the old source code from previous versions of WIndows” ?? Not that I’ve read. If so, then I’ll be one of the first to scream WOO and be excited to see if it actually works.
I have NO problem with innovation and competition. They certainly come up with some good ideas; it’s a matter of how they’re executed that ends up being the problem.
Biggie for me is Windows 10 native FLAC support. In the days of DLNA and music servers iTunes is so restrictive only supporting ALAC and MP3. Graphics software copes with multiple formats why not the same with audio formats. It would not take long for apple to resolve this. Why force me to ALAC. I don’t want to transcode my entire library.
iTunes also supports AIFF and WAV (both lossless, just like FLAC) files as well. Pretty much everything can play WAV files, and anything that doesn’t certainly won’t be able to play FLAC! All the music that I’ve ripped into my iTunes is in WAV. You simply picked the wrong format if you wanted easy cross-compatibility.
It’s funny to see all the hate comments towards Microsoft from jealous Apple users. Microsoft have made huge improvements in the January update and Apple can see that, so they revert back to their tiny cult to spread hate and retain the small amount of dignity they have left. Come on Apple, “An OS spread across multiple devices, Cortana to migrate to PC platforms and a new HoloLens”, how long has it taken you to attempt this..? Lets all sit back and watch Apple’s pathetic attempt to bring themselves back in the game. Oh boy, maybe it will be iPhone 6C+ or the iPad Mini Air 2!! Come up with some original ideas Apple…
Which hole did you come out of?
Your mothers.
So, you guys are siblings!! YAY!
“Your mom” jokes? Instant loss of all credibility. Go home troll.
I don’t need credibility from some Apple moron who uses a site like ‘Cult of Mac’. Do all of you Apple users come back to this site and troll on every manufacturer who poses a threat to Apple by making false accusations? How pathetic.
Says the Windows fanboy on “Cult Of Mac” trolling Apple articles. Try again, moron.
It’s pathetic how you guys have created a little trolling site to make yourselves feel better for having a Mac when other big companies completely destroy you with the levels of market share and technology they own against you. Run along and play with your mini iPads and other unimaginative “technology” silly little boy.
As you troll on our website. Nah, nothing you say holds any meaning here. Go back to your bridge.
It’s pathetic how you guys have created a little trolling site to make yourselves feel better for having a Mac when other big companies completely destroy you with the levels of market share and technology they own against you. Run along and play with your mini iPads and other unimaginative and unreliable “technology” silly little boy.
More childish, ignorant comments from the Windows troll. Run back to your bridge/fantasy world.
Windows 8.1 was a free upgrade before.. MAVERICKS was.. 8.1 was a much of an upgrade to Windows 8.. as any OS X release.. so you cant say Apple did it first..
Apple users always claim they did it first, they just can’t hack that windows beats them every time.
i love mac, really, but Free Upgrades in OSX ?, really ?, you forgot to told: customers need apple hardware…
lol
“Windows 10 gives Microsoft a truly universal platform and we HATE to say it, but it looks great on PCs, tablets and phones.”
” HATE”
Wow, what an obvious behaviour from a website called ” cult of Mac”…
Hasn’t Gmail had swipeable email since 2012? How did this even get mentioned in the article if at least two mail apps had it before Apple? Plus the poor video feed and an MS CEO that wants people to love Windows? What? Why didn’t you just call this article
“Truly new ideas that Microsoft had and Apple didn’t”
Typical trolling by the Cunts of Mac
Continuum isn’t really a new thing on Windows, it’s just a way for MS to remind the customers who don’t know how to manage it (or of it’s existence), that it’s an actual thing they can use (and buzzword). Yada yada!