Msft officially admits w7 design inspired in OSx
When it looked to redesign its dominant operating system after the struggles of Windows Vista, Microsoft reportedly turned to Apple's Mac OS X for the "look and feel" of Windows 7.
Simon Aldous, partner group manager with Microsoft, told PCR that the graphical style of Windows 7 -- which he calls "Vista on steroids" -- was inspired by the look of Apple's Mac OS X. The new Windows operating system launched in October.
"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," Aldous said. "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."
One of the more obvious similarities between Windows 7 and Mac OS X is the new taskbar. By default, the Windows 7 taskbar acts much like the dock that has been in OS X, combining program applications for both launching and accessing open windows, with only one icon per running application. And like Expose with the OS X dock, Windows 7 allows users to glimpse open windows on the taskbar before selecting them with Aero Peek.
The similarities between Windows 7 and Apple's latest operating system upgrade, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, were noted by The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg in his review of the Microsoft software. He said he believes that the Mac OS is still the superior operating system, but only slightly.
Snow Leopard had a head-start on Windows 7, launching in late August to positive reviews that praised the software's performance improvements and bargain $29 price. Consumers also responded positively to Mac OS X 10.6, with initial sales doubling that of its predecessor, Leopard, and coming in four times higher than Tiger.
For more comparing and contrasting Windows 7 with Snow Leopard, read the AppleInsider Windows 7 vs. Mac OS X Snow Leopard series.
AppleInsider | Microsoft official admits Windows 7 design inspired by Mac OS X
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Mossberg: Windows 7 narrows the gap with Apple's Mac OS X
Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal has given Microsoft's Windows 7 a glowing review, noting that Microsoft's latest operating system is still behind Apple's Mac OS X, but not by much.
A known Apple advocate, Mossberg's positive take on Windows 7 is a big change from Windows XP and Vista, both of which the columnist felt were vastly inferior to Mac OS X.
"In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows," he said. "That’s no longer true. I still give the Mac OS a slight edge because it has a much easier and cheaper upgrade path; more built-in software programs; and far less vulnerability to viruses and other malicious software, which are overwhelmingly built to run on Windows."
He continued: "Now, however, it’s much more of a toss-up between the two rivals. Windows 7 beats the Mac OS in some areas, such as better previews and navigation right from the taskbar, easier organization of open windows on the desktop and touch-screen capabilities. So Apple will have to scramble now that the gift of a flawed Vista has been replaced with a reliable, elegant version of Windows."
Windows 7 is set to debut on Oct. 22. A Home Premium upgrade will cost $120 ($200 standalone); Professional upgrade will cost $200 ($300 standalone); and Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade will run $220 ($320 standalone).
It's launch follows the debut of Apple's latest operating system, which was released at the end of August. Mossberg said both offerings from the rival companies are more evolutionary than revolutionary.
In his August review of Snow Leopard, Apple's latest operating system upgrade, Mossberg said the upgrade is a decent improvement, but not a "must-have upgrade." He said the $29 product is priced accordingly, because Mac OS X 10.6 is not a "typical Apple lust-provoking product."
In the Windows 7 review, Mossberg drew many parallels between Windows 7 and Snow Leopard. He said the new taskbar is similar to the Mac OS X dock, but improves on the concept in some ways -- namely Aero Peek, which he said is "more natural and versatile" than Snow Leopard's Dock Expose. The Aero Peek feature allows users to mouse over an open window in the preview screen, which makes all other windows on the desktop transparent.
He also praised the new OS for being faster than Windows Vista, nagging users for security concerns less than its predecessor, and offering a wide range of software compatibility.
But there are a few key areas where Windows 7 falls behind Snow Leopard, Mossberg said. For one, Microsoft's OS "still isn't quite as natural" as it is on Mac, though it's an improvement from Vista.
And though Windows 7 is faster, his MacBook Pro still started and restarted faster than most of the PCs he tested. "But the speed gap has narrowed considerably," he said.
AppleInsider | Mossberg: Windows 7 narrows the gap with Apple's Mac OS X
Apple's Snow Leopard bests Windows 7 in speed tests
By
Sam Oliver
Published: 08:30 AM EST
When both Mac OS X 10.6 and Windows 7 were tested on a MacBook Pro, Apple's new operating system clearly beat Microsoft in terms of speed, a new test has shown.
Both operating systems
were tested on a 2008 MacBook Pro machine by
CNet, and each was given its own, separate, clean hard drive. The 64-bit version of each OS was included in the test, which measured a variety of speed and performance related tasks. Snow Leopard was given
true, full 64-bit support with most of its native applications taking full advantage of modern processors.
Each OS had the same software installed: iTunes 9, QuickTime, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Cinebench R10. In the test, Snow Leopard booted and shut down significantly faster than Windows 7.
"In time-based tests, Snow Leopard consistently outdid Windows 7," the study found. "It took only 36.4 seconds to boot up, while Windows took 42.7 seconds. In a shutdown test, Snow Leopard took only 6.6 seconds, while Windows needed twice the amount of time: 12.6 seconds. Both computers, however, took just about 1 second to return from sleeping. For this reason, I didn't actually test the wake-up time as it was too short in both operating systems to produce meaningful numbers or even allow me to measure the difference."
The Mac software also unsurprisingly ran Apple's own native applications more efficiently. Converting a movie from M4 format to iPod in Quicktime X on Snow Leopard took 444.3 seconds, while Windows 7, with QuickTime 7 (the latest version available) took 723 seconds. Similarly, converting 17 songs in iTunes from MP3 to AAC took 149.9 seconds in Snow Leopard, while Windows 7 required 162 seconds.
The test also found that Mac OS X 10.6 had better battery life on the MacBook Pro than Windows 7. The 2008 model has a removable battery. But author Dong Ngo said he believes
Boot Camp drivers were mostly responsible for the Windows 7 battery life, as many PC laptops fared much better than the 77 minutes the Microsoft OS fared.
One area where Windows 7 was able to easily trump Snow Leopard was in graphics performance. The system's 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card helped the system score much better in the latest version of Windows, earning a 5,777 3D rendering score in Cinebench R10. Snow Leopard scored 5,437.
In testing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Windows 7 again came out on top, with an average 26.3 frames per second performance, compared to 21.2 frames per second within Snow Leopard.
Ngo's conclusion: Unless you are a gamer, get a Mac.
"If you can get by with just software designed by Apple and if money is not a big issue, you will be happy with a Mac," he said. "Examples of these software choices are iTunes, iLife, QuickTime, Safari, iChat, and so on (and you probably won't need much more than those for daily entertainment and communication needs). Finally, if money is not an issue--and it definitely is for most of us--you should get a Mac anyway. It's the only platform, for now, that can run both Windows and OS X."
http://www.appleinsider.com/article...w_leopard_bests_windows_7_in_speed_tests.html
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... completamente injusto seria o termo mais correcto...)
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