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Alex Kidman has used (and often broken) just about every technology going, from using an Apple II floppy drive as a doorstop, to giving an Apple rep a near heart attack by throwing a Macbook Air up into the air to see if it would fly. He likes Apple gear because they make machines with personality, operating systems that work (mostly), and because Apple doesn't believe in product activation. Well, at least not yet.

Mac Authority: Is Windows 7 eating Apple's lunch?

by Alex Kidman

Jan 14, 2009 12:12 PM | Comment Now

Alex Kidman gets down and dirty with the latest version of Windows 7, and surprisingly - doesn't immediately hate it with all the vigour of a Mac disciple.

Like a lot of people, I've been playing around with the released beta of Windows 7 for the past week or so -- journalists were given an ever-so-slightly-early glimpse into the Windows 7 world ahead of the Saturday Beta release, which was welcome if only because it meant that Microsoft's servers weren't a heap of bubbling slag when I wanted to download it.

Since the release, I've heard more than a few comments to the effect that Windows 7 is the most "Mac-like" version of Windows ever, and that Windows 7 would stop the slow but steady trickle of first-time Mac adopters dead in its tracks. But first, a few ground rules:

a) I realise that Windows 7 is a beta. Things could improve, degrade, or even radically change. Given the short timeline Microsoft's given itself to get Windows 7 out the door, I'd suggest that radical change isn't on the agenda

b) I found Vista to be really, really obtuse and painful to use. No particular issues with Windows XP, though, and I run a dual-boot XP/Vista system.

For what it's worth, at least in the early going, Windows 7 does seem like an improvement. That's hardly a stunning and comprehensive review, but at least UAC seems to make some sense this time round, file copying isn't erratically slow for no apparent reason, and I can actually natively see my own home network without lots of swearing, frustration and ultimately having to sacrifice several small mammals while rotating my chair in a counter-clockwise direction, as I often had to do with Vista. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get rid of small animal carcasses in bulk?

Having said that, I'm not head over heels in love with Windows 7 either, but that's OK too. The argument could be made that it's Windows Vista SE, rather than a whole new OS, but that wouldn't make as much money for Microsoft, now, would it?

And in case, anyone wishes to accuse me of hypocrisy, I feel much the same way (currently) about OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard", which so far has exactly zero new announced features; it's a "platform for the future", whatever the hell that actually means.

With that in mind, there's the obvious stuff that Apple, if it felt like getting into a round of whose-lawyers-have-the-largest-genitals with Microsoft, could get into. The redesigned, big-icon Taskbar is very dock-like without a shadow of a doubt, and that's perfectly acceptable in my view; it's a good way to quickly launch programs and have no doubt about which icon you're clicking on.

Similarly, the way that Windows 7 is managing some program and file previews "feels" very OS X to me, and again, I have no problem with that. Pretending that UI design takes place in a vacuum is a very limited view of the world, and I've no doubt whatsoever that clever types in Cupertino are poring over the Windows 7 Beta right now for any clever ideas they can appropriate.

In due course, I've got no doubt that I'll be running Windows 7 on one or more machines, but then, I'm a somewhat special case. Or, at least, the other journalists keep calling me "special". That's the same thing, isn't it? Anyway, I need testing machines, so Windows 7 will end up on one of them.

For the average Mac user, though, I can't see too many switchers over to Windows 7 (especially if Microsoft continues with its daft-but-possibly-lucrative Home/Premium/Business/Ultimate fifteen-versions strategy) per se.

On the other hand, if Windows 7 can "just work" -- and so far my Beta copy is decent, although I am struck by the realisation that most Windows installs degrade over time -- then Microsoft might just be able to slow the rate of OS X adoption in the general marketplace.

With two operating systems, both trading on the idea not of being revolutionary new ideas, but more stable expressions of existing models, hitting consumers this year, it's going to be fascinating to see how it all plays out.