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Microsoft official says Windows 7 design influenced by Mac OS X
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Windows 7's looks were inspired by Mac OS X.
Well this news won’t be shocking if you have used Windows 7 before, but the fact that it came from the mouth of a person working for Microsoft is quite surprising.
After the disappointments of Windows Vista, Microsoft apparently looked at Mac’s OS X for inspiration for a new look and feel. Simon Aldous, who is the partner group manager for Microsoft, explained to PCR that the overall graphical style of Windows 7 was influenced by OS X.
Pretty big admission from the Microsoft camp.
He also went on to say this:
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.
Of course, Aldous couldn’t resist bashing Apple just a little bit after admitting that:
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.
If you have used both, and in a point also illustrated by Apple Insider, the most glaring similarity in the aesthetics department is that the taskbar for Windows 7 feels much like the docking system used by OS X.
So, again, not surprising that the comparison was made (it had been earlier by the Wall Street Journal) but that an exec from Microsoft said so is, well, amazing to say the least.
The hating of course wasn’t.
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