Mac Envy

[Patch^]

Are Apple computers better than Windows PCs? The guy who led development of Microsoft's new versions of Windows apparently once thought so.

In a January 2004 e-mail to Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) chiefs Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Vista boss Jim Allchin said he would buy a Mac if he wasn't working at Microsoft.

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/12/12/apple-microsoft-mac-tech-cz_dl_1212mac.html

Thought it was interesting lol.

[psychofreak]

Yep. I know its not the same, but a friend-of-the-family works for Red Hat, and prefers macs. They make him use his horrible IBM with Red Hat (which is not such a bad OS, but its no OSX) when out, but he's a long time mac freak at home, he even still has his Lisa.

[clevin]

ms ppl use firefox too. not really that surprising anyway

[Eraserhead]

I think their head of IT Security admitted to using Firefox, while Firefox was becoming big.

The head of Vista development was probably making a comment about how it's crazy that the world's biggest software company can't stay ahead of Apple's OS development.

[mkrishnan]

Eh... his explanation in the post sounds completely reasonable. I respect anyone who pays attention and really appreciates the qualities of their competition. Too many good companies fall astray because they think they have a lock on good ideas. Even Apple always needs to pay attention to what everyone else is doing and let it filter into their process for re-examining their own direction.

The problem is when it's done at a micro-level. E.G. with Microsoft, the problem is that they focus on making their OS cuter... and Vista is rather pretty looking (if you're not a jaded OS X user). But the problem is that's it's only pretty looking to look at. It's not designed with ergonomics in mind. Whereas in contrast, even though Apple goes to great extents to optimize the look of their products, there is a balance of sorts between form and function.

[iMeowbot]

The head of Vista development was probably making a comment about how it's crazy that the world's biggest software company can't stay ahead of Apple's OS development.

It was much bigger than that. There is more context over at Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061209135113443).

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Mr. Allchin says, "I'm not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products." He goes on to say, "I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft."

[BoyBach]

ms ppl use firefox too. not really that surprising anyway


I'm sure that even Bill Gates uses Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. ;)

[psychofreak]

I'm sure that even Bill Gates uses Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. ;)

Well, the new IE features certainly aren't original...he copied them from FF, who copied them from Opera.

[clevin]

Well, the new IE features certainly aren't original...he copied them from FF, who copied them from Opera.

by "them" u mean______________?