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Simon Says

Putting one foot in the mouth is an achievement. Putting both in is world class.


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The story's all over by now. The sheer triviality of it shows how desperate the news media are for a story. (Former) Microsoft partner group manager Simon Aldous hosted a partner conference in Wembley Stadium. Aldous gave an interview to UK PC reseller organisation PCR. See how the feet enter the mouth.

PCR: Is Windows 7 really a much more agile operating system in terms of the specific uses it can be moulded to?

ALDOUS: The interesting thing is it's basically the next version of Vista. Vista was a totally redesigned operating system from XP. We've improved upon Vista in that way. We've stripped out a lot of the code, we've made a lot of it much more efficient, it sits on a smaller footprint, it operates far more quickly.

I saw an article recently that described it as 'Vista on steroids', and in some ways you can absolutely relate to that.

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. 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.

PCR: So you've taken the style of the Mac platform and built it on the more solid foundations of Vista?

ALDOUS: We've taken everything that's good about Vista, along with the core infrastructure of the operating system, and we've made it faster and slimmed down the code to make it more effective.

We've also tried to listen to what customers want in terms of a much slicker user interface and the ability to engage with it far more intuitively. That's the product that we're delivering.


Wow that's really great, Simon. Comments were not long in forthcoming.

How is Vista a more 'solid foundation' than Unix?
 - 'RattyUK'

It's pretty obvious that Microsoft use Apple and Mac OS X for inspiration, so it comes as no surprise they would admit it. But to say that Windows Vista/7 is more stable than Mac OS X-that's laughable. I never knew Windows is more stable than Unix. BTW, my current Mac was bought new in Jan 2002, and has run 24/7 since. It crashed once when I installed a Symantec product. I immediately removed it and rebooted and it's been smooth sailing since but for a hard drive crash which was no fault of the OS. That seems pretty stable to me.
 - 'arw'

Mr Aldous is also a comedian. A bad one - but he's trying!
 - 'JJIrons'

This is a ridiculous assertion that Vista is more stable than OS X. Nothing is more stable than OS X. Vista and Windows Seven are abominations by comparison. Look who has all the virus and malware problems - it's not OS X and that is not due to any supposed 'obscurity' - any hacker that successfully exploited OS X would be hailed as a superstar and you KNOW it. This could happen someday, but dream on if you think OS X is obscure. Mac notebooks are EVERYWHERE. Vista and Windows Seven are just lame.
 - 'Brian'


Windows lovers also had their say.

Good luck wiht your single hardware config MORANS hahahahaha
 - 'xXheadshotXx'


But then Redmond got wind of the interview and tried to neutralise it.

In an interview with PCR at the Microsoft Partner Network event last month, Simon Aldous, Microsoft Partner Group Manager, made reference to creating a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics with Windows 7. Simon was incorrect in describing Windows 7 in this way and subsequent headlines claiming the Mac OS inspired Windows 7 are totally inaccurate.

Over nine out of ten computer users choose Windows. Over the years, hundreds of millions of Windows users have given us great feedback and we have derived great insight about User Interface (UI) design. The Windows 7 UI was designed to make computers simpler to use and to take advantage of new and innovative technologies Microsoft is bringing to market. One example of this is the multi-touch support in Windows 7, which is not supported by the Mac OS.


Wow. But there's so many other things not supported by 'the Mac OS'.

Other:W32/False Positive, Trackware:W32/Trackware, Spyware:W32/Spyware, Toolbar:W32/Toolbar, SMS-Worm:W32/SMS-Worm, Monitoring-Tool:W32/Monitoring-Tool, Macro:W32/Macro, Intended:W32/Intended, Hoax:W32/Hoax, HackTool:W32/HackTool, Dialer:W32/Dialer, Bluetooth-Worm:W32/Bluetooth-Worm, IRC-Worm:W32/IRC-Worm, P2P-Worm:W32/P2P-Worm, Email-Worm:W32/Email-Worm, Net-Worm:W32/Net-Worm, Adware:W32/Adware, Trojan:W32/Trojan, Trojan-Proxy:W32/Trojan-Proxy, Trojan-Downloader:W32/Trojan-Downloader, Trojan-PSW:W32/Trojan-PSW, Trojan-Spy:W32/Trojan-Spy, Trojan:W32/Swisyn.CAV, Virus:W32/Sality.AA, Trojan:W32/Scar.A, Backdoor:W32/SdBot.CNG, Trojan:W32/Chifrax, Other:W32/Generic, Exploit:W32/Exploit, Email-Worm:W32/Brontok.N, Net-Worm:W32/Brontok.B, Adware:W32/CnsMin, Exploit:JS/Pdfka.TI, Backdoor:W32/Hupigon, Trojan:W32/Inject, Trojan-Dropper:W32/Agent.FBB, Rogue:W32/Rogue antispyware, Email-Worm:W32/Lovelorn, Backdoor:W32/IRCBot.ET, Trojan:W32/Agent, Virus:W32/Alman.A, Virus:W32/Alman.B, Rogue:W32/SpyGuard, Exploit:JS/Pidief, Worm:W32/Tater.C, Trojan:W32/LongLeeb.A, Adware:W32/Zwangi, Trojan-Downloader:W32/Bredolab, Worm:W32/Generic, Trojan:W32/Generic.

To name a few. Windows is pretty original. Make no mistake about it.

I'm a PC and Windows 7 was Apple's idea.
 - Simon Aldous
I'm a PC and Windows botnets were my idea.
 - Annette Olsen, Brighton
I'm a PC and crashes and hangs were my idea.
 - Ian Daughtry, Blackpool
I'm a PC and corrupting open standards was my idea.
 - Brad Silverberg
I'm a PC and making extra cash with CP-B was my idea.
 - Lauren De Long, San Fernando Valley
I'm a PC and doing the monkey on crack dance was my idea.
  Steve Ballmer
I'm a PC and saturating the Internet tubes with spam was my idea.
 - Bill Gates

See Also
PCR: Microsoft's new vision
PCR: Windows 7 was inspired by Apple OS
PCR: Microsoft denies Windows 7 was inspired by Apple

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