Mossberg: Windows 7 is a match for Mac OS X
Recent years have seen more than a few Windows fan boys — three sad words to make your skin crawl — impugn Walt Mossberg’s intelligence and honesty over his largely unwavering praise for Apple products and unstinting criticism of most things Microsoft. Now, it’s our turn to whine a little, but only just a little.
It’s finally happened. Mossberg has published his review of Windows 7 and it’s not pretty!
In recent years, I, like many other reviewers, have argued that Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is much better than Windows … 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… it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced.
Honestly, that’s been the consensus among users and pundits alike — Windows 7 isn’t just better than Vista; it’s actually enjoyable. And, yes, Mossberg and others consistently point out some areas where Microsoft’s latest operating system bests OS X — better previews, taskbar navigation, windows organization, etc.
Nevertheless, when he pitted a dog’s breakfast of Windows 7 laptops against a new MacBook Pro, the Mac started and restarted faster than that lot, though the “the speed gap has narrowed considerably.”
Move along, move along…
However, the rest of us shouldn’t allow ourselves to get too upset by this momentary flash of competence from Redmond — it took a major failure (Vista), getting slapped around by Linux powered netbooks and well over eight years for the Microsoft to top Windows XP let alone approach the level of polish and sophistication that is OS X. Moreover, once developers deliver OpenCL and Grand Central optimized software for the Mac, Windows 7 will begin to look a lot like its predecessors — slow, crippled, lameware hobbled by a billion and one viruses.
Moreover, Office is still a bloated mess, Zune is still a distant afterthought and even the Xbox has lost most of its luster, so don’t go believing Redmond’s fundamentally changed or improved.
Think of Windows 7 as so much window dressing, sort of like the band playing on the deck as the Titantic inexorably went down…
What’s your take?
Recent Apple evangelizing posts:
— App Store gold running dry? Maybe so, but NewsWeek’s
fuzzy math doesn’t add up
— http://fairerplatform.com/2009/09/video-iphone-3gs-is-beautiful-inside-and-out/
— Video: Sesame Street ‘goes iPod’ with D: Dance
— Video: iPhone 3GS is beautiful inside and out
Filed under: Apple Evangelizing, Mac, Software
Accuracy is important. There are not a “billion and one viruses” for Windows computers. According to one security company, there are only about one million pieces of malware for Windows computers. Other security companies move that down to 500,000 to 800,000.
The Mac has less than 5. Of course, if you include earlier Mac OS versions (9 and before), that goes up to about 20.
You are, of course, right. However, snark and its sneering cousin snarkasm can effectively be sharped, heightening the experience for the reader by employing a certain looseness with the facts, especially the wanton repetition of canards.
Let’s wait and see.
I’ve been hearing for something like 20 years how the NEXT version of Windows was going to be just as good as the Mac – if not better. Then, when it comes out, it continues to suck (although, other than Vista, not usually quite as bad as the previous version). Heck, even back in Windows 3.0 days (which was one of the worst operating systems EVER foisted on mankind, the WIndows fanboys were claiming that it was just as good.
Let’s wait until let’s say 2 months after the release and watch how sucky it really is. For example, a number of published reports say that while it is slightly faster than Vista (heck, a drunken slug is faster than Vista), it is still far behind XP on real application performance.
Reviewers praised 3.1, 95, 97, ME, XP, 2000, Vista, and any others that I’ve missed – but users continued to realize that they were miles away from Macs in usability.
I think it’s also worth pointing out that Mossberg used exactly the same phrase to describe Vista:
“After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced”
So much for his credibility on how bad Windows can be.