Windows 7 borrowed from the Mac?
A small ruckus broke out when Simon Aldous, partner group manager at Microsoft, acknowledged that the design of Windows 7 had drawn on some inspiration from the Mac. In an interview at PCR, Aldous said:
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.
Redmond was not pleased. Aldous was quickly slapped down by a Microsoft repudiation of his remarks. Brandon LeBlanc, a company spokesman wrote:
An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was “borrowed” from Mac OS X. Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7. I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.
I admire Aldous’s candor, but I think his career path at Microsoft just took a new direction.
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