sounds like the virtual desktops was a linux invention...but in facts I think I had those back in days in college solaris terminals when linux virtual desktops was nowhere to be found.
It's an industry of copying each other and improve on it....

I'm surprised the Apple fanboys aren't crawling all over this article yet, they usually seem willing to sell their own mother just to make it seem their system is superior and doesn't "steal" any ideas.

fact is, all OS'es lend ideas from each other, it'll always be this way, let's not forget Xerox was testing graphical user interfaces long before Apple announced their first graphical interface.

Give it time...

You forgot how to mention that it's good for us users and how if your OS(es) of choice didn't do that, it would suck in very short order.

Actually though never confirmed there have been plenty of rumors and former Apple employees that state Apple wasn't even thinking of a GUI OS until they saw a demo of the Xerox GUI. Some even say they were able to get their hands on the source. Who knows if all this is true but many Apple fanboys like to forget Xerox invented the GUI first.

I hope M$ doesn't drop the ball on all this. Windows 7 is starting to sound like a nice OS. If it does turn out to be nice it will just confirm they should have just delayed Vista instead of rushing out the door.

I'm an Apple Fanboy and I won't give into thou, the reason Apple cannot copy these things is because they don't fit into the refined OS X environment, and if we really want them then, we'll just run BootCamp, sucka!

Hear hear! ;)

1. Actually don't MacBooks have multi-touch trackpads? And it's multi-touch without having people smudge up the screen or hold their arms in the air.

2. Windows 7 taskbar? Are you kidding me? They are copying the OS X dock! Apple has single-app exposé, live thumbnails, and even pop-out folders. Give it a rest, Apple doesn't need to copy anything about that.

3. In what way does iTunes not let you have multiple libraries for your music?

4. Um, heard of Apple TV? And they are planning to add DVR features, btw. "Refusing". Hmph.

5. Note the keywords "if a vendor supports this feature". Vendors can put whatever information they want into devices. At least OS X users have been enjoying having connected devices show up on the desktop for years (rather than having to check My Computer).

And PS. Apple has been tight-lipped on Snow Leopard. I wish you guys would hold off on your comparisons until there's enough information.

PPS. I hope you'll be making your "Top 5 Mac OS X features Microsoft should copy" article soon. There are so many things like Quick Look, Time Machine, and Spaces which would make using Windows SO much easier.

PPPS. JohnnyricoMC: Happy yet? XD

PPPPS. I'm no fanboy. I use Vista, XP, OS X, AND Linux. And I know what they all offer.

very happy indeed, once again I see morons like webterractive who just can't give up thinking they're superior because they have very little liberty in how they configure their hardware, whereas linux and windows PC users have such a wide range of superior hardware options at a lower price.

there's no reason to be proud you get very little true configuration freedom just for a fancy OS that represents such a minority virus makers don't even want to bother writing viruses.
the no viruses excuse is can be brought down to one simple thing: mac os is such a vast minority they're just no interesting target to virus makers.

Apple MS and the linux community have been copying each other throughout history, accept it and move on.


PS: JJ, time machine is just incremental back-ups, something that has existed for ages for PC users, just not from Microsoft itself. Apple shouldn't take so much pride in recently integrating something that has been around for ages, they just put a silly name on it to fool simpletons.

Look, there is nothing wrong with copying an idea and then improving on it, this is what should be done.
All this apple or Ms stole ideas is pointless. If apple and ms would look at each others OS and admit their mistakes we would have a better OS to day.

Why do u guys always argue about one firm copying that and that? It is all about inspiration, the firms inspire each other, as to improve their products. They take a good idea and alter and improving it, which is how we human beings thinks. How often do u see a totally original movie? Yep, not often. It is the same in everything: sport, technology, games, movies, music etc. Human beings GETS new ideas by being inspired by others! Such is the evolution of humans.

Nah, Mac fanboys aren't that bad. They defend their niche but they keep to themselves for the most part.
Linux faboys on the other hand, best known for their blatant lies and defiant, losing arguments, are the ones that get really annoying most of the time.

no one will use multi touch. And that's the only neat feature that 7 has. This is going to suck. Some additions barely able to be called "features" and they are going to grab headlines, yet there is going to be no reason to move from XP to 7. Sure, if you are on Vista, I would expect it to be hard for MS to make 7 worse than Vista. So that might be an upgrade path. But from XP? There is ZERO reason.

Not only were they on Solaris (and sun's Open Win), but they were available on either 3.1 or 95 (albeit through third party utilities).

Spoken like someone who either hasn't used vista since RTM or has an incredibily old (or cheap) machine.

I've used vista on hardware as old as an Athlon 64 3000 with 2GB (haven't had a machine with less since 2005) and an old x800 card. No problems.

But hey, if you're good with XP, then stick with it. As long as you don't intend to get newer apps, it should be good forever. Heck, if you're willing to use Old apps, Dos is still a viable OS.

Just think playing a Real Time Strategy (Supreme Commander, Command & Conquer / Red Alert, Age of Empires, etc) on a multitouch monitor. And try drawing a circle on Paint with the mouse, with a touchpad and with a multitouch monitor. Now try to draw anything nice on Coreldraw with a mouse.

Now compare Nokia/Samsung/Sony/Motorola's mobile phone user interface to iPhone's.

Way to go multitouch!

While there may be some innovations, they are few. From what I've read so far about Win7, they copied more features from OS X than they innovated. And some of the new things may be nothing more than more bloat from MS.

If MS wants to retain the business market, they better focus on more stability and less bloat. They are in danger of losing the whole enchilada if W7 is not embraced by the business community. I have 6,000 users still locked into WinXP at this moment and would love for Win7 to work, but that remains to be seen. I use OS X at home.

Visit my blog for recent posts on OS X, iPhone and GTD. John

so you are implying a Linux/Mac user can not mount ANY location inside any other folder they want?
heck, this has been there in *nix for eons, and now you try to sell us that chant.
HD filled up? create a new empty folder in your music folder and mount another disk/folder located in another drive/network machine. presto!

I work with computers, both trouble shooting and building them, so I know a few things about Windows. Windows has a long line of adding nifty features but ignoring major bugs. I would love to see Microsoft come out with an OS that was simple, easy and, had the bugs from previous versions worked out. IE is a good example. The ActiveX issue is something you would think they could fix, but alas, they have not. Come on Microsoft, get with it.

Sean

See the new MacBook multi-touch trackpads:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/features.html

the new HPs pushing the touch features, nothing but smudges on the glossy, glaring screen. you can put up with a few but overall, it would get annoying after a short time. if people have to constantly clean the screens, then it's not going to fly. the demos I saw of w7 at PDC were buggy at best.

I work IT & I have nothing but OS X at home, because I get enough M$ BS at work!

I agree with most of the points, but touchscreen? Really, who needs that. Try to figure how difficult it would be to 'double-touch' a file in a folders list. The GUI isn't made for that and thanks to my keybord and mouse it hasn't.

Speaking of Windows Media Center: You should also take a look on the DRM which caused so much trouble in Vista - and still is an issue in Win7.

The only real (and old) feature from Windows I still miss when I work on a Mac is cut and paste in the Finder. I never understood why Apple still hasn't integrated that simple and useful command.

All in all I agree with most comments that integrating good features (both ways) is a allways win situation for the User (Mac or Win).

I agree with most of the points, but touchscreen? Really, who needs that. Try to figure how difficult it would be to 'double-touch' a file in a folders list. The GUI isn't made for that and thanks to my keybord and mouse it hasn't.

Speaking of Windows Media Center: You should also take a look on the DRM which caused so much trouble in Vista - and still is an issue in Win7.

The only real (and old) feature from Windows I still miss when I work on a Mac is cut and paste in the Finder. I never understood why Apple still hasn't integrated that simple and useful command.

All in all I agree with most comments that integrating good features (both ways) is a allways win situation for the User (Mac or Win).

Libraries... Similar to an alias in OSX.

Front Row... Ok its not the greatest in the world, but you dont have to buy a special, more expensive version of OSX to get it, like you do with Windows Media Center. WMC is only available in certain versions. You could just as easily stick with a cross platform alternative like.. XBMC/Plex. Especially with the AEON skin, is beautiful compared to WMC.

Device Stage... I'll give you, sounds cool.

Task bar... I'd have to see it first. Microsoft hyped up Flip 3D in Vista. Wanna know how many times I've used it? Once, after the first install, wow neat, moving on here...

Last but not least.. Multi touch..
Ok, first off, Apple already has this implemented with its touch pad, and on the iphone. Windows may be the first to do it on the monitor, but who cares. I dont know about you people, but I dont want a computer I have to touch the screen all the time to use. Finger prints on my iphone drive me nuts. It would be even worse on a monitor. Another thing, I've tried using some of these multi touch monitors.. They aren't precise for anything. Its not like you can accurately draw anything. They are basically another ghee whiz feature and thats it. Wont catch on, waste of time. Period.

I am not sure whose computer you have been researching on but Tiger supported almost everything you have mentioned. And you can bet that whatever comes next will blow MS away as well. The fact of the situation is that Apple slinks away silently to come up with the OS's and gadgets of tomorrow, while MS starts this early advertising blitz on a truly untested technology. Now, while MS is distracting us with a machine that they have gotten to run the OS well, and showing us all the bells and whistles and wanting us to be impressed with what they have, while Apple Corp. is quietly tucked away preparing to genuinely release progress. And not to shortchange the Open Source OS's, but by the way I"ve never had close to the problems with Linux that I can remember. Say what you will, Microsoft could release the absolute top of the line OS in 2009 and I will still prefer to spend the money for 2 or even 3 of those machines in order to get one Apple that acts like a computer should act, and does what it is told.

Why do people have to whine when MS adds something new to the OS, like multi-touch, but yet would whine that MS didn't included it? Its like people don't know what they want at all. People whine about bloat, but yet want every thing in the world in the OS.

Its going to get to a point where we are going to run out of ideas for something new and innovative. Just about everything has already been thought of by someone but all anyone does now is just make it better or more appealing. Look at how games are. Nothing really new. Just the same crap in a different wrapper. The movie industry is same way.

Who really cares what Apple does and doesn't do. So what if Apple is gaining a little market share while MS is losing a little. What you need to realize is that a 90% market share 15 years ago is like a market share of probably 10% today. MS is still growing with the install base like Apple is.

On a side note, why do people always have to bash something before its even out? So what if MS has a track record of under delivering? It does not mean MS can't deliver something great. You don't see me ever bashing MAC (besides hardware price). The world has turned into a giant bash fest. Ready to exploit on every weakness but hardly ever acknowledge the good. Just take MS. Most people forget that MS connects more than a billion people in the world today. What would the world be like if MS wasn't around? Probably nothing like it is. That is enough of my rant for now.

And if I hear another person say they need to scrap Windows and start fresh, I am going to slap you. You think Vista was bad, try a whole new OS. It would be like going to MAC or Linux. And if you really want to know, MS is working on a non Windows OS named Midori that is being built from scratch.

yet again you have people defending mac os to a pathetic extent, constantly claiming Apple introduced new crap, while it has existed for so long already in either open source community or in industrial use.

as for people claiming Apple has already implemented multitouch in touchpads: boo hoo, the synaptic touchpads can be set to support finger gestures like that too with a registry setting, so no score there.

seriously, if you want to be taken serious, stop whining over every little thing Microsoft does and start looking at Apple's own shortcomings, like how they try to silence any negative publicity and problem reports on their user forums.

Why must you people even quarrel on this, mac users will remain mac users, same for windows ,all these posts do is pit them against each other. (1) Windows 7 is supposed to make up for Vista's short comings, give MS a chance to finish it before you bash it.(2) Start eyeing Apple more, if Apple makes a blunder you guys treat it like its a 5 yr old and forive it, yet if MS does the same thing you want to rip it apart!(3)If you want to see rididculous, MacOS snowleopard is supposed to be capable of using 16TB of RAM, which one of you asses is gonna buy the first TB.(4) I am a Windows user but I don't flaunt "My OS is better than yours",why? Cuz Windows does what Windows does best, and MacOS does what MacOS does best, I dont care as long as my OS gets what I want done.

How wrote this article? This is full of non-sense as the author does not seem to understand how Mac OS X works.

- The multi-touch

I don't see the point here, Apple is already supporting multitouch on its laptops and what Windows 7 is offering is simply a ripp off of what Apple has been doing on its iPhone and laptops. What Apple should exactly take from Microsoft here? And anyway i don't believe that touching the screen of a computer is the way to go for the generalization of multitouch technologies on desktop computers or laptops. I mean, it works perfectly for a phone but come on, not for big screens where anyway the whole workflow is not designed to use multitouch on the screen neither the screen is designed to get all those ugly finger prints that you have to live with when using your computer with the keyboard and mouse. That just does not work, something better has to be invented, and that won't come from Microsoft which is here only playing catch up but does not really know where it should go with multitouch. And Apple gets it right i think for the time being, the set of operations that you can do with touching the screen is rather limited on a normal computer with today typical workflows and applications (which are designed to be used with a keyboard and mouses), so why to ask users to do them on the screen when much of the time they do not want to touch their screens. That's why Apple decided to implement multitouch on its laptop's trackpads, it makes much more sense than to mess around with touching the screen for very basic operations.

- Windows 7 task bar

The task bar has always been flawed and windows 7 won't change that besides making it even more clutered. I don't see what Apple can take form that, this is real poor design. I mean you have to be kidding me by saying that it is better than the dock. It is not as its not even intended to be a a dock besides trying to copy the general icon based design. The dock does not need this extra thumbnails because you already see directly from looking at the dock what the windows are for and from and which applications they belong to. Th dock is far better because it requires less user action to have a clue on what applications are opened, and how many windows are opened. It also serve as a effective document manager which the task bar does not. Same thing for the full-sized screenshot of a window, how can this be better than Exposé, no way. You still need to go through each applications on the task bar to get the view which means more effort from the user. Exposé is a way more effective windows management as it provides to view in a second all open windows or only the windows of a given app or literally to clean up the desktop from all windows. This is far more powerful and instantaneous than to be asked to go though the task bar applications icon to view the opened windows. The task bar is anyway not window manager as Exposé is, because Exposé works for all apps, i mean, while working in an app, you get direct access to Exposé, which is not the case with the task bar because you have to move on your cursor to the task bar to view or switch to another hidden window. So get you fact right, no way that this new task bar is better than the dock Exposé, no way...

- Libraries
What the deal, Libraries are nothing than what Smart Folders in Leopard can already do.

- Play To and Windows Media Center

Again what the deal, The Mac has been to able to stream videos, musics or photos to an network-enabled media player or other computers for years, what a hell you are talking about? I can stream right away my music to play on my stereo system even though it does not have any network capability. The only thing that i need to do is to connect it to my Airport Express and my music gets streamed over the air to my stereo for playing. The same thing happens if i want to stream my music on the mac in my room to the mac in the living room. The same can be done for movies computer to computer or computer to TV using an AppleTV. You really fail to recognize that Mac OS X and iTunes have been providing these features for years, come on....

Concerning FrontRow and Media player, even though that's right that FrontRow still lacks interned TV, or any recording capability, that's about it. Front Row is still a better, easy to use media environment that tights very well with iTunes store, which happens to be the most popular and biggest online media store. Windows media is still vastly clutered and painful to use.

- Device Stage
I don't think that it is a so useful feature, it is designed more to bring more complexity to the user than anything else. This is typically the sort of feature that Apple will never do like this but better try on the other hand to reduce the complexity which device stage does not at all.

Well, you get the idea, all your suggestions are flawed, because first you fail to understand that some of the features that you talked about are already available on Mac but more importantly your suggestions are flawed because you fail to understand good design (saying that the new task bar is better than Exposé is a total non-sense). I don't say that those features are not good for windows, they maybe are to make windows more usable, but they are not for a system like Mac OS X, which offer already well better features for the end-user productivity.

An don't call me troll you windows fan boys idiots, saying the fact right is not trolling, and i know the truth scares you so much, right?

if you're so confident you're superior because you use an overpriced system with an OS made for simpletons, then shut up and leave everyone else alone, you ARE trolling when you are calling people idiots and all that.
the typical arrogance of the eternal underdog "we use the superior system, but over 90% of the market doesn't use it because it's too darn expensive for what it gives and doesn't run most applications on its proprietary preloaded OS.

1. Multi touch? I guess it's only most usefull for devices with touch screen right?

2. Taskbar? My linux with GNOME always give me taskbar, unless you switch your apps all the time, it will be very usefull. When will your work done if you switch all the time?

3. Library? My music player already do that nicely. Why should the OS handle it? Maybe it need another workload to make it slower?

4. PlayTo / JumpTo? Why don't just send the files? Btw in my OS, I can start a service and it serve all multimedia files that I provide, and people can choose which one they like to play. Isn't it more flexible?

5. Device Stage? Yeah.. Windows Explorer handles all. One crash and all lost.

I guess Microsoft should publish they Windows 8 feature plan, it might be more interesting or boring.

I don't guess any of those ideas (except the multi-touch interface) are that original or outstanding to be considered by Apple. Windows 7 would be another failure as same as its predecessor (Vista).

reading this was a waste of my time... and os x already has some of these features.

one thing that microsoft should copy is making their product easier to use... a few weeks ago i purchased a linksys wireless router. we have two macs, and two windows vista computers in our household. the macs instantly detected the network and were surfing the internet. the vista computers on the other hand, could see the network and connect, but are still unable to actually get through to an internet page. two weeks later and i still have yet to figure out how to connect them. very sad.

When snow leopard comes out next year, the added performance from using the graphics processor for regular computing, is going to blow the doors off windows systems.

They've only ever been good at taking other people's ideas and refining them. They didn't invent the PC, hobbists had been making them for years. They didn't invent the GUI, the mouse, the mp3 player, the media player, or the smartphone either. If windows 7 has anything good, of course Apple will copy it. Its what they have always done, find some red-headed child of technology and refine it into the next supermodel. Sure that's impressive, but they shouldn't be treated as if they created the life itself, as the Apple cultists love to proclaim.

You should obviously read a little about computer history. Apple has never stolen code (MS has, with QuickTime) and has rarely (not always, of course Apple is not perfect!) had the incredibly immoral behaviour that MS had over the past years, the last example being the undermining of the previously respected ISO… Way to go MSFT!
Pure ignorants who know nothing about computer history, nothing about MS's and Apple's history - and will never try to read anything about it because they relish on their blatant ignorance as if it were their mediocre superiority -, ignorants who never had a Mac in their hands (see the absolute non-sense of the “simpleton” argument: MacOS IS a Unix, duh!) always accuse those who, day by day have to suffer the MS crap at work but enjoy the tranquility of the Mac at home - thus ACTULALLY know from close both universes -, of being "fans", "zealots", "extremists", or even "bigots"! This is a laugh!!!

I'm not an apple fanboy, but rather a steve jobs fanboy and I think many other "Apple Fanboys" are really "Jobs Fanboys".

Now I've cleared that up, yes, it was Xerox who first came up with the GUI interface, but Apple did not "steal" this technology. Apple paid $1 million in pre-IPO stocks to Xerox to look at their Alto computer. So Xerox actually benefited from apple releasing the Macintosh. However, I don't see Microsoft extending this same courtesy to Apple for stealing the dock idea.

Again, yes, Apple didn't come up with the Dock, but Steve Jobs, current CEO of Apple, was responsible for the development of the dock. Having said that, I do like the live thumbnails in Windows 7. I hope apple adopts this or develops something even more easier to use.

As for multi-touch on the computer screen, I'm a little skeptical to the practical use of this. I much prefer to use the three finger swipe on my mousepad to back a page, then draw a 'b' on the screen with my fingers. When apple introduces a new technology, it usually has a practical application (like multitouch on the mousepad makes navigation easier). I'm not sure what practical use multitouch on the screen will have, but i'm ready to be surprise.

As for libraries, I think apple already has that with alias and active "search folders". But either way, i don't have the problem you described about having multiple hard disk, but I guess for people who do have that problem, libraries might come in handy.

As for Media Centre, having a look at some screen shots, it does seem pretty cool, but I hardly use Front Row as it is and I'm not sure I know too many people who would find media centre or front row useful.

Lastly, device stage seems pretty cool and I hope Apple introduces something similar. But at the moment, the apple way of accessing devices seems pretty simple, but the windows 7 solution could be better.

Also, I must agree with "therooster" that apple is probably better at implementing than actually inventing new feature.

these "features" mac OS X already has.
multi touch?
all new laptops have this feature already
apple didnt even need to redesign an entire os to "integrate" this old feature
as for a live preview?
why not just use expose?
libraries is essentially not as wild as you would think
its like having a normal bandaid, and then a bandaid that has clowns.
it doesn't help that much.
Media Center was originally a knock off of FrontRow and copies qualities of FrontRow in the first place. FrontRow you can hook up AppleTV at least.
Lastly device stage? Mac OS X you just plug and play. it's that simple.

well the feature i liked most is the aero peek. when you hover the taskbar you see all the windows trasparent except the one you`re hoving, far better than flip 3D and exposé IMO.

So, YAZombie, do you mean to say that Apple Inc, previously Apple Computer Inc, has never stolen/copied ANYTHING from another vendor? If you knew anything about the history of computers, you would know first that Steve Jobs said in an interview, "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

He was referring to the Xerox PARC's (Palo Alto Research Center) ALTO computer, the first GUI ever. Period. Jobs went in and practically "stole" the idea from Xerox. Xerox could have OWNED the entire computer industry.

It's enjoyable to watch the industry chase after features, without thinking through the fundamental success that Apple has brought to the IT industry - User experience. Whether it's their phone, laptop, desktop, software, OS - they all work seemlessly, easily and intuitively. Even advanced features such as time machine is a no brainer to use.... when I used windows, when did I ever bother trying to figure out out backup worked, or briefcase? Even if windows has the features, they have insured that they are relegated to the 'what does that do?' heap of useless icons somewhere in the start menu.

Sorry guys, OSX makes things just work. It's not a race to who has the most gizmos.

YAZombie said apple never stole code. not ideas.

OSX is fun to use, good nice UI and easy to navigate and unbelievably stable.
when i sold my leopard running macbook and switched back to vista I regret it soo much especially with the lag from the CS4 suite.

After using the public beta of win7 im so relieved.
easier navigation, ALOT more stable performance and the ability to run a wider range of softwares

osx doesnt just plug and play, they either have the drivers installed already or u have to manually install the drivers in order for the device to work. printers are a good example of drivers that osx have preinstalled for u. unfortunately not all of those drivers are compatible. though i like the

It's strange how Windows users have a lot of Steve Ballmer in them, agressive and arrogant. Mac users are very defensive, try to see the best in others guys.

I just want my computer to do what I want. The main thing wrong with Vista is the bloody new explorer, they still haven't got it right with Windows 7 either. Give me good keyboard navigation! I don't want to have to use a mouse for everything.

I sure hope windows 7 has a revamped file explorer that remembers my settings for all folders (List god damnd it), and allows me to tab to the address bar and `type' a location.

Search seems to have gotten worse with Windows 7, something simple as typing "computer" only finds "Computer Management", there's GOT to be a keyboard friendly way of opening a file management tool right?

Isn't libraries the same thing as a symbolic link in OSX? Which I can do anywhere I like, right?

I got nothing agains Microsoft (except for that dimwith Ballmer who I'd kill if I saw on the street), Windows 7 looks promising, but guys, it still doesn't make my work life more productive, OSX does seem to do that, it's an old friend that helps me through my day.

it's just the next copy cat...
who microsoft trying to fool? meybe themselves.
it's a shame that a company with such a huge budgets does simple copying from the competitor.
what it says? microsoft love os x! just port os x to your system.
WHAT A SHAME!!!

Really a great OS.

Currently we are going to have to add Cyberlink or other 3rd party software for Blu-Ray playback support in Win7. If Media Center is suppose to be great it would do so out of the box.

BTW Cyberlink & Nero both work fine with Beta 1 for this purpose, but why do we really need an extra $100 for Blu-Ray playback with Ultimate???

Are you joking or what? How log does it take to import music pictures etc. to windows media center? 4 hours for me (1TB). You are comparing 3 years old technologi to something that will came 2010?

(First I want to note I am using Windows 7 (7100))

I didn't care for Vista's Windows Explorer, although I liked it better than XP. Windows 7 however is a much better improvement. However, your comment about not liking the fact that it doesn't feature keyboard navigation made me lol.

Are you really that retarded that using a mouse is too "hard" for you?

I know you didn't say that exactly, but that's how your post comes across. Your only issue with it is you have to use a mouse to navigate, rather than your keyboard.

Also search is fine, I type computer in search and "Computer" is the first item on the list, followed by "Computer Management"... and then other things listed.

You claim though that it only lists, "Computer Management". Either you are an idiot, or liar.

I like OS X, but I have to say Windows 7 is a pretty awesome OS. Whether or not it "stole" ideas from Mac doesn't matter to me, it only shows Windows is humble enough to in a subtle way admit Mac had it right.

...actually that makes it even MORE hilarious when Mac fanboys complain how Microsoft copied "OS X"... isn't that a "good" thing? Windows sucks, so why not copy something that doesn't suck...

I haven't read all the comments, so I might be repeating some things, but I say WHO CARES if Windows 7 copied Mac OS X!? I am a mac user, but I'm not afraid to admit apple has copied things from windows, just as windows has copied things from mac, and (as everyone else seems to be saying) both copied from xerox! I think operating systems copying off of each other is a GOOD THING. It keeps them competitors! Think of it this way, if Microsoft and Apple never copied ANY features from each other, Windows and Mac would be completely different products, and after 15 years, they wouldn't even be comparable. Then comes the anti-trust rulings. If Nobody copied off of each other, there would be only 1 brand of everything = no competition. Ever.

Computer people are supposed to be intelligent, not 3/4 retarded...

Reading through the comments it is quite obvious when the Apple fanboys are bashing win7 without ever trying it. Do they think they're fooling anybody? I'm not saying win7 > Leopard, nor do I care. Win7 (and Vista) never crash, ever. The drivers either already exist and MS products "just work" or the drivers are automatically downloaded. From the hardware I've used, this even holds for non-MS hardware...
There were so many complaints about MS (Vista and win7) that were just so blatantly wrong. I'm sure there were many about Apple equally wrong. I really hope nobody actually believes anything they read in the comments (making this post paradoxical...).
The win7 taskbar is truly amazing. Does Leopard have something better? I don't know; good luck defining "better" though. The same holds for Windows Media Player (which I'm fairly certain will be on all versions of win7). It needs a good codec pack, but it functions quite well.
Obviously the writer of this article has a sense of humor. Apple and MS users can be two very separate people. Often, they aren't interchangeable. As long as we both have similar features, nobody should care...

MS needs to focus on security and stability more than GUI right now. I converted to MAC but fix MS machines for a living and I'm very exited about WIN 7 cause it'll make my job easier if they don't break all the time. Most of these features are already in MAC just in a different way. So this is not what MAC should make better, but what MS took from MAC and made it different. Most to all my computers are XP cause Vista does not integrate with the business level like XP did. This is going to destroy MS if they don't fix that with WIN 7. Thanks to Vista most moved to OSX. I'm the first to hope WIN 7 works out in the end, as I will apply it to my boot camp and virtual machine but regardless how good it is, I'll never regret my MAC.

Cant understand u people u are all saying ms did that apple did this so what? they are both trying to take your precious money and nothing more than that am using both operating systems (mac os x leopard and windows 7)and i have to say that am quite pleased with mac os x for its simplicity and the relaxing graphical enviroment and quite satisfied with win7s support for games website creating and many others that mac os x doesnt offer dont get me wrong i love macs i spent most of ma time in front of my imac but i also like using windows and pc's in general for all the features apple computers lack having both is the best but not everyone can afford it and i dont mean having a mac using windows through bootcamp nor having a pc with mac os x installed (hackintosh) so plz people do try to get along there is no need to kill each other.