I'm OS X, and Windows 7 was my idea.

In this series we are taking a look at the ideas Microsoft copied from other operating systems. This is pretty standard procedure for Microsoft, and with Windows 7 it is safe to say they've mostly gotten it right. Linux and OS X can be proud of their love-child.

We will start by taking a look at some of the new features in the GUI. First up is the Taskbar, aka “Not a Dock.”

There's an old saying: If it looks like a Dock:



(OS X 10.0 Cheetah, released in 2001. Notice the transparent dock with large icons that runs the length of the screen. This was standard until 2007's OS X 10.5 Leopard.)



(OS X 10.5 Leopard 2D dock, released in 2007. Notice the transparent dock with large icons that runs the length of the screen. )



(Windows 7, released in 2009. Notice the transparent “taskbar that is not a dock” with large icons that runs the length of the screen.)

and Acts like a Dock:

(Descriptions from Apple and Microsoft's official websites:)

http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/dock-and-finder.html

• The Dock at the bottom of the screen gives you quick access to your most frequently used applications, files, and folders


• To add a new application or folder, just grab it from the Finder and move it onto the Dock.


• Removing and rearranging items is simple: Click and drag.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/help/better-stronger-faster-the-windows-7-taskbar

• It’s that familiar horizontal strip at the bottom of your desktop where your open files and programs appear... When you first start using Windows 7, each of your open programs appears as an individual unlabeled button. Looks neat and tidy, doesn’t it?


• ...with Windows 7, you can also pin programs anywhere on the taskbar. By pinning a program to the taskbar, it’s always right there in front of you so you can open it with a single click


• Now you can rearrange them in the order you want by clicking and dragging.

It's probably a dock.

Despite protestations to the contrary, the new Windows 7 taskbar is essentially Microsoft's rendition of the OS X dock. As you can see, Apple has been using a Dock since 2001. It used to look a lot like the W7 taskbar currently does, and it still does if you run it in 2D mode. Apple's current Dock has been in use since 2007. They have removed and added a number of features over the years. It currently serves as an application launcher, allows you to dock various applications you use frequently, hosts the running applications and open windows, and has context sensitive menus for the docked items.

Sound familiar? That is almost exactly how MS describe the W7 Dock, I mean taskbar.

Windows integrates many of its Window management tools directly into the dock, I mean taskbar. It's preview system, called Aero Peek, groups similar applications under one icon, shows thumbnails of those applications above the taskbar, and will provide a magnified view of each thumbnail if you hover over it.



The W7 Peek is supposed to be an advancement of the Aero Peek from Vista. It's a logical next step to let users interact with the preview windows. You can close windows, and you can hover the mouse over an open thumbnail to get a larger preview.

The taskbar also allows the use of context sensitive menus, called jumplists, for many applications. Microsoft demos how well the jump-lists work for their applications, i.e. IE (I had to), Word, Power Point, etc. What they don't show you is that it doesn't work well with many 3rd party apps, such as Firefox. You have to install additional software (called winfox) to get the jump-lists to work properly for FireFox.

Again, this is similar in concept to what OS X has been doing for years. The execution has a different look, and places more emphasis on management from the taskbar.

The Mac's preview system is spread out over two features called Expose' and Quicklooks. Expose will show small versions of all open windows and applications when you move the mouse into a predesignated corner, or hit the Expose' hotkey. Users can click on the previews to open them. It can also hide all windows and provide immediate access to the desktop. Users can also interact with the preview windows. You can copy and paste from them, close them, and rearrange them.



(This is the premiere of Expose for OSX Panther back in 2003. Around 2:16 Jobs describes the Expose feature that lets you view only the open windows for a particular application.)


Expose hasn't changed much. Apple has added a few refinements that allow for more control directly from the dock:



(Look for this feature in Windows 8.)

Quicklooks is a preview system that works in conjunction with Finder. (Windows Explorer is similar to Finder.) It provides large previews of files, allowing users to read files and even navigate through documents in a moderately sized preview window.



And then there's the "new" contextualized menus called "jumplists". Here's OS X's contextualized menu:




Here's Windows 7's jumplists:



I'm OS X, and Windows 7 was my idea.

iMock part 3 iMitation

iMock part 3

The Mac look for cheap.

Now that I have vented my mockery of the Mac I will leave off on the series with iMitation. Despite it's flaws, and ridiculous costs, Macs are very visually appealing. A quick check of youtube will reveal a host of instructions for making Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Ubuntu look like a Mac. Basically you throw up some wall paper and install rocketdock, AWN, or Cairodock. You then move your task bar to the top of the screen and you're set. The effect isn't quite perfect in Windows, but it works well.

If you want the exact look of the Mac, the best bet is to convert Ubuntu Linux. There's a simple install called Mac4Lin. You download it from sourceforge, run the script, and change the background. Installing a dock involves a simple trip to launchpad for a ppa, or a few easy entries in the terminal.

Here's some videos:

Windows:



Ubuntu:





You get the Mac look for the PC price. Save yourself some money, or buy one PC for yourself, and two more for some friends.

iMock part 2

It's time for iMock 2.0. In iMock 1.0 I mocked the Mac's price. Here, I mock the Mac's problems, and I bust the myth that they don't have any.

According to Apple's ads, you don't get the same problems on a Mac that you do on a PC. They name crashes, viruses, and "a ton of headaches"




Let's start with crashes.

You will recall from a previous blog entry that I explained how hard drives work. (What! You haven't read my previous posts! Blasphemy!) To recap, hard drives are a series of fragile, magnetic platters spinning at high speeds (around 7200 rpm.) Data is written to and read from hard drives by a magnetic read/write head that is not supposed to touch the platters. When you walk around with your laptop or Macbook powered on it creates instability in the platter spin and will eventually result in the platters touching the heads. This is when your computer crashes.

Apple purports that it's line of computers are the indestructible kings of computers. I believe this tends to make Mac users careless, and more likely to walk around using them. This results in hard drive crashes.

Now let's talk about headaches.

Apple, like many PC manufacturers, was using Nvidia cards for their integrated graphics cards back from 2007 through 2009. Every major manufacturer, including Apple, was caught by surprise when Nvidia shipped factory loads of defective cards. Here's some links:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377 Apple gets hit and has to recall a ton of products.

HP has the same problem.

Dell gets hit, but refuses to recall or repair the effected systems.

Sony gets hit too!
Sony Support


Pretty much everyone that used the Nvidia GeForce 8000 series got hosed there. Apple wasn't immune. And if you think having a system that won't boot because the graphics card fried isn't a headache, you never figured out where the on button was on your Macbook.

There are whole websites run by Mac users devoted to complaining about defective Apple products. Here's a few:

appledefects.com

briancometa.com

Here's Apple's official recall page:

Apple exchange/repair


Not to mention that iPods and iPhones can turn into grenades.

The only truth to the ad is that Macs don't get viruses. There may be one recorded virus for the Mac, and it requires user stupidity to work.

On the other hand, Macs are extremely vulnerable to hacking. There is an annual competition for hackers called Pwn2Own, held by CanSecWest. They offer a series of computers as prizes for hackers, as well as a cash reward. Basically the first person or team to hack a device gets to keep it. Apple's computers are always the first to fall, and always get hacked within a matter of minutes.

Hacker commentary:

Why Safari?  Why didn’t you go after IE or Safari?
“It’s really simple. Safari on the Mac is easier to exploit.  The things that Windows do to make it harder (for an exploit to work), Macs don’t do.  Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows.
It’s more about the operating system than the (target) program.  Firefox on Mac is pretty easy too.  The underlying OS doesn’t have anti-exploit stuff built into it.” --Charlie Miller, hacker.

Reports of hacks:
Mac falls in 2007

Mac falls in 2008

Mac falls in 2009

Mac falls in 2010.

So there you have it. Mac's crash. Mac's have faulty hardware. Mac's have recalls. Mac's are easy to hack and exploit. And Mac's have sites run by Mac users to complain about Mac's. Let's call this myth busted.