The comment "whined Apple CEO Jobs" kind of destroys any illusion that this article was written from an unbiased standpoint, don't you think?

...the usual presumption is that Microsoft is the source of all goodness in computing, and everybody else is an also-ran; whereas more often than not, Microsoft enters a space after somebody else defines it (Dartmouth/BASIC, Novell/networking, Apple/GUI, Lotus/spreadsheets, Go/tablets, Netscape/Web, etc.). The remarkable thing about this column is that, for once (absent the crack about whining), it implies technical parity between Apple and Microsoft.

Re: ...ludicrous to position a 'mere point release' like 10.4 to an operating system that is being rearchitected from the core programming interfaces, on up... seems to me that the mac OS has already been "rearchitected" - - -

and: ...As Longhorn evangelist Robert Scoble noted on his blog, 'Figuring out who is copying whom is quite a chore.'... Konfabulator is a widget programming environment. Dashboard is a great way to deal with widgets and I hope all my Konfabulator widgets will fit on it. - - -

and finally: ...That's a pretty significant head start, especially for folks who have no corporate edicts, application constraints or other limitations on which hardware/software platform they choose... why "especially"? Head starts never count if you're not in the race.

You're right, OSs should compete on technical merits. But I hear the Longhorn apologists stretching just a little bit to justify their claims that Apple is borrowing from even Windows 95? I remember when W95 was coming out and we were talking about how it was borrowing from Mac, OS/2 and NeXT! Wait, OS X is a direct descendent of NeXT. Ahem, who is borrowing from whom indeed.

I'm sure Longhorn is going to be great. The best Windows yet. But is that enough when some IT publications are already claiming OS X is the most polished OS out? And it's only going to get better. As for any specific feature, we'll see what both OSs actually ship with.

Apple delivers while Microsoft talks. W2K was so solid and wonderful (according to Gates, the greatest engineering feat of the 20th Century) that they're scrapping it and starting over with Longhorn. OS X is based on BSD Unix with a two-decade track record of solid performance and demonstrated security.

Get ready for an earthquake when Apple introduces the version of OS X that runs on Intel/AMD!

Some of these things, like built in search, are already in OS X, and have been since the beginning. Apple is merely improving it. AppleScript has been around a long time, so this is nothing new, just a new way to use it. Also let's remember that Tiger will ship early 2005. When is Longhorn shipping again?

It might be a moot point now, but Apple has endured DECADES of blatant idea theft from Microsoft, so it's understandable that they're a bit testy. That said, I agree that figuring out who is copying whom is of little use. Ultimately, performance is the most important aspect of an operating system. How responsive is it? Does it crash? Is it secure?

Apple continues to pummel Microsoft with every OS X release. I don't know a single Windows user (and yes, I'm including XP users) that haven't had to re-install their OS a few times and don't routinely purge numerous viruses and spy-ware applications from their systems. Furthermore, consider all of these denial of service attacks that use bots (or zombies or whatever you want to call them) running on compromised systems. Surprise, surprise...all of these systems are Windows machines.

In terms of security, there's no comparison between Apple and Microsoft. Apple's OS was designed to be secure from the ground up. Windows remains a horrendous kludge on the security front. In terms of performance, none of the Mac systems I use, support, or maintain crash now that we've moved to OS X. I can't say the same for the Windows machines in the office.

At this point, the whole GUI paradigm is pretty stale. How much more can one innovate? It's all about adding bells and whistles, not instigating a fundamental paradigm shift like Apple did with the original Macintosh. So, a lot of ideas are bound to be similar at this point. Searching is an obvious one. I no more think that Apple copied Microsoft than Microsoft copied Apple. It's logical to think that both companies would improve upon their search functions. Of course, whoever implements these new features best is the real winner.

What bothers Macintosh (and Linux and...) users so much about Microsoft is how incredibly greedy they are. They're constantly finding ways to limit consumer choice by leveraging their huge installed base. Whereas Apple has done the smart thing and reached out to the Open Source community, Microsoft remains determined to develop and control everything themselves - all in the name of greed. This leads to such bloat and mediocrity in every product they produce.

Given Apple's track record with OS X, Tiger will no doubt be a very impressive product. Given Microsoft's track record and all of the reported problems with Longhorn, it remains to be seen whether or not Microsoft can truly deliver. My guess is, Longhorn will arrive late and feature-deprived, but Microsofties will still sing its praises as they run their daily virus/spy-ware checks and freshen their coffee during crash/reboot cycles...

Yes, the line about Steve jobs whining does point out the bias but lets forget that for now.

No one knows better than Microsoft that they use the Mac as a blueprint for windows. When Microsoft made windows 3.1 they got the best people to design the UI and other elements of 3.1, ex-apple employees who had worked on the Mac UI elements. Susan Kare went to MS after see worked at Apple. You can see her work at kare.com.

Apple did use a bit of stuff from Microsoft, like keyboard shortcuts, which gates added to the first gen of his Apple programs. Apples search engine has been developing even before the v-twin days and has had the ability to read a file content...this old features made better.

Scripting is a no brainer. AppleScript has been around long before MS had any sort of scripting. Microsoft was first with messenger but using both platforms iChatAV is what video chatting under messenger should have been. Microsofts solution is messy and bug ridden. The only thing that Apple ripped off is Dashboard but not from Microsoft. It looks like a clone of the Mac program "Konfabulator", however Apples implementation sounds like it is much easier to program under with http, javascript and quicktime content.

The comment about tiger being a point release is correct but let us remember as has done two complete OS revamps so far to Microsofts zero. Once for the PowerPC and once for MacOS X.

The one factor were both companies will be roughly equal is the 64bit support. This will be the first time Microsoft will this close in following Apple.

Where Apple shines is making their Applications and OS tightly integrated and easy to use. Programs like iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes and system level features like iCal, iSync and address book show where Microsoft is behind the curve.

Let's hope Microsoft IS copying Apple, if it's true then Longhorn will be one hell of an operating system!

And as I pointed out in my side email to you, people forget about the FACT that Apple used XEROX as a blueprint for Macintosh. they forget that Steve along with Andy Hertzfeld, Burrell Smith, Jef Raskin, Bill Atkinson and others tripped from Cupertinon to Palo Alto to view what was then the ALTO computer using a GUI.

Apple never gave credit for that. They copied, and they stole, but people don't remember that. They remember that Microsoft came later with something similar and faster than what the Macintosh could offer.

Apple has cut their nose off with their quest for perfection in a number of regards, striving to make the OS great, but shutting users out of the system akin to TRON and the MCP. Apple is the MCP and the users are TRON fighting to get back in to have some semblance of control.

Oh well, what do I know. I worked for Steve for 6 years at Pixar. Have the ONLY Macintosh credit in any Pixar movie "macintosh systems engineer michael e murdock" in TOY STORY, and was singlehandedly responsible for saving that movie from a group of inept users at Pixar who destroyed it in the final 2 weeks of production. I recovered it with a beta version of Norton Utilities for Macintosh (thanks Symantec).

Oh, and in 1997 I ran for CEO of Apple against Steve and prompted him to get off his duff and take the position at the suggestion of his good friend Steve Wozniak, after Woz and I had lunch down in Los Gatos at his favorite burger joint on the avenue there.

Who cares who copies whom. As long as it's usable, protects our data and provides us with a satisfactory computing experience. Bottom line is that there are things to recommend BOTH interfaces, and that's why I own a Mac Laptop and G4 desktop, and a PC Desktop and PC Laptop. You just never know when you'll need some software to help you achieve your spot in greatness.

and let's face it, there are thousands more titles for the PC due to Apple being the MCP (master control program). Keep the system locked up, and people will go elsewhere. They did and Bill Gates became a billionaire. Jobs finally did after our little movie came out, but then again Steve never did thank me for the work I did saving his backside.

Just now you know where it came from.

Michael Murdock - former Lead Macintosh, PC, Unix support GURU for Pixar, now owner of a very successful website optimization service called simply "DocMurdock" look us up on Google, we're currently at #1 (unless those Daredevil comic folks have bounced us again)

How ironic that the same people who hail the law suits against Microsoft for using their supposed monopoly power to effect changes to the operating system, simultaneously praise Apple for how smoothly the integrated iTunes, iMovie, etc all work with the OS. Also, to infer that Windows 2000 is a bad OS because it is being overhauled for the Longhorn release means that one must also come to the conclusion that all Mac OS versions prior to X were garbage since at that point Apple through out the base OS and moved to an xNix backend. Seems these MS haters are more than a bit hypocritical.

I'd say the irony lies with Steve Ballmer dedicating the Corporation to ethical behavior at all levels, and Bill Gates (in a conversation with Priceline CEO Jay Walker concerning acquisition) saying: "We dont let little things like patents get in our way."

Both companies have had their share of legal entanglements, but Microsoft seems to go out of its way to agressively harm small companies through theft of IP and outright deception. It's as though the top leadership were all sociopaths.

Actually I had few problems with 2000 but both XP and XP Pro are junk! Not the stable, non-crashing OS that windows zealots say it is. I have had crashes on OS X as well but hardly any and non that caused data loss. I have had to reformat my XP hard drive five times since it came out....zero for OS X. All OS's tend to trash a file once in a while but XP seems to go out of its way to do so, FAT32 or NTFS it makes little difference.

When I bring up these points or others I inevitably hear that I do not know what I am doing.....Sorry, been using PC's since they came out and computers in general back to 1978. I have been using IBM's longer than some of the people ranting on me have been alive! I am all for the new, revamped Longhorn OS, if Microsoft can get it right this time and leave all things DOS back in 1980 where they belong!

To me the list of features is unattractive and irrelevant. What matters in an OS is stability and ease of maintenance areas that MS used to be dreadful at and is now merely poor. From a user interface point of view what is important is not generally features but consistency and consideration of the tasks the user performs. Searching is a user task that could be improved but the rest does not seem to make a difference.It includes a lot of features which would best be implemented as applications above the OS. This could be be how it will be done but MS have a tendancy to integrate everything into the OS which makes security and stability worse.

A new shell made my haeart sink. OK MS need a new shell but as someone who already programs in three different shells why have yet another language? Why not take one of the exisiting open source cross platform shells and use it.