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Mac OS and Windows Through the Years

by , 11:55 AM EST, November 26th, 2007

The clever gang at Gizmodo set their Wayback Machine so they could compare Apple's Mac OS and Microsoft's Windows interfaces over the years. The visual history starts with Mac OS 7 and Windows 95 and ends with Mac OS X 10.5 and Windows Vista, and shows how both have gone from boxy and basic to translucent eye candy adventures -- and also shows Microsoft's penchant for OS-based advertising.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:20 pm Subject: OS 7 and 3.1 would be a lot more impressive...

It would show how much was really stolen from Apple and NeXt for Win 95.


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Close Name:Guest
Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:04 pm Subject: Huh? How Stupid Can You Get?

Where is NeXT? Who the F cares about Mac or Windows?


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Close Name:Guest
Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:06 pm Subject: No It Would Not

Don't agree and can't. The "look" of 3.1 was largely Susan Kare's icons - and she was hired by Microsoft to make them. What do you expect the girl to do?

And please don't come and say they're functionally equivalent either - because they are not. Only a complete imbecile would ever compare them and come out claiming they were similar.


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Close Name:Mikuro Posts: 457 Joined: 15 Jun 2002
Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:58 pm Subject:

I think he meant that Windows 3 was more original, and seeing Windows 95 in comparison would emphasize how much was copied from others AFTER Windows 3.

I think it makes sense to start with System 7 and Windows 95, though, since they are more functionally equivalent. Although time-wise, it would make more sense to start with Windows 3. System 7 was released in a full 4 years before Windows 95 (and only 1 year after Windows 3).


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Close Name:iJack Posts: 311 Joined: 13 Jun 2001
Tue Nov 27, 2007 12:46 am Subject: Comparo not even

I think the comparo layout is ok until the end. They have
Windows XP vs. OS X 10.2, which is about right, but then,
Windows Vista vs. OS X 10.5.

Actually, Tiger and Vista are better comparisons and more equal on the timeline, especially if you consider when Vista was announced.

I think that Leopard is in a generation all of it's own. To me, it's almost as great a leap from Tiger, as 10.1 was from OS 9.


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Close Name:Guest
Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:43 am Subject: bullshit

leopard is nothing more than a service pack


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Close Name:macinnerd Posts: 1742 Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:35 am Subject: Re: bullshit

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
leopard is nothing more than a service pack


Just like Tiger, Panther, Jaguar, Cheetah and Puma were all service packs. Only the Public Beta was truly innovative...


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Close Name:Guest
Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:41 am Subject: Link

Am i just not seeing the link in the article above? Not that I'm too lazy to go to gizmodo and find the article, but it sure would be right neighborly of you to put one of them underlined blue text thingies like they often have on the computer internet.


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Close Name:gslusher Posts: 2088 Joined: 13 Nov 2002
Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:27 pm Subject: RE: Link

Quote
Guest wrote:
Am i just not seeing the link in the article above? Not that I'm too lazy to go to gizmodo and find the article, but it sure would be right neighborly of you to put one of them underlined blue text thingies like they often have on the computer internet.


The link is on the word "compare." It looks like all the other links on TMO: blue boldface text. If you want it underlined, you may be able to set your browser preferences so that links are always underlined.


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