2003–11–15–2

Windows XP, Longhorn, and OS X

Paul Thurrott at the “SuperSite for Windows” is misinformed:

Q: But Mac OS X already has a lot of these features. What’s the big deal?

A: Apple has implemented some basic desktop composition features in Mac OS X “Panther.” But the basic problem with Mac OS X isn’t going away: It’s a classic desktop operating system that doesn’t offer anything in the way of usability advancements over previous desktop operating systems. Today, Windows XP and its task-based interface are far superior to anything in Mac OS X. In the future, Longhorn will further distance Windows from OS X. From a graphical standpoint, there won’t be any comparison. As Microsoft revealed at the PDC 2003 conference, Longhorn is far more impressive technically than Panther.

Hilarious. I’ve used Windows XP and “far superior” is the last thing that comes to my mind. I have no doubt that there “won’t be any comparison.” Looking at what exists today, OS X is far, far beyond XP in almost every respect. I don’t know what Longhorn will look like by 2005 (or 2006), but by that time OS X is likely to have gone through at least 2 major updates. If these updates are anything like the previous updates I have little doubt that OS X will continue to amaze.

If you want an informed and detailed report of OS X Panther, check out John Siracusa’s extensive write-up at Arstechnica. Siracusa has reviewed each release of OS X going way back to the initial Developer Releases before the OS X Public Beta.