Microsoft boss uninformed
By Shalini Singh

Microsoft Group Manager Simon Aldous looks after Microsoft partners. It is a key job and an important interface between the end users and Microsoft managers and techies.  During a recent media interview, Simon Aldous was quoted as saying: “One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it’s very graphical and easy to use. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance. “

Simon Aldous was certainly telling the truth.  Apple, in turn had ‘borrowed without due credit’ much of its graphical interface from Xerox Alto where it was developed in the 1970s.  Even Apple cannot claim sole credit for creating it’s wonderfully user friendly operating system.

Even though these things are known and accepted in the industry, no tech company wants to publicly admit them.

Soon, the official Microsoft blog issued a clarification on ‘How Microsoft really designed the look and feel of Windows 7’.  This Microsoft blog post even took a swipe at their own Group Manager Simon Aldous and labeled his comments ‘inaccurate and uninformed’.

“
An inaccurate quote has been floating around the Internet today about the design origins of Windows 7 and whether its look and feel was “borrowed” from Mac OS X.  Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7. I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed. If you’re interested in learning more about the design of Windows 7, I suggest reading this AP story with Julie Larson-Green as well as these WSJ (membership required) and Fast Company articles. And here is one of many blog posts on the E7 blog discussing the design process of Windows 7.
“

Even if they are emulating arch rival Apple who copied it from Xerox, Microsoft will not risk losing business by talking up a competing operating system.

Windows 7 has been very well received. Even if it sells very well, somehow one feels that Simon may not get a big bonus this year.