Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

[Night Hawk]

If the sub title of this one doesn't get your attention nothing will!

Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

Microsoft's new OS is the best Windows yet. Is that enough?

By Michael DeAgonia
October 28, 2009 06:05 AM ET

Computerworld - Last week's release of Windows 7 had Microsoft Corp. executives from CEO Steve Ballmer on down confident that this version of Windows is everything Vista wasn't.

The launch of Windows 7 followed by two months the release of Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard." The latter mainly focused on under-the-hood technologies, and Apple went out of its way to promise no major obvious changes. Snow Leopard, which looks just like its predecessor except for a few UI tweaks, is supposed to provide a solid foundation for future technologies and hardware.

Microsoft, in many ways, took a similar tack with Windows 7. Following on the heels of the much-unloved Vista, focusing on the basics made sense. Windows users, like Mac users, want an operating system that works.

Fair warning: I come to Windows as a Mac user by nature and background -- I've worked with Macs for 17 years, although as an IT professional, I've had more than my fair share of time with Windows machines. Put simply: As an IT professional, I work on whatever hardware is in front of me.

In recent months, Windows 7 has been praised for righting many of Vista's wrongs. Back in August, Computerworld's Preston Gralla offered his own take on the two operating systems. Preston, who leans toward the Windows side of things, evaluated them both and declared a tie.

More at: Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

 

[Lee]

There is no comparison. As a Mac user for going on 22 years (1987-2009) I can say without doubt this is the first Microsoft OS other then Win 2000 that I am willing to turn to as a full time OS. Win 7 hands down (IMO) is at the moment the best on the market. Albeit, still a Mac system will set on my desk; it is hard to give up something that is still an excellent system.

 

[Night Hawk]

MS woke up from Vista's initial rejection even while that was a much needed improvement over XP to start with despite getting the bloated rep. 7 shows that MS is starting to mature by paying far more attention to details! A lot of great work went into 7 to get it this far and have a "much wanted" reaction!

 

[smarteyeball]

Despite the final frame in my avatars image, I have no strong opinions against Apple's OS.

By all accounts, Snow Leopard is a great OS in it's own right. I wouldn't mind trying it see what it offers, but since there are no PC versions to try (that I've found anyway) and I have zero interest in purchasing an Apple machine, I guess I'll never know

 

[chuckr]

If the sub title of this one doesn't get your attention nothing will!

Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

Microsoft's new OS is the best Windows yet. Is that enough?

By Michael DeAgonia
October 28, 2009 06:05 AM ET

Computerworld - Last week's release of Windows 7 had Microsoft Corp. executives from CEO Steve Ballmer on down confident that this version of Windows is everything Vista wasn't.
.... etc., etc. ....

More at: Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

I went ahead and read the whole article, because the subtitle did grab my attention...

Page 10's header said: "Conclusion":
Smackdown: Windows 7 takes on Apple's Snow Leopard

Conclusion
(Lotsa stuff "cut-out from this page, then, continuing on: )
.... After a Registry issue prevented me from installing an app, I realized Windows 7 is still Windows. Prettier, a little snappier than Vista, perhaps more stable. But at some point, you still face many of the underlying issues that have made Windows a pain to use in the past. Microsoft's main enemies here aren't really Mac OS X or Linux. What Microsoft needs to worry about are the users and sysadmins who think the hardware and OS already on their desks works just fine. If you're still using XP after all these years, the slick interface and modest under-the-hood changes may not tempt you to spend money on Windows 7.
A friend of mine who works in IT for a major corporation explained it this way: The biggest problem Microsoft has is that after all these years, XP still works for many businesses. "What will force us to move [to Windows 7] is when Microsoft stops releasing security updates [for XP]," he told me. I believe that if Windows 7 appears to be solid right out of the gate, companies may move toward adoption quickly. XP is, after all, nearly a decade old.
If you're still using XP or are finally fed up with Vista, by all means check out Windows 7. It's certainly the best version of Windows yet -- just as it's equally true that Snow Leopard is the best version of Mac OS X. That's why you'd be well advised to check out Snow Leopard before shelling out money for Microsoft's latest.
As an IT professional, I support both operating systems at work. But I have Macs at home; after all, who wants to troubleshoot computer problems on their own time?
My final verdict in this smackdown? It's not even close:
Snow Leopard is the better OS.
Michael deAgonia is an award-winning writer, computer consultant and technologist who has been using Macs and working on them professionally since 1993. His tech-support background includes tenures at Computerworld, colleges and Apple, and in the biopharmaceutical and graphics industries. He has also worked as a Macintosh administrator at several companies.

Which may pizza lotsa people off...

 

[Matt140]

Personal opinion: Windows 7 all the way!
Although Mac is becoming a rather appealing OS, it still costs waaaay to much.

 

[saverio]

I have been using macs since 91, four years ago I made the leap to windows, due to software availability. I looked at the possibility of the mac once more now that there are intel chipsets in them, and I really do miss the OS, but the truth is, that I like you Matt, cannot justify it for cost reasons.
(i'd so love an official apple Leopard shell to run on windows though! - naturally I'd have to wait for hell to freeze over first!)

 

[Night Hawk]

I think chuckr missed the point I was making when looking at the sub title there.

Microsoft's new OS is the best Windows yet. Is that enough?

"...is the best Windows yet." sort of sums things up for 7 there! The major goof when making this comparison from the start is these are still two different OS platforms to begin with.

The one statement that rings true the most is:

I believe that if Windows 7 appears to be solid right out of the gate, companies may move toward adoption quickly. XP is, after all, nearly a decade old.

Having run 7 since the betas onto the RCs and the retail version along side one RC install still going he got that one right!

 

[Jordus]

This "debate" is split into two groups

Personal use - There is no debate. Because people will use what works for them or what they think makes them look cool. General public has zero understanding of what makes a good OS or why one is better than the other. So contest here is irrelevent.

Business use - Windows is the clear cut winner. When you delve into the deep underlying workings of the OS and the features they support, as well as the software and platforms that they will integrate into, there is no better platform than Windows. Apple can't compete in the enterprise and they darn well know this, so rather than try to they just steal business of ignorant people by making stupid commercials.

 

[Night Hawk]

.... After a Registry issue prevented me from installing an app, I realized Windows 7 is still Windows.

What app? The critism with that remark is lame simply by the lack of any details! Who's to say that simply running the installer for the "app" in compatibility mode for XP or Vista wouldn't have seen that go right on?

Useless comments to fill a web page is the bulk of this article. How would you come to that conclusion?

Simple! The writer is already a Mac user being biased towards the other OS from the start! There's no neutral "unbiased" comparison being made between the two OS platforms there.

 

[Jordus]

.... After a Registry issue prevented me from installing an app, I realized Windows 7 is still Windows.

What app? The critism with that remark is lame simply by the lack of any details! Who's to say that simply running the installer for the "app" in compatibility mode for XP or Vista wouldn't have seen that go right on?

Useless comments to fill a web page is the bulk of this article. How would you come to that conclusion?

Simple! The writer is already a Mac user being biased towards the other OS from the start! There's no neutral "unbiased" comparison being made between the two OS platforms there.

Yeah, he obviously didnt feel the need to report the huge list of apps that dont work in Snow Leopard because of their legacy PowerPC code being dropped like a boat anchor.

 

[Night Hawk]

The sad part about this one is the fast that this was found in the news not blogs section at ComputerWorld. That site and their other PC World site are regular publishers of magazines as well as having online articles.

If this had simply been another blog you could simply walk past it.