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May 28, 2008

rivals

Windows 7 coming in a year and a half

Posted May. 28, ’08, 7:02 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Rivals

Windows 7 I like to keep tabs on the competition, so you’re all going to suffer through an update on Windows. Windows 7 was shown for the first time last night. What are the big compelling features? As Gizmodo lists them, they are:

  • There will be a OSX-like dock, though how OS X-like is yet to be seen.
  • Multi-touch gestures in photogalleries like two-finger zoom, flicking, and panning. Think of the photo app on the Microsoft Surface table.
  • Multi-touch paint program where you can draw with 10 fingers (again, think of what you’ve already seen in Surface)
  • Multi-touch piano app
  • In-depth mapping application that pulls from Microsoft’s Live Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth

So… something OS X has, some multi-touch, and what seems to be a version of Google Earth. Yeah. Not impressive in the least. I’m not just being a fanboy here. This is just a really sad showing. There was one other tidbit of information. We can expect Windows 7 in 18 months. We’ll likely have moved on to the next version of OS X by then.


10 Comments

Andre Da Costa said:

What do you expect? Its an early demo which has not even reached beta quality. The applications shown are just samples not actual programs that will be bundled with Windows 7 when it RTMs. The purpose of the demo is to show a small glimpse of what they are working on and what third party developers will be able to do. If you were not impressed with it, well the feeling was mutual when Steve Jobs first demoed Leopard at WWDC 2006. There is a whole lot of work to be done and the Public Developer Conference is in late October and the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference will be in early November. So the key places you will probably see something more exciting are not here yet, then you can start passing down judgment. But your early bias is set to early.

May 28, 2008 9:05 AM
funkright said:

Oh, I think you are being a little bit of a fanboy... I use both OS's (Vista and OSX) and both have the good and bad points. Vista is not anywhere near as bad as it's portrayed by Apple in their commercials and by others. OSX isn't the utopian OS that many make it out to be. Both provide a reasonable amount of utility for their intended purposes. Though the Apple commercials do make me chuckle quite a bit..

May 28, 2008 9:14 AM
krye said:

No matter what Microsoft has stolen from Apple will surely be poorly implemented and done half-assed.

Don't worry Apple fans, OS X is in no danger. No danger at all.

May 28, 2008 9:25 AM
wyscript said:

If mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, then Microsoft must be in love with Apple - or at least with OS X. It's really quite interesting to see such similarities.

May 28, 2008 10:05 AM
Jwo said:

One and a half years is really 5 in Microsoft years, right?

May 28, 2008 12:54 PM
Paul said:

We should be on at least OS XI or OS XII by then!

May 28, 2008 2:59 PM
Anonymous said:

so Balmer has 18 months to screw it up lol

May 28, 2008 3:00 PM
Dave-O said:

Now all they need is for PC makers to totally redesign the prevalent form factor for computers. Laptops haven't really changed in what, 20 years? Desktops even longer. Why, I'm sure they have concept designs that make that technology useful.

At least Apple went with a multitouch trackpad. Since, you know, your hands are down there not at the display.

May 28, 2008 3:08 PM
mangum said:

So it will essentially be Vista, with a touch interface and some graphical changes. Just enough to make the uniformed think it's a new OS.


May 28, 2008 4:14 PM
Partners in Grime said:

Windows 7? Good luck! They'll need it.

May 29, 2008 7:16 PM

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