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Sat, Nov 07, 2009 - 01:41 PM EST  —  AAPL: 194.34 (+0.3099, +0.16%)  |  NASDAQ: 2112.44 (+7.12, +0.34%)

Microsoft’s Ballmer: It’s true, some of Windows Vista’s features are ‘kissing cousins’ to Mac OS X
Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 11:20 PM EST

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli at Microsoft's professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles last week. One of Galli's questions provoked Ballmer to comment on Apple and Mac OS X.

Galli: Some Microsoft critics say that many of the features in "Longhorn" already exist in other operating systems. How do you respond to that?

Ballmer: I don't hear that from enterprise customers. They don't look at the Mac. They just don't. Some people will say some of the features are kissing cousins to features they've seen elsewhere, and that is true. I'm not apologetic about the fact that we should, in a way that doesn't offend anyone else's intellectual property, study and learn and benefit from the work others have done.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Galli didn't specify Apple's Mac OS X, so it's telling that Ballmer brings up Apple and the Mac immediately. Microsoft's enterprise customers who "don't look at the Mac," presumably will think Microsoft developed many of Vista's features on their own and won't even realize that they could've have most of Vista's upcoming features for 5+ years already - if only they'd looked at the Mac. Certainly, Microsoft won't mention to their customers where they got the ideas for Vista, they'll instead trumpet Vista's "new" features as "Microsoft innovation," oxymoron be damned.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
PC World: Microsoft innovation - an oxymoron - September 15, 2005
Microsoft debuts Dashboard Widgets, er, 'Microsoft Gadgets' - September 13, 2005
Microsoft appropriates Apple's 'brushed metal' look for Office 12 for Windows - September 13, 2005
Windows czar Allchin says Apple copying Microsoft's Windows Longhorn - April 27, 2005
Microsoft employees leaving due to (and blogging about) malaise smothering company - April 25, 2005
eWEEK Editor Coursey: Longhorn so far 'looks shockingly like a Macintosh' - April 25, 2005
Due in late 2006, many of Windows Longhorn's features have been in Mac OS X since 2001 - April 25, 2005
Microsoft's new mantra: 'It Just Works' ripped straight from Apple's 'Switch' campaign - April 22, 2005
Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft's Longhorn: 'They are shamelessly copying us' - April 21, 2005
Microsoft's Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple's Mac OS X - April 15, 2005
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews 'Longhorn' - June 29, 2004
Apple CEO Steve Jobs: Mac OS X Tiger 'is going to drive the copycats crazy - June 28, 2004
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs previews Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' to ship in the first half of 2005 - June 28, 2004
Apple takes dead aim at Microsoft, 'Longhorn' with WWDC Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' ads - June 28, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft 'Longhorn' preview shows 'an Apple look' - May 06, 2004
Microsoft concerned that Longhorn's look and feel will be copied if revealed too soon - August 25, 2003
Windows 'Longhorn' to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 - May 19, 2003
Apple leads; Wintel follows as usual - November 11, 2002

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Sep 18, 05 - 11:39 pm Comment from: Cupid

Kissing. What? Is that the nice way of putting it?

Sep 18, 05 - 11:45 pm Comment from: Cousins

They're going nasty business!

Sep 18, 05 - 11:49 pm Comment from: MacDude

Steve Ballmer looks like a product of a lot more than just "kissing cousins" if you ask me.

Image growing up in a family where your mom calls your dad "brother".

All they can do is jump around and mimick others.

Sep 18, 05 - 11:56 pm Comment from: gravity

creepy analogy... these are the geniuses working on longhorn? cant wait...

Sep 18, 05 - 11:57 pm Comment from: mr angry

More like shagging cousins.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:05 am Comment from: amyhre

Seems to me Ballmer's justifying stealing Apple's intellectual property by saying they're too small for people to notice. It's still copyright infringement either way you slice it monkey boy. Guess being inbred makes you stupid. Maybe he should stick to dancing.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:10 am Comment from: Ballmer != intelligent

has the man ever thought about using the phrase, "no comment"? This ain't laundry detergent you're selling, fool, this is serious!

Apple Legal, start your litigators!!

Sep 19, 05 - 12:11 am Comment from: fef

Am I biased towards Steve Ballmer? Or the guy always says / do things that come out being just plain dumb or stupid? Things that a 60 billion company CEO shouldn't be saying?

I mean, for instance herel, he just go ahead and mentions the Mac exposing himself and his company that they copied features from OS X. While somewhere else, he starts shouting like a crazy monkey, sweating his fat off and jumping up and down? In another occassion he sends a chair spinning in the conference room while cursing and making death threats to the CEO of a rival company?

Doesn't Microsoft have a PR / Press department that prevents their people from making / saying things that could compromise the company?

I really would want to see Ballmer being cross quetioned in a courtroom. Just think about all the compromising info that he would reveal about Microsoft if being interrogated by a slick lawyer...

MW: "end" as in "Is Microsoft's end near? Will Steve Ballmer accelerate the proccess?

Sep 19, 05 - 12:17 am Comment from: Rainy Day

Monkey Boy is a perfect example of why we need an international agreement banning GMO’s.

The day M$ makes a product that doesn’t suck, is the day they start making vacuum cleaners.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:20 am Comment from: radiomoscow

I folded up the washing from the clothes line tania
are you happy now?

oh yeah comment…
why dont m$ get sued by apple?

Sep 19, 05 - 12:20 am Comment from: egarc

Finally, confirmation about the things we've been arguing with PC apologists for years.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:21 am Comment from: OpJ

fef: I think Ballmer quite rightly recognizes that he could show up for a trade conference listening to an iPod, pack the iPod away and pull out a PowerBook for his show presentation, tell everyone he prepared the presentation himself with Keynote, and then close with a movie he made in iMovie with a soundtrack he pieced together in GarageBand, and it wouldn't budge Apple's market share up or Microsoft's down a single percentage point.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:21 am Comment from: Depressed

SB, go to hell.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:28 am Comment from: Mort

Goes to show what happens when you put a sales guy in the CEO position. Can't keep their mouths shut.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:33 am Comment from: Andrus

The only thing that could possibly stop my company from using OS X Server is the fact that we need support for meeting management and conference room booking that we currently do using Exchange+Outlook combo. Otherwise I maybe would have made the switch already. SQLServer 2000 is easier to switch.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:42 am Comment from: Eric

Can we have Andrew Kantor do a review of this so we can flame him again???

Sep 19, 05 - 12:45 am Comment from: theloniousMac

Don't you people ever sleep? Do you just hover and wait for MDM to post something, anything?

Sep 19, 05 - 12:45 am Comment from: bd

MS is in trouble. People will laugh but any person working on the inside will realize the level of staff discontent. Managers flying all over the place trying to cross develop this and that. Morale is low and BOMBLAST is one helluva an egghead.

Sep 19, 05 - 12:50 am Comment from: radiomoscow

Theo
did u ever hear of timezones…
the world isnt just USA

lemmings?

Sep 19, 05 - 01:11 am Comment from: winmacguy

theloniousMac


Sep 19, 05 - 01:45 am

Don't you people ever sleep? Do you just hover and wait for MDM to post something, anything?

What? you mean you dont? wink

Sep 19, 05 - 01:18 am Comment from: Flying accusations

Corporate mudslinging, good clean fun! shut eye


CT ======]------------- get some goggles, while your at it

cool smirk

Sep 19, 05 - 01:21 am Comment from: Jack Arends

Good thing Ballmer has a big mouth. That way it will be easier to fit his foot in.

Sep 19, 05 - 01:22 am Comment from: MacAnimal

Sleep?

Who can sleep?

Monday will be here soon and a new crop of juicy stories and clueless product writers will attempt to spew the virtues of the Creative Zen or Sony Walkman over the iPod or Microsoft products over Apple products and we get to rip them a new a$$hole.

Oh what joy!

It's 2:30 AM and 9 AM is almost 6 hours away. :D

*cue Carly Simon song "Anticipation"*

Sep 19, 05 - 01:36 am Comment from: B. G. Murphy

[Don't you people ever sleep? Do you just hover and wait for MDM to post something, anything?]

Thanks for getting out of bed to notice.

Sep 19, 05 - 02:10 am Comment from: Kenny

If morale is low at MS why don't they all just divy up the money between themselves (the staff of MS) and go live on an island somewhere. I island they could buy. They gotta get a couple of billion each surely.

Sep 19, 05 - 02:12 am Comment from: Paul

Sure we sleep. But there are so many Mac users these days that there is always someone somewhere in the world who is awake at the time of a fresh new unbiased MDN posting.

Sep 19, 05 - 02:44 am Comment from: Loooong wait for ShortHorn

M$ new campaign slogan:

Miscrosoft - INSPIRED BY APPLE

Sep 19, 05 - 02:45 am Comment from: JulesLt

At least Ballmer's being straight, and he's right, looking at what the competition are doing is how most firms get better. Defining what your competition will be doing is how innovative companies stay in front (see Apple in the bad years vs Next).

Just a shame he can't come out and say 'software patents are bad' - if MS took a lead against them, would probably be enough to kill em. (Instead, watch for another Apple/MS x-licence deal - we'll trade you our iPod patent for some of your features).

Also, there's a difference between copying the eye-candy and the engineering that lies underneath - see diff. between original MacOS and Windows, and most products that borrow Apple's styling. Now from what's been announced, there are some interesting engineering changes in Vista, but it seems to also be losing features as fast as it gains them.

Also, the times are changing. I believe Linux and Flash presents the biggest opportunity for Apple in the enterprise since the birth of the Mac. Contrary towards what some people might believe, big business doesn't love Windows - it just likes standards. It also likes savings - and Apple hardware has never been cheap.

The biggest improvement we could make to conditions at work would be reducing the noise in the room by switching to, say, Mac Minis. Imagine what difference that could make in call centre environments with hundreds of PCs. Now Apple can't go in and sell to those environments while the apps, but once the apps are cross-platform they can.

Sep 19, 05 - 02:49 am Comment from: radiomoscow

ppl
stop hijacking these posts
the topic is not 'sleeping mac users wait to comment'

oh btw tania
please pick up some milk on your way home
smile

Sep 19, 05 - 02:59 am Comment from: William McFarlen

I think Bill Gates should phone over to Steve Jobs to apologize:

"Hey Steve?" (These guys always get through immediately)

"Hello William, now this is a surprise. I don't suppose you're calling for some hurricane donations for the foundation."

"Ah, no Steve. But really, thanks for considering it. But, no, but really, about that statement that Ballsey made..."

"Yes, indeed. That was quite the garish statement. Funny how when I purchased Pixar..."

"Ahhhhhh, yeah, Steve, without question, I recall that no one noticed a thing back then."

"That's right, William. That's right -- Not a soul."

"Anyhow, Steve, ahhhh, I just wanted to say that Ballsey didn't mean what he meant, if you know what I'm laying down, heh heh"

"Um, okay -- sure, I can live with it. It's not like he's running the show over there -- oh, I'm just getting word that he in fact is running the show over there!"

"Heh heh, Steve, you're getting me all hot flashed now."

"Oh William, but a simple joke presented for your enjoyment."

"Heh heh heh. Okay, so. I'll talk you you again when Ballsey gets another enterprise marketing interview."

"You do that. Oh, and William -- get yourself some style. I mean really, you can do this."

"Heh heh, oh Steve, you really get me rattled. Heh heh."

Sep 19, 05 - 03:09 am Comment from: hagar57

That's why it takes so long for Longhorn/Vista to be ready: the legal people have to check each and every stolen idea for the possibility of damaging litigation.

Sep 19, 05 - 03:15 am Comment from: Loooong wait for ShortHorn

And the funny thing is; some IT journalist still consider them an innovative company. What a jerk!!!

That's why
M$ = iWait
= iSee
= iCopy
= iMonopolize

Sep 19, 05 - 03:16 am Comment from: MacDude

Contrary towards what some people might believe, big business doesn't love Windows - it just likes standards. It also likes savings - and Apple hardware has never been cheap.

It's because Apple has to recoup huge R&D;costs and really never had a large supply of processors.

Now Apple can't go in and sell to those environments while the apps, but once the apps are cross-platform they can.

Well with the x86 based MacTels running win apps on a Mac might be just fine.

But then there is another problem, buisnesses don't like having one hardware vendor to choose from.

But of course they live with the one sh*t software vendor Microsoft.

Sep 19, 05 - 03:57 am Comment from: M.X.N.T.4.1

So apparently as long as your customers don't realise that your product is full of stolen ideas that makes it more justifiable? Of course some ideas in any industry will become the norm across that industry at some point but to flat out mention someone you've stolen from seems stupid.

Sep 19, 05 - 04:15 am Comment from: dogfriend

Steve Ballmer Translation Guide:

"'I'm not apologetic about the fact that we should, in a way that doesn't offend anyone else's intellectual property, study and learn and benefit from the work others have done."

Uh, duh we always have uh dun it this way. Billy said so. Me no apologize now. Developers, Developers Developers, Developers Developers, Developers.....

"I'm going to F'ning kill Google"

Ooh, ooh eek eeeek EEEEEKKKKKK (throws poo against wall)

Sep 19, 05 - 04:20 am Comment from: dogfriend

"Give it up for me" - Steve Ballmer, after working up a sweaty froth

Sep 19, 05 - 05:19 am Comment from: Jamie Kelly

Steve Ballmer needs an ass kicking, man I hate his bullshit attitude. So full of himself and he seriously believes his own FUD.

Sep 19, 05 - 05:30 am Comment from: MKUltra

Like Jobs said about a year ago, when the sales guy is running things, companies go down the tubes.

Sep 19, 05 - 05:34 am Comment from: Mike Buonarroti

It is quite possible that Steve Jobs is picking his battles. The more Vista looks and acts like OS X, the easier the switch will be when people realize that Vista still has all of the inherited internal flaws of XP.

Jobs isn't looking for the great dam buster; he is creating the small cracks such as iWork (to be expanded very soon), iChat, improved security, etc. Each month, as the Mac's functionality slowly overlaps that of Windows, more and more people switch.

It will not be the mighty sword of Apple that brings the beast down, but the microscopic infections that no army of lawyers with truckloads of cash can defend against. Apple just happens to be ready as a soft place to land when people decide to jump from the dying beast.

Sep 19, 05 - 06:33 am Comment from: Dimplemonkey

more like twins separated at birth!

Sep 19, 05 - 06:54 am Comment from: iDon't

Wierd, I can't get to e-Week with the Firefox browser - but I can get there with IE. With Firefox all I can get to is and ad page. Anybody else have this problem?

Sep 19, 05 - 07:07 am Comment from: mike k.

any mention of how the chairs fared in this interview?

Sep 19, 05 - 07:08 am Comment from: fandango

Monkey Boy states: "I'm not apologetic about the fact that we should... benefit from the work others have done."

Personally, I find his presumptive arrogance nauseating.

Just remember Ballmer-Boy, there are many who know that you are nothing but a second-rate salesman and cheerleader. If you hadn't conned your way into one of the top slots at Mafiasoft, you'd be selling insurance or burial plots. Or used cars.

What goes around, comes around.

Sep 19, 05 - 07:13 am Comment from: jackspratt

Vista isn't kissing cousins, it's the byproduct of kissing cousins. as in the idiot inbred cousin that is an embarrassment to the entire community.

"HYUK! HEY EV'RYWUN! LOOK WHUT AH KIN DO!"
.
.
.
CRASH.

Sep 19, 05 - 07:34 am Comment from: Gee

I like the way a post said it on the website http://www.microsoftgadgets.com (don't go here unless you want to be subjected to the ultimate in Mediocre-Soft Copycat Engineering.)

The post said: Everything microsoft does ends up with this cobbled-together feel to it.

And that's just it! We Mac users have noticed this subtle feel for years and years. It's like, someone tried to copy, but they just can't get it right. And what is it? It's the problem with every counterfeit...they achieve something close to it, but they just don't get it right. Of course, it can end up being good enough (or great!) for some clueless people...people who think they are getting value, but instead are getting ripped-off horribly.

Check out my post, and the person who first used "cobbled-together" on that site. There are many other entertaining, and loaded-with-truth mac comments to check out, too.

I made a reference to Ballmer's words (from this article) over there on that site.

John Gee

Sep 19, 05 - 07:49 am Comment from: beryllium

"Microsoft innovation" is NOT an oxymoron, but it is a contradiction in terms.

Sep 19, 05 - 07:56 am Comment from: FistOfGod

"Ballmer" and "kissing" in the same sentence is almost enough to make me upchuck my breakfast.

Sep 19, 05 - 08:28 am Comment from: mike

And that's just it! We Mac users have noticed this subtle feel for years and years. It's like, someone tried to copy, but they just can't get it right. And what is it?

----

Ummm Open-Architecture.. great for $$$ but shit for the user.

Now let me bring something up that really bugs me..

If you go to Pauls WinSupersite , you can DL videos of Vista..

Now.. besides drooling over all that 2gig of RAM goodness (they got an application swithcher now.. and a geeked out 3d app switcher too..).. they're showing off the next version of Outlook.

What bugs me about it?

no, not the fact that 'timed events' got such an uproarious applause (I MUST be missing something.. seems like a no-brainer 10 yr old feature).. but that they DELIBERATELY make right clicking part of the program.

The right click started out as an 'advanced' drill down.. but look how far we've come.. now MS has taken it upon themselves to give up on UIs and just make everything a right click menu..

Um, it's called a GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE.. making right-click the default means.. they're not doing enough to make things intuitive and natural. So the whole program becomes a series of menus and sub-menus...


What a waste of 2gig of RAM, huh?

Sep 19, 05 - 08:31 am Comment from: lifelongMac

Loooong wait for ShortHorn
"That's why
M$ = iWait
= iSee
= iCopy
= iMonopolize"


And the MS all important

= iProfit

Sep 19, 05 - 08:33 am Comment from: hammer

stop calling it MacTel!

its not MacBM or Macorola now is it? NO!

Sep 19, 05 - 08:48 am Comment from: MacJack

Hopefully the Intel switch will put Apple on the enterprise radar. And if HP exits the PC business, Apple will be one of a dwindling number of big-name PC vendors.

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