Windows 7 tries to “create a Mac look and feel”, claims Microsoft executive

A Microsoft executive was quoted in an interview as saying "what we've tried to do with Windows 7...is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics". According to the BBC, there have been previous suggestions that Microsoft has borrowed technology ideas.

Many similarities exist between Windows 7 and Mac OS X. "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," said Mr Aldous. “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."

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc countered the claims in a post on the official Windows blog. "Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7," adding that the claims were “inaccurate and uninformed." Source: BBC, 13 November 2009. tinyurl.com/yeye8kz

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertnelson/ / CC BY 2.0

Apple files multi-touch interface patent

Following the success of the iPhone and iTouch, a larger 'tablet' has been rumoured to provide a multi-touch interface to Apple's computer range. Indeed, Apple has submitted a patent for a sophisticated keyboard-sized touch interface. The Telegraph reports that the patent application, filed in June by Fingerworks, an Apple-owned company, shows two hands hovering over a flexible, screenlike device, which will offer "unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device". 

If the product is developed, another level of automation could be on its way. According to Apple, the multi-touch interface would be able to interpret gestures made by the whole hand or individual fingers, and also predict what the user might want to do – type, write or draw or launch programs, menus or interfaces. Source: Telegraph, 02 October, 2009. tinyurl.com/ydtdm6c

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndevil/ / CC BY 2.0