Monday, August 29, 2005

After years and years of waiting, we finally have a reasonably stable Windows Vista beta build to work with. Windows Vista Beta 1 doesn't feature many end user features per se, but it does include a nearly complete next-generation Windows shell, instant desktop search, a preliminary version of the new Aero user interface, and other useful functionality. For Windows enthusiasts, Windows Vista Beta 1 is a much-needed demonstration that Microsoft can still churn out valuable Windows releases, after years of doubt. For Mac OS X users, however, Windows Vista Beta 1 engenders a sense of déjà vu. Isn't a lot of this stuff already in Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger"?

Yes and no. For accuracy, I think it's important to compare Windows Vista Beta 1 to both Mac OS X Tiger and the promises that Microsoft made at the Professional Developers Conference (PDC) 2003, at which the company publicly revealed its plans for its next-generation Windows version. After all, Apple was clearly influenced by some of the technology Microsoft showed off back then and knew that it could come to market much more quickly than the software giant.

And before you fire up your email client to tell me about Apple patents, ideas from Copland, or other nonsense, relax. I'm not claiming that Microsoft "invented" anything. What I am claiming, however, is that Microsoft legitimatized certain technologies at PDC 2003 by announcing that they will be included in Windows, and that Apple seized on the opportunity to add those features--whether they were previously planned or not--in Tiger, which it knew would ship well before Windows Vista. For Apple, time to market is a competitive advantage and no one should begrudge them that.