After years of development, Microsoftâ??s Vista OS is finally here. How does it stack up against Mac OS X? The Wall Street Journalâ??s Walt Mossberg sums it up nicely:
â??Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard, due this spring.â??
David Pogue, writing for the New York Times, puts it a bit more bluntly:
â??You get the feeling that Microsoft's managers put Mac OS X on an easel and told the programmers, â??Copy that.â??â??
While Vista does its best to copy some features that have been in Mac OS X for years, Mac OS X offers an experience that is simply years ahead. Itâ??s designed to make the time you spend at your computer not only productive, but enjoyable â?? not exactly the kind of experience PCs are known for.
Mac OS X knows when to get out of your way, allowing you to work or create without distraction. It also knows how to spring into action when you need it. Spotlight, for example, is always there to help you find that elusive file hiding somewhere in your computer. It shows search results literally as you type, in emails, contacts, PDFs, images, contacts, calendars, and applications.
Dashboard Widgets are small, focused applications for accomplishing discrete tasks (like tracking deliveries, checking the weather, playing Soduku, printing envelopes, reviewing your stock portfolio, etc.). Since Dashboard Widgets have been part of Mac OS X for almost two years, you can now choose from a library of thousands.
Unlike Vista, which comes in four distinct flavors at four distinct prices, each with its own distinct set of features (and each in 32- and 64-bit dialects), thereâ??s only one Mac OS X. It runs on every Mac. With a full set of features. Thatâ??s just the way things are in the land of Mac â?? simple and straightforward.
But even as Vista falls short in features that have long been part of Mac OS X, itâ??s about to lag even farther behind. Because Mac OS X Leopard is right around the corner. And with it will come an even richer set of features to make using your Mac easier and more amazing.
With the new Time Machine, built into Mac OS X Leopard, youâ??ll be able to peer into any folder on your Mac and travel back in time to retrieve an earlier version of a document. Itâ??s an all-new (and fantastically cool) take on data backup. The Spaces feature allows you to create multiple desktops so that you can organize your workspace differently for different tasks. And thatâ??s just scratching the surface.
The choice today is between an OS trying its best to catch upâ?? or Mac OS X, which continues to lead the way.
