Vista or Tiger’s Cub?
Posted in Articles by John T P on November 26th, 2005 The topic title will sound very absurd to you. Well yes this a li’l post about Microsoft’s upcoming OS, Vista. So is it really Vista or OS X Tiger’s cub? Here are a few things I would like to point out.
Firstly, I’d like to mention that the Vista Build 5259 screenshots are sourced from Activewin.com
Now let’s get down to the point.
For starters, have a look at this so-called “refreshing new” control panel interface of Vista.
Looks really good, doesn’t it? But look at this screenshot.
I am not talking about the GUI rip. That isn’t my point. My point is, why try to ape a menu style which is 5 years old? I mean even a layman will say that both the menus look damn similar. Except that one is 5 yrs old 
Another thing I don’t appreciate is Microsoft’s adoption of “Metro” in “Avalon” their so-called answer to Adobe’s PDF but when more significantly put, Apple’s PDF-based Aqua.
My question is why.. why introduce another document format and create more confusion in the already saturated market? Why couldn’t Microsoft stay put with PDF. When they can take help of Adobe for developing their TrueType fonts.. why not adopt their PDF format?
The next thing I’d want to ask is, why are the system requirements so high for Vista? I know you’ll say that Vista hasn’t even released, but Microsoft has already acknowledged that Vista will require a DX-9 capable card(read a card worth lotsa cash).
Now people who spend a lot on hardware will say that such graphic cards are NOT that expensive. But, think of a consumer with limited budget. Why doesn’t Microsoft try to keep the system requirements for its operating systems down? Why do we always need to upgrade our systems to run their new OS(Win 95->98->XP->Vista?)
Now compare this to Tiger. Tiger is Apple’s OS which can be compared to Vista in features except that it is already in market since April 2005 and Vista will be around one and a half years late atleast. Tiger runs on a G3. Why can’t vista run on a P3 with on-board graphics?
You’ll point out that in such a case people shouldn’t upgrade to Vista and should continue to use XP. But Microsoft has ensured that there will be no WMP 11 for XP or there’ll be no DirectX 10. They didn’t even include “ClearType” technology for Windows 2000 just to get people to upgrade to Win 2003! To add to it, Windows 98/Me users were left in the lurch when WMP support was discontinued for them. Why does Microsoft just abandon the users of their previous OS just like that? Why can’t they offer atleast the basic security and technology updates?
I don’t want to ask anything else as it doesn’t matter much to the average user. What matters has already been mentioned here.
And did I mention that Leapord will be ready to roar when Vista launches? 
kato said,
November 27, 2005 @ 12:03 am
actually anand i dont find them that same actually they are different in lots of ways but still u r true to a certain point that microsoft is not as capable as apple is. The vista is too heavy for older systems
Andre Da Costa said,
November 27, 2005 @ 2:51 am
Microsoft delivered all the Security and Search technologies you are asking for in Service Pack 2 for Windows XP (Free) and Windows Desktop Search bar (free) respectively. And Windows XP users did not have to pay for either.
It has take Apple 5 revisions of their operating system to reach where they are, which has come at a cost of nearly $500 for incremental upgrades which could have either been delivered in one version with additional features as add ons.
Vista does run on P3 hardware, some persons have reported it running on P3 600Mhz with 768Mbs of RAM. G3 processor architecture is also different from the Pentium chip, so making comparisons would be unfair in either case. I purchase Mac World and reports are, the recommended system requirement to get Tiger running well is a Dual 800Mhz G4 with a minimum of 512MBs of RAM. For the effects, Geforce FX 5200 and up!
Vistas recommendations (well the final release) was suggested by a MS official to be 1.5Ghz, 256MBs of RAM, minusing all the bells and whistles, but its possible to achieve glass with a Geforce FX 5200 and those minimum requirements, but with an extra 256 Mbs of RAM Glass should run on that system.
Tiger is also rushed release of OS X, it has taken 3 major updates to the OS to make it secure and stable and another one in planning .4 expected before the Christmas holiday season. So Apple has its share of issues.
Retro said,
November 27, 2005 @ 7:37 am
Brilliant article there Anand, absolutely great! Yes, the screenies didn’t look MS’s style at all, slightly Mac-ish is the truth but they did look gorgeous. I will agree with some of your points there. If MS did try to accomodate the aspirations of all the people out there, I think there wouldn’t have been the need for Linux or Apple. Unfortunately, Apple Systems are expensive than their windows counterparts, maybe not in the States but surely in the other countries. If Stevie looks into this, then MS Vista might have to eat dust.
Abhinav said,
November 27, 2005 @ 8:47 pm
Word on the street is that vista is bloated, and much more than the macs. With both on Intel come 2006, we have a fight on our hands, and a lot more potential converts to Mac.
Chris said,
November 29, 2005 @ 5:53 am
Love the desktop picture on the Tiger screenshot, where did you get it?