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Microsoft Is Stealing Apple's Mojo

As early reviews of Windows 7 come in, it appears that Microsoft is getting a start at putting Vista behind it, the way the Coca-Cola Company did with New Coke. That's good news for Windows users -- and bad news for Apple, which has leveraged Microsoft's weakness to drive market gains.

Throughout the lifetime of Vista, we've been hearing reports about how it's buggy, a resource hog, hard to install, incompatible with legacy software, and so on and so on and so on. Although it's been getting better recently, its bad reputation continues to hound it.

But my colleague Alexander Wolfe installed the current version of Windows 7. It's prebeta, nowhere near ready for prime time -- nonetheless, according to Alex, it works pretty well. It installed without hassle in 35 minutes (that's significantly less time than it took me to upgrade my Mac to Leopard), and it has a smaller footprint than XP. Alex is "convinced" that "Windows 7 is going to be a winner."

All this stuff leads to the following differential diagnosis, on both the marketing and technical fronts. Marketing-wise, Microsoft has clearly been stung by Apple's "Get a Mac" ads. Particularly biting is the one called "Bean Counter," where the John Hodgman 'PC guy' character pushes a huge pile of money onto the "marketing" side of the table, with only a piddling amount on the other side, allocated to "fix Vista." (Then, of course he says, the heck with it, and shunts everything onto the marketing pile.)

Following through on Alex's thinking: The Apple ad is dead wrong. Microsoft is investing significant money in fixing Vista. And they're calling that fix "Windows 7." Indeed, software that runs on Vista should run fine on Windows 7.

Another colleague, Dave Methvin, also played with Windows 7, and he says cautiously that the transition might not be all that tough. He tested it on a five-year-old system, and it runs well.

It was quick and responsive, even with the default Aero Glass theme enabled. The new UAC is much less annoying and intrusive than Vista's version. There were a few glitches, but given that this isn't even a true beta I'm fine with cutting Microsoft some slack until a later beta applies. My take at the moment is that both Vista and XP users could be comfortable with Windows 7.

Ars Technica looks at Windows 7 management features, Machines can be imaged in-place; IT managers will be able to upgrade to a version of Windows 7 customized to their own needs and hardware configurations, while leaving user files intact. IT managers can load the image from a USB key (or ship the keys out to users to let the users do it for themselves). Windows 7 will allow IT managers to require encryption of removable drives (previous versions allowed IT managers to require encryption of internal drives). The operating system includes improved remote access security and performance. And, in a feature that should make beleaguered help-desk staff happy, Windows 7 introduces something called the "problem recorder." Ars explains:

Users experiencing problems can fire up the recorder, perform the necessary steps to demonstrate the problem, and send a diagnostic log off to a support department (or a support son-in-law, in the case of my family). The log includes screenshots of each step, including highlighted buttons where users performed an action. It seems like an obvious tool to provide to support departments, but the execution was better than we expected.

Ars also has a rundown of new user interface features for Windows 7, with plenty of screenshots. Windows 7 user interface changes focus on helping users manage large numbers of simultaneous open windows. Microsoft's research found that most users have 10-15 app windows open at once, and Microsoft is looking to help users keep track of that clutter, including changes to the taskbar and window behavior. I particularly like the capability Microsoft calls "peek;" it's a way to take a quick look at the contents of a window without actually bringing that window to the front.

Lifehacker has a video demonstrating some of the Windows 7 UI features. Lifehacker's Adam Pash pronounces the features "awesome"; he's right.

So Windows 7 looks good. What does this mean to Apple? It means an end to Windows problems driving increased Mac market share. Mac market grew share 60% in 2007, hitting 14% of the market by February. Much of that growth was fueled by Apple making great products, but some of it was disillusioned Windows users switching to Mac.

I should know; I was one of them. In February 2007, I walked into a computer store to buy a new PC. Faced with the choice between XP, which was a six-year-old operating system; or the brand-new Windows Vista, which I was already hearing bad things about, I chose "none of the above" and bought a Mac. It was a good choice, and I'm glad I made it -- but if Microsoft had an up-to-date, solid operating system available then, I would have gone with that instead.

Indeed, Microsoft has in recent months reversed its losses; its market share is growing and Apple's share slipped slightly.

Certainly, Macs aren't going to go away. Apple makes an excellent product. And the legions of people who switched to the Mac aren't going to suddenly switch back just because Microsoft doesn't stink anymore. But Apple's days of bicycling downhill with the wind at its back are drawing to a a close.

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