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The Competition's Brutal (11/27/00)
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We've all been waiting for Mac OS X for donkey's years, so naturally we're all pretty excited that it's finally going to ship sometime "early next year." Our bet's on early May, probably at the Worldwide Developers Conference; while that date certainly falls on the right side of the Pessimism Bell Curve, given the lack of "fit and finish" in the public beta, we have a hard time seeing Apple shipping a 1.0 release much earlier than that. In any case, though, provided Apple sticks to the "early 2001" ship date, in no more than six months or so we'll finally have an operating system that will trounce Windows in every category other than software availability. Mac OS X is what will make Apple the undeniable leader in the operating system race. Right?
Well, maybe. We might have to qualify that "undeniable," because unfortunately for Apple, Microsoft's not standing still. Thanks to a Go2Mac article, we took a gander at a SuperSite For Windows preview of the first beta version of Redmond's next operating system, code-named "Whistler." Much as the comparison rankles us, Whistler and Mac OS X have a lot in common from an upgrade point of view; just as Mac OS X leaves behind sixteen years of Mac OS baggage in the leap to a modern OS infrastructure, with Whistler, Bill's geeks have "finally jettisoned the old DOS-based Windows 9x line in favor of the NT-based Windows 2000 product family." And while the screenshots posted at the site aren't quite as pretty as Aqua, they're still a solid step up on the taste ladder from Windows 98. Interface enhancements such as a simplified Start menu and an "improved Taskbar" also might give the much-maligned Dock a serious run for its money.
So let's see, here; we're not sure of Whistler's release schedule, but since it's in beta now, it seems pretty likely to hit the shelves pretty close to Mac OS X's debut. Which means that just when Apple finally brings its customers a buzzword-compliant, multi-user operating system with a fresh new look, Microsoft will be doing the same. We predict about a gazillion "OS X vs. Whistler: Head To Head" articles next year. Here's hoping that Mac OS X can hold its own against Microsoft's first "modern" consumer OS-- and we really wish Mac OS X has shipped this past summer, instead.
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 11/27/00 episode: November 27, 2000: About those two upcoming "iMovie-like" apps-- could one of them be an Internet telephony package? Meanwhile, Mac OS X may be just months away from release, but Microsoft's getting Whistler ready for battle, and "Redmond Justice" limps along as Bill's lawyers prepare to file yet another brief that isn't...
Other scenes from that episode: 2702: "Hello, Is Steve There?" (11/27/00) And so ends another epic four-day weekend for U.S. denizens, who more than likely gave thanks for the existence of Maalox over trivial things like food, shelter, family, and all that rot. Talk about a stressful four days; it kicked off with the traditional eat-til-you-hurt-yourself bingefest on Thursday, followed by the maim-others-if-you-have-to commencement of the holiday shopping frenzy on Friday-- which, of course, continued throughout the weekend... 2704: When's The Next Sweeps? (11/27/00) Hands up, who remembers "Redmond Justice"? No, the once-highly-rated courtroom drama wasn't cancelled, but admittedly its ratings could use a pretty hefty boost. Unfortunately, the show peaked back when the witness testimony was in full swing; who could forget such wonderful moments as a videotaped Bill Gates claiming not to know what "is" means, Judge Jackson laughing out loud at Microsoft's defense, and government mouthpiece David Boies revealing Redmond's attempts to fake their own evidence-- more than once?...
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