Really? This is sad.

Microsoft is running ads during the olympics talking about how awesome Windows 7 is. In one ad this ostensibly British woman talks about how she said Windows 7 should be easier, and she shows as proof the new task bar. I nearly died laughing. Here's a screenshot of windows 7:



Now, there are several things that make this funny. First and foremost is the taskbar mentioned in the ad. This AMAZING new feature makes windows easier to use, or so says the ad. Ok, fair enough, I'm sure it does. So how innovative is this new feature? Look at this shot from the Mac OS X public beta, released in October of 2000:



See that at the bottom? Look familiar? Yes, that's called the Dock. It's the exact thing that Microsoft is ripping off for Windows 7. When Windows 95 came out there were T-Shirts that said "Windows 95 = Macintosh 87" and they weren't far from the truth. Apparently Microsoft has fallen further behind, because now they are nine years behind the Mac...

Don't even get me started on the "Gadgets" that are a ripoff of the Dashboard, first introduced with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" in April of 2005. To be fair, the gadgets debuted with Windows Vista, which is a bit like saying you got your start in film working on Ishtar...

It's sad really. Microsoft tries so hard, and fails so spectacularly over and over again. I honestly don't understand it. I've been to their campus. They have bright people who work very hard in a great environment. I walked away very impressed. But at the end of the day, I use the mac because I don't like being 5-10 years behind in technology...

Joel