Thanks for posting that video, I had heard about it but had not tracked it down yet.
I've often heard the MAD doctrine talked about when it came to Apple and Microsoft. MAD was a cold war acronym meaning Mutually Assured Destruction and was applied to the idea that the US and the USSR had the ability to unleash such massive destruction on each other that it kind of kept the peace.
MAD as applied to Apple and Microsoft is that both companies are in violation of so many of each others patents that if either one of them ever acted on one the legal battle involved would escalate to massive levels and cost the companies untold amounts of cash. As such, both just let it be.
I mean think about it, what if Apple won a patent they had that was a critical part of every Windows OS on the market today and demanded a licensing fee...or vice versa with Apple.
As far as Vista goes, I am not sure how much is stolen vs. how much is part of a technology sharing program the two companies have. They just formalized this arrangement recently and only announced it yesterday.
The deal is that MS will continue to support Office on the Mac for at least five years in exchange for Apple sharing new technologies with MS on a timely basis.
While the deal was apparently just put into writing it has existed informally between these two companies for a long time.
So when all us OSX users gasp at how similar Vista looks to Tiger we don't know how much MS ripped off vs. how much Apple shared with them in exchange for continue support of Office.
But to be perfectly fair, Apple didn't exactly "innovate" Tiger's Dashboard...they got that idea from Konfabulator (we could always revisit Sherlock and Watson too).
What does surprise me about Vista are the hefty requirements to run the Glass UI.
I am currently running Tiger on a 1.33 ghz iBook with 512 RAM and a 32 MB ATI graphics chip.
Windows Vista recommendations are:
As a general guideline, just about any mid-range and better processor shipping from Intel or AMD is a good fit for basic functionality in Windows Vista. The lower end of the current processor range will work, but those processors wont provide the optimal experience for most users and definitely wont provide the best experience for high-end gaming or video editing.
and
Both Intel and AMD are starting to ship dual-core processors at the upper end of their processor lines. These powerful processors will be excellent choices for Windows Vista.
Now is the time to decide whether youre ready to make the jump to a 64-bit processor. The current x64 processors from Intel and AMD will be excellent processors for Windows Vista, and I think well see a widespread move to 64-bit by the time Windows Vista ships.
Microsoft
From Intel:
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 600? sequence with HT Technology1 and Intel® Extended Memory 64 Technology?
Intel
From AMD:
AMD
RAM:
To take better advantage of Windows Vista functionality, you should have at least 512 MB of RAM, on your PC. This provides enough memory for both the operating system and a typical application workload. And while 512 MB is great for many scenarios, more advanced users will want 1 GB of memory or more.
Microsoft
Video Card Requirements:
If you are building or buying PC today, you probably want to avoid the low end of the current GPU range and make sure you get a GPU that supports DirectX 9 and has at least 64 MB of graphics memory.
Whether you are building or buying a PC today, choose a design that includes a separate PCI Express or AGP graphics card. This way, even if the card you choose ends up not being an optimal choice, you can easily upgrade just the graphics card. And the choice of AGP or PCI Express will ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth to support the enhanced graphics of Windows Vista.
This is the part that makes the least sense due to the increasing demand for thin, light portable laptops:
When choosing a notebook today for use in Windows Vista, you may run into the trade-off between better graphics or thinner and lighter ultra portables. Exactly which chipsets for mobile PCs will end up fully supported is still open at this point. However, if you are purchasing a mobile PC today, and want to get AERO Glass experience, you will need a discrete card. When buying a notebook today, ask your PC vendor for more concrete information regarding graphics cards that would support WDDM.
Microsoft
If you don't have all of this stuff it is supposed to scale down to look like Windows XP but good grief, I ran Tiger on my 1.25 ghz Mac Mini, 32 MB ATI graphics and 256 MB RAM perfectly fine without the system turning off things.
But what should we be expecting really tho? It's always been like this...
