Generally speaking, operating systems all travel down a similar development route. This is determined by the world around us, technology, trends and security. There’s also been the convergence of operating systems. In the last few years Linux has become more like Windows and Windows, in turn, has become more like OS X.
All operating systems these days are extremely similar, not only because their roots can all be traced back to Xerox, but because departing too far from the ‘interface norm’ is commercial suicide.
We’ve not had any operating system that was genuinely different since Windows 95, which is why it received such an unprecedented amount of press at the time. However Windows 7 and OS X Snow Leopard are so incredibly similar now that it can be argued you can no longer compare them to each other. Let me explain why.
Obviously there are differences. Each OS handles things in a different way to its competitors, this is for commercial as much as other reasons, to avoid litigation when the OS is released. The OS writers also want to be able to set their OS apart from their competitors by taking the features the other side use and making them just a little bit better.
But this is where the problem lies. Various features in Windows 7 are ‘just a little bit better’ than the comparable features in OS X Snow Leopard and vice-versa. There’s no real innovation any more, it’s all about taking what we’re comfortable with and tweaking it.
Obviously there are attempts at innovation, multi-touch technology in Windows 7 for instance is in all probability doomed to fail. There are also implementations of new technologies wrapped up as innovation when in fact they’re nothing of the sort. All they are is fancy ways of utilising improvements in technologies we didn’t have a couple of years ago to help us do things we’re already doing, just a little bit better. Homegroup and Time Machine are examples of this.
If you now look at the tweaks that Microsoft and Apple are making to their operating systems it’s clear that what they’re trying to do now is make their operating systems better for the people who are already using them, to try and convince them to upgrade and keep their revenue streams up. Operating systems are now, clearly, written to keep existing users on board above anything else. They’re written for their own little eco-system.
The fact that the operating systems are all so similar gives them an added opportunity to try and steal customers from the other side, but all they’re really able to say is “our operating system is just a little bit better in some areas than theirs is”. People won’t switch though because they like comfortable, and switching isn’t comfortable.
I’m a PC (if the marketing hype is to be believed) but I fancy the Mac. The problem is that I’m locked into an eco-system now and the reasons to move to Apple hardware just aren’t compelling enough because, firstly, the differences just aren’t that great any more but also and most importantly, because I don’t believe I’m the type of person Apple are marketing their operating system to any more.
