Mac OS 7 to Windows 7: OS Showdowns Through the Ages!
Posted 08/26/09 at 08:00:00 AM by Paul Lilly
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In less than two months, Microsoft will finally release Windows 7 to an eager user base, some of which have already put Vista in the rear view mirror. Microsoft's slickest OS to date, Win 7 purports to do everything from improve file transfer performance to solving the world's problems and finally bringing peace around the globe.
On the other side of the tracks, Justin Long and the rest of the Apple allegiant will get a head start on the next-gen OS wars with Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard." And while we can knock Apple for its overpriced hardware and sissy aesthetics, OS X Leopard users will be able to upgrade for just $29, or less than a week's worth of lattes.
But we're not here to diss on Apple (at least not unnecessarily), nor do we intend to crank Microsoft's hype machine (seriously though, Windows 7 officially kicks ass). What we will do is take you all the way back to Windows 3.1 and examine how the OS wars have evolved in the modern era (you can find our pre-Windows 3.1 retrospective here). And for you open- source fans, fear not, you'll get your fill of Linux as well.
So sit back, grab a cold one (beer if you're a PC user, mocha cappuccino if you're a Mac user, and Bawls if you're rocking Linux), and hit the jump to get started!
System 7 (Mac OS 7)
Circa 1991
Two things happened on May 13, 1997. Fans at Yankee Stadium sang Madonna's song "Like a Virgin" to Oakland A's Jose Canseco, who was rumored to be dating the pop singer back when that might actually seem appealing, and Apple released System 7 for the Macintosh, now referred to as OS 7.
Image Credit: willyhoops.com
The early OS won several awards in the press, which was one of the seven reasons Apple touted in its advertising campaign (take a look here). Apple was also quick to point out how much more powerful System 7 was compared to previous versions, but that also required beefier hardware. System 7 was the first Apple OS to require a hard drive, and the memory footprint almost doubled. This caused System 7 to run comparatively sluggish on older hardware.
The biggest point in System 7's favor was that it was actually free to copy and distribute. That's something that has never been the case with Windows, and probably never will be.
Windows 3.1
Circa 1992
Like Apple's System 7, Microsoft's Windows 3.1 represented a substantial upgrade over previous versions and it became one of the first major PC GUI operating systems to see widespread use. According to Microsoft, more than 1,000 changes were made to Windows 3.1, including the mouse trail, which made it "easier to find the cursor on a laptop display."
Image Credit: computerhovel.com
Whereas System 7 left a larger memory footprint in its path, Windows 3.1 eased memory constraints somewhat by running in 386 enhanced memory mode. However, this could sometimes be tricky because MS-DOS had only 640KB of memory available for storing programs. This is where it's important to note that Windows 3.1 was essentially a shell on top of MS-DOS, and not a full fledged OS.
Image Credit: Microsoft
Later in 1992, Microsoft would release an extended version of Windows 3.1 called Windows for Workgroups 3.1. This new version offered support for SMB file sharing via the NetBEUI or IPX network protocols and it came with all the network software necessary for sharing files, printers, OLE objects, and DDE data with other Windows for Workgroups (WFW)-equipeed computers.
Fun Fact: Microsoft continued to support Win 3.1 up until the end of 2001, and it still lived on as an embedded OS until November, 2008.
Solaris 2.x and 7-10
Circa 1992
What else is there besides DOS, Mac, and Windows? UNIX, for one, which is the category Solaris finds itself in. Solaris would do battle with Microsoft's NT line of OSes in the server space rather than the consumer desktop market.
One of Solaris' strengths lies in supporting a large number of processors, and while it has been the go-to OS for Sun's SPARC hardware, starting with Solaris 2.1, the UNIX-based OS also started supporting x86 systems, as well as the PowerPC platform.
Image Credit: tenox.tc
The latest release -- Solaris 10 / SunOS 5.10 -- includes x86-64 support, a GRUB bootloader for x86 systems, Samba Active Directory support, and SpeedStep (Intel) and PowerNow! (AMD) support.
ozcgrup
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Submitted by damicatz on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 5:29am
OpenBSD is *NOT* a Linux distribution. It is a BSD distribution. BSD is an entirely different operating system from Linux. Yes, superficially it looks like Linux because both are UNIX-like operating systems but the codebase is completetly different from Linux.
Please see : http://www.over-yonder.net/~fullermd/rants/bsd4linux/bsd4linux1.php
Windows ME
Submitted by Kaleb34 on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 7:01am
Best picture ever.
I laughed.
Submitted by thomsonr on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:16pm
I must be one of the few people who like Vista. I started using it from Beta without problems and used it both at home and work.
If I didn't game at home I'd seriously consider the Mac. However I am now running Win7 on all home computers and quite happy with it.
Next stop is to move to 64bit both at work and home.
Submitted by thomsonr on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:04pm
I am an avid games player and I don't remember having in problem with games.
I liked NT 4 workstation so much I built an network at the City Hall where I worked based on it and Exchange Server. It was the most modern network in our City at the time.
Submitted by jaygatsby on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 2:25pm
i found a funny post on apple's obsession with endangered jungle cats: http://onthebutton.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/apple-snow-leopard/
Submitted by onewithazureskies on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 10:17am
the link to the windows xp review is broken due to whitespace, try
Ubuntu
Submitted by vulchan on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:16am
If most games out on the pc worked on ubuntu out of the box (or via steam), it would easily be in my top three list of favorite OS's.
It's easier than you think
Submitted by jreis014 on Wed, 10/14/2009 - 5:55am
www.winehq.org
http://appdb.winehq.org
That, and the forums for Ubuntu make it pretty easy to use Wine for alot of Windows games. It's not an absolute solution, but it works pretty well for alot of games. There's also a great MPC article:
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/how_run_windows_software_and_games_linux_wine
I hope this might urge you to consider Linux as an alternative.
yes
Submitted by themohawkadmin on Sat, 09/05/2009 - 12:04pm
indeed
Submitted by rclamp on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:05am
I really don't think you can call this article "well-written." There are so many glaring errors. Most notably, that OS X consists of bits and pieces of OpenStep. It IS NextStep/OpenStep with bits and pieces tacked on and modified. Also, System 7 was not released in 1997 and OS 10.3 was not released in 2002. Also, what's up with the ridiculous pictures that don't fit what's being discussed? A Win95-era UI while discussing Win 3.1, a NT kernel STOP screen for WinME, etc. Blah... I'm sorry to be nitpicky, but there are a LOT of errors!
Also, OS/2 was simply amazing and so far ahead of its time. I can only imagine how great PC computing could have been in the 90's if Microsoft had stuck with IBM to develop and promote OS/2 rather than earlier versions of the Windows "shell" concept that lasted until the early 2000's.
Incoming, Pyro!
Submitted by Havok on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 6:51pm
I wrote that sarcastically Flamer. Geez, it's not like I called your mother a hamster, or your father a goat, or that you smell of elder-berry...
I was just making a point that there is no way to write an article about an OS and NOT have some sort of flame-war. And you my friend just proved my point by chucking an entire can of Naphtha on the fire.
OMGWTFBBQ
So... OS X 10.6 will be the
Submitted by horzo on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 6:42am
So... OS X 10.6 will be the FIRST Mac OS to actually have a 64-bit kernel, right?
Haha...
this image shows how the
Submitted by Khaled on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 1:26pm
this image shows how the migration from 32 to 64 bit was done
http://images.appleinsider.com/road-to-sl-080826-6.gif
their migration options was either splitting the tiers (like windows 32and 64 bit) or just do a full migration
Vista 64 and 32 bits with snow leopard
http://images.appleinsider.com/road-to-sl-080826-4.gif
Submitted by horzo on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 3:20pm
Yes, I understand what Apple did. That's why I'm laughing.
Submitted by Khaled on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 9:16am
I rather that than paying for 2 separate licenses though, guess MS is the one laughing to the bank :p
Submitted by fry on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 9:55am
You get both 32- and 64-bit versions when you buy a retail copy of Windows.
Submitted by Havok on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 5:43am
Well written article, written from a perspective that WON'T start an all out flaming war by fanboys.
Oh wait, I didn't read the previous essays down here |
\/
OMGWTFBBQ
PC/LINUX
Submitted by Mr Pockets151 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 5:33am
Since I use Windows and Linux interchangebly I mix my Bawls w/my beer.
To the last nugget!
just jumped the fence
Submitted by jihnn on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 5:07am
i finally did it .. gave ms the big fu....sionora.... get lost....don't let the door hit ya on the way out..hahhah
ms will never get another dollar from me i just couldn't take it i feel good about it gonna be a new experience
hey anyone know where the on button is on this thing
it's sayonara (japanese for
Submitted by jrocknyc on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 6:59am
it's sayonara (japanese for "goodbye")
Usually I'm no person to do
Submitted by dag1992 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 2:08pm
Usually I'm no person to do this, but your post makes no sense. Care to explain your grievances?
"So sit back, grab a cold
Submitted by quickone on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:12am
"So sit back, grab a cold one (beer if you're a PC user, mocha
cappuccino if you're a Mac user, and Bawls if you're rocking Linux)"I laughed so damn hard when I read that, so true. I know 5
people who drink bawls and they are the 5 most hardcore Linux people I
know. And I am starting to winder if a Macbook works outside of a coffee
shop, I guess if you can afford that over priced computer you can
afford that over priced caffeinated beverage~~The difference between insanity and genius is merely succes~~
Submitted by arkweld on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 10:32pm
You know what's funny about this list?
Windows 7 still breaks just as easily as ever and navigation is still poorly designed. It still hasn't adopted the interface flexibility that Mac OS has had since System 8.
Move an application to a different folder and W7 will still lose track of it. Try it yourself. Put Windows Defender in another folder and then try and open it from the Start menu.
Want to rearrange your applications folder on the fly in whatever way you want? That's probably going to break all the shortcuts as well. Want to install them on a separate drive? Don't expect them to work if you reinstall the system because thanks to the archaic registry throwing keys all over it's impregnable file system it's still impossible to just move your settings back and forth with ease.
Navigation is still two steps behind. There's a breadcrumb trail the top of every window. Logically I would think that since the file path is visible I can just drag a file from the window onto the folder listed. Nope. If I want to move a file or folder I have to dig through the convoluted explorer tree or open another window.
On a Mac for over ten years if you can see a folder icon on screen in the Finder it's an active folder. You can drag anything you want to it. Whether it's in the search result breadcrumb trail or sitting in the dock. Even the title of the folder window can be used to relocate it by just dragging it to a new location.
Windows 7 still doesn't have anything close to column view for quickly navigating and moving files. Contextual navigation trees in the task bar, simple and organized system file organization ...
Nope still not here yet.
MS need to dump the registry once and for all. It's holding back the entire OS and crippling it with software requirements that make the Enigma code look more futuristic.
Submitted by Cregan89 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 7:53am
Yes, if you move the source file, the shortcut file loses track of it in Windows. But the same thing happens in OS X as well. The only difference is that in OS X, Apple made it very difficult to actually view an installed program's files because they are "packaged" together and the individual librarys and executables are hidden. If you try to move a program from OS X's "programs" folder, you are essentially uninstalling the program. So if you move a program from the programs folder in OS X all links to that program stop working.
Microsoft tries to hide a program's dll's and exe's as well. If you navigate to the "programs" folder in windows it comes up saying that "these are system files and making any changes to these files could cause your programs to stop working" and you must click to ignore the warning in order to actually move the files. There should be no reason to move these files anyways. If you want to install a program in a different directory in Windows, the proper way is to change the installation directory when you first install the program. This way your shortcuts are already aimed at the proper directory. This has absolutely nothing to do with the registry.
Submitted by pcfxer on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 8:57pm
..or not. I'm a poor student and I'm stuying computer science and I have a Macbook, and love OSX. OSX is the *BSD that does the hours of tweaking and configuring all in one sinch. It is extremely powerful and the ability for me to dig down and use my usual *BSD CLI tools is incredible.
In fact, how about people who have no idea about how a computer works continue to use whatever is bundled with their machines because that is what happens. "regular" people think of PCs as appliances, no more than the family toaster and no less than the family television. That is just how it is.
Making brash and uneducated generalizations about the said users of operating systems is pointless. I guess I could also point out that at UNIX and Linux meetings, as I look up to the audience rolling in, there is a MAJORITY of Apple laptops gleeming with their glowing Apples. At the pub I find that only a few use OSX as a part-time OS and the others don't see the point since "if it works in OSX it'll generally work in *BSD". I mean what do they know though, right? It's not like their developers or anything.
How about we stop bitching
Submitted by gendoikari1 on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 8:30pm
How about we stop bitching about OSes and just use the one we feel comfortable with? (Windows if you're an average Joe/a gamer, Mac OS if you have a wallet lined with gold and no thought as to how your computer works, and Linux, if you are neither)
Submitted by da_samman on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 8:29am
THANK YOU!! FINALLY, a post I can relate to with regards to this article. I rock Windows because it is all I ever learned, plus I am a gamer. Still, maybe one day I will be able to get a Mac and learn that OS, and also maybe I will learn Linux and see if I can play WoW on it too (I know that there is a Mac version of WoW).
Sincerely yours, from Fort Lewis, WA
SGT Samuel E. McClard II
Life's a journey, enjoy the ride!!
damn skippy...i dont hate
Submitted by dracx619 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 2:15am
damn skippy...i dont hate mac, i hate apple
No shit, finally someone
Submitted by DBsantos77 on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 8:47pm
No shit, someone finally pointed that out.
Submitted by mesiah on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 6:55pm
You're both idiots! If either of you had half a brain you could put them together and use linux.
LOL!!!
Submitted by Techrocket9 on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 8:16pm
LOL!!!
_____________________________________________________
An army of pacifists can be defeated by one man with the will to fight.
Submitted by Queenof1 on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 10:47am
Is mesiah talking to himselves?
Submitted by Khaled on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 5:47pm
Let's see how long until we see a comment war between the various fanboys of all systems ...
I use Mac, Windows and Linux regularly so 'll have nothing to do with it :)
Thanks for the great post
Submitted by Khaled on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 4:13am
Totally unrelated but I think MaxPC should talk about this ;)
http://www.massively.com/2009/08/25/cryptics-official-response-on-sold-out-champions-special-subscr/
I don't see a "submit news" form on the site :(
Submitted by pcfxer on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 9:08pm
There are quite a few mistakes for the OpenStep -> OSX transition.
Apple implemented A LOT of NexTSTEP/OpenStep into OSX. Primarily the following:
TCP/IP (don't know why Maximum PC didn't mention this, but TCP/IP was FIRST on OpenSTEP and was the EASIEST to setup)
OpenStep application framework which was designed to operate in the same manner as CORBA (from Sun)
ExtensibleGraphics (images can be drawn almost simultaneously within windows, the FIRST to draw windows in a clipping region, GDI hadn't quite adopted this yet)
The ENTIRE Core of the OS, the kernel, an adoption of the MACH kernel implemented in a monolithic manner and communicating with the user through an API to stitch together BSD and MACH. Events and messages are keywords here and are what make the SMP prowess that lies beneath OSX.
The finder didn't exist in OpenStep, I don't know what crack MaximumPC is smoking but I want some because they are making up a lot of "facts". The finder existed only in MacOS (duh?) and was actually completely rewritten for its use in the new envrionment (OSX...OpenStep).
The interesting thing here is the reason why I don't subscribe. I still get the incorrect information that I used to but for much less money! MaximumPC should be renamed WindowsPC (Total BS).
Submitted by Khaled on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 1:28pm
interesting insight pcfxer!
unfortunatly sometimes maxPC concentrates more on hating apple, a total shame.
Submitted by Toady00 on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 7:59pm
It took less than an hour from your post.
Not exactly surprising
Submitted by deject on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 8:08pm
Not exactly surprising though, is it?
The comment war has
Submitted by doomgrunt on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 7:22pm
The comment war has begun.
Great write-up!
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