Gates and Jobs, will we miss you this time round?

Mike Halsey | Sep 09, 2009 | Comments

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<discuss> Something that many technology journalists seem to have missed is the fact that the latest iterations of Windows and OS X are the first, and only, not to have been helmed by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.  Gates bowed out from Microsoft the other year and Steve Jobs was, sadly, not well enough to work at the time.

Jobs made a triumphant return to public life today but what type of Apple has been moulded in his absence?

I believe that we’re seeing with Windows 7 and OS X Snow Leopard operating systems that have been created by the accountants.  Without the creative and domineering input of these two giants, Microsoft and Apple have simply been left to ‘get on with the job’ for the first time, and it’s interesting they’ve both coincided.

What we’ve got are two operating systems that are light on new features but leaner and fitter.  Would we have had these under Gates and Jobs?

We’ll probably never know the answer to this question, however I don’t believe it can be argued that either operating system will be worse off for the change.  Both are much improved over their predecessors, which goes doubly so for Windows 7!

With Jobs back at work will we see more innovation and excitement with the next version of OS X?  Conversely, with Gates now firmly out of the picture, will future versions of Windows turn into something that’s solid and dependable but, ultimately, a little boring? 

Only time will tell. </discuss>

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About the Author: The author of the new Windows 7 Power Users Guide, a how-to guide for non-technical Windows users on how to get the best out of Microsoft's new operating system, with step-by-step and quick guides. You can follow Mike on Twitter or on his own website The Long Climb

  • Jerish Brown
    I wouldn't think that windows would get "Boring." I mean, compare the number of games on Windows to Games on Mac. Yeah, boring isn't happening anytime soon!

    Its sad to see bill gone, but Steve Ballmer and Steven Sinofsky are working to make windows fun, safe and up-to-date!
  • Stephen
    This site needs an op-ed page, so that this sort of meaningless navel gazing isn't presented as news. So there is nothing new in either Windows 7 or SL? Have you bothered to to even use the OSs before presenting such subjective opinions as facts? Both OSs have substantial new features under the hood and (at least for Windows 7) on the surface as well.

    As far as SL goes, I'll let a Mac user address that subject. On the Windows front, I don't know whether you noticed, but the Windows 7 taskbar has been completely redesigned and the Aero concepts (introduced at a basic level in Vista) are much more robust. Perhaps if they dropped the Aero label, you might notice they are really entirely new features. Of course, even though XP Mode does not impress me, and is hardware limited, the seamless integration of a virtual OS into a disk-based native OS would also seem to be a rather substantial change.

    BTW, if you want to be controversial or stir up interest by making provocative statements, the effect is lost when you then insist on pandering to everyone. The "what have we lost/it''s not what it could be" post, when combined with "but everything is wonderful for everyone" has about as much effect as saying Toyota makes better cars than Honda unless you like Hondas. I also still haven't a clue as to what you mean by both OSs have coincided, nor does anything you've written suggest either was designed by accountants. Like a particular Mac user, I think I'll pass on reading these posts as well....

    Stephen
  • g1lmour
    stephen, im fed up with your meaningless long winded comments, stop trawling and GTFO!

    this is a great site, and they do the best at what they do
  • Rich
    Just because news is kind of slow (after all, pretty much everything has been covered) doesn't mean you need to trash this site. Windows7news has had the best overall coverage to date. As the launch comes to a close, the news on this site will dwindle and most of the users will migrate to Windows8news. It's been a great ride but new "news" is unlikely as the final product is already out there (just not to retail yet). This is relevant to Windows 7 in general and some of us (like me) weren't aware that Gates had completely backed off the project. If you don't like the articles on this site, try going elsewhere.
  • i agree with rich completely...
  • Anonymous 167
    I'll be the Mac user to speak up. For those of you who have the time to wade through 22 pages of an in depth review, check out John Siracusa's 10.6 review over at Ars Technica.

    For those of you who don't, while Snow Leopard may be light on new features, what this OS release brings us is a true 64 bit kernel (just one more step to a fully 64-bit OS, perhaps 10.7 or 10.8), many deprecated/clarified/extended API's, and OpenCL and Grand Central for excellent multi-tasking and effective GPU usage. Among many other smaller bits that probably only developers care about (migration to LLVM instead of GCC for example).
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