Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!rutgers!pyrnj!esquire!baumgart
From: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: System 7.0 vs. Windows 3.0
Summary: Is Microsoft just playing catchup?
Keywords: windows, system 7
Message-ID: <2135@esquire.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jul 90 18:11:52 GMT
Sender: news@esquire.UUCP
Reply-To: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Organization: Davis Polk & Wardwell
Lines: 50

Though I haven't had a chance to play with Windows 3.0 yet, from all
the discussion and everything I've heard, it sounds like it's a
reasonable clone of the current generation of Macintosh system
software.

But I wonder how well it will compare to System 7.0 and beyond.  For
example, I think that System 7.0's "publish and subscribe" feature is
an excellent step forward in the development not only of the Mac OS,
but of operating systems in general.  DDE under Windows is all fine
and well if you have all the applications running at the same time,
but what if you don't?  What if one application is running on a PC
down the hall, and another is running on the PC on your desk?  What
happens if the guy down the hall turns his PC off for the night and
goes home?

How about aliases?  There's no support in Windows for them, but the
idea is great, and it sounds like the implementation of them in System
7.0 will be done with some care (i.e., so aliases are intuitive to
use). 

Someone posted that Windows 3.0 supports all the major networking
schemes (Novell, etc.).  But what does this really mean?  Under System
7.0, I can create public folders for others to use without having to
run network administration programs and the like; can I do this under
Windows 3.0, or is Windows' network support limited to low-level
operations?

Note that I'm not even getting into things like multiple monitors,
32-bit color support, simple networking of Macintoshes and
LaserWriters, etc. -- current features of System 6.0 which Windows
doesn't really support (or doesn't support either very well or very
intuitively).

There are a lot of features in the Mac, both in current system
software and in System 7.0, that go a long way towards empowering
individual, inexperienced users.  That's one of the things anyone who
has *used* a Mac has noticed.  If Microsoft has done similar things
with Windows, that's great, but have they really? 

Microsoft is playing a great game of catchup, and that anyone is even
considering Windows as competition for the Mac shows how far they've
come.  But I wonder whether they're always going to wait for Apple to
make the next move when it comes to extending the power of personal
computers. 

--
   Steve Baumgarten             | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
   Davis Polk & Wardwell        |  remember, we were way ahead of you."
   baumgart@esquire.dpw.com     | 
   cmcl2!esquire!baumgart       |                           - David Letterman