Today I have read a piece by Walt Mossberg on Windows 7. In the article Mossberg argues that Windows 7 is not as bad as its successor Windows Vista, but almost as good as Mac OS X 10.6 aka Snow Leopard. I am not sure about this.

I have left the Windows world when everybody was using Windows XP and Vista was in the beginning of its measly life. I have been using solely Mac OS X since then, Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. So, wrt my experience, I can compare recent 3 Mac OS X versions to XP and to some extent Vista (from my colleagues’, friends’ and family experience). Windows 7 has been living in a VM, mostly used to copy files between two NTFS partitions.

Mossberg argues that Windows 7 fixes problems with Vista and that is really good for Microsoft. Unfortunately, it is not enough for me. In my opinion the key features he lists for the new OS can be grouped like: those that every modern OS must have (fluid networking), those that fix problems with Vista (speed, compatibility, nagging), those that seem mostly useless because there is no great hardware to support it (touch) and those that are minor GUI improvements (desktop and file organization, the new taskbar). There is not one thing I see in that list that will make me say that: “ah, OK, that is a must have. let me try it”. Like integrated security measures, fancy network functionality (like automated file sharing, mesh-networking etc.), a complete and revolutionary GUI. Neither is the OS faster, more secure or has more eye-candy than what Apple offers at the moment. If you don’t need Windows, than I believe there is no reason to switch back.

So, I don’t agree with what Mossberg says. Better is not enough for Microsoft. They need to do the best.