Windows Site Praises XP, Says Mac OS X & Linux Are But Copycats Of Windows [Updated]

by , 1:40 PM EDT, September 6th, 2001

[Update 12:40 PM CDT: Observer Richard pointed out in the comments that Mr. Thurrott has updated his review after we published this piece. The offending quote we include below has been changed a bit, and now reads:

And for competitors such as Mac OS X and Linux, where innovation often has lately equated to simply copying the feature set of Windows, the bar has been raised yet again, this time to stupefying heights. Surely, those platforms will catch up to XP, someday, in areas such as digital media integration, the task-based user interface, and the like. But in the meantime, we've got the best solution right here, right now. And it's primed for hundreds of millions of users just waiting for a reason to upgrade.

Thanks to Richard for the note.]

We have long been used to a world of wackiness from the PC community. For one thing, we are told that some Windows users actually like Windows, though that remains an unconfirmed rumor. Other Winheads, poor misguided souls that they are, actually suffer the illusion that Microsoft is in some way innovative. That's where this article comes in. Paul Thurrott runs a site that imaginatively called "Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows."

We know little of Mr. Thurrott, but his site must be popular in the Windows world as he was unlucky enough to snag an interview with Jim "Open Source Is Un-American" Allchin. You might remember Mr. Allchin as the Microsoft executive who was initially charged by his masters with floating the trial balloon for Microsoft's anti-Open Source smear campaign.

TMO Forum member firefly pointed us to a review of Windows XP that reads like a (very long) excerpt from Microsoft's marketing materials, a fact which Mr. Thurrott freely admits. For instance, Mr. Thurrott dismisses WPA as being an inconvenience to "only a vast minority of users," and minimizes the fact that you have to call Microsoft and reactivate your system if you upgrade your hardware too often. After all, Microsoft did its best to make this extremely intrusive "feature" less intrusive, so that must make it OK. He also fails to mention the fact that Microsoft is currently targeting February as the date to stop selling XP and only make it available through yearly rentals that will forever lock you into a yearly payout to Microsoft, whether or not you upgrade.

What Mac and Linux fans alike will enjoy the most is the closing paragraph. This is when Mr. Thurrott calls Mac OS X and Linux mere copycats of the wonderful Windows XP. From the article, and remember that we aren't making this up:

And for the copycat Mac OS X and Linux platforms, where innovation equates to copying the feature set of Windows, the bar has been raised yet again, this time to stupefying heights. Surely, those platforms will catch up someday. But in the meantime, we've got the best solution right here, right now.

You can read the full Windows XP review at Mr. Thurrott's "SuperSite." You can also skip right over to Microsoft's Windows XP Web site and read their marketing materials directly. Feel free to join in the discussion on this topic in our forums.

The Mac Observer Spin:

We felt somewhat violated when we read through the muck that Mr. Thurrott calls a review. All of that aside, what planet does Mr. Thurrott come from if he thinks that Apple and the Linux community are copying from Microsoft? He has that a tad backwards, and by "tad" we mean "completely." That surely has to be one of the most preposterous things we have heard in a long time. Truly scary.

Paul Thurrott's Windows XP Review