This whole Mac vs PC rivalry really gets to me, as I'm sure it does with other people. Over the past years, I've grown to utterly loathe most anything related to Apple. The sight or mention of an iPod makes me want to grab and smash the nearest one. When somebody introduces themself as a Mac user, my mental image of them instantly drops a few notches. It's not that I'm a Windows or MS zealot--I get pissed when I click on My Computer and get a "Microsoft has closed Explorer to protect your computer." message. The problem is the whole elitist, "holier-than-you" attitude that Apple and Apple users tend to carry. They think their stuff is the best simply because it has an Apple stamped on it, frequently not even bothering to look at competing products--or if so, usually just long enough to sneer at it.
But for the sake of responding to this article in particular, lets just assume that there won't be any of that going on. I'll ignore the zealots for a while and pretend that this is a prefectly fair, competitive environment, without fanboys and the like. What happens? Features get copied and improved upon.
That's how everything works in the business world. If you have a competitor, you have two options. Copy and modify/improve upon their solution, or take a radically different approach. But many times, you can't do a radically different approach to something and still have a viable replacement. Applying this to the idea of widgets and such, consider what they really are. They're mini applications that do useful little tasks that don't necessarily deserve a full-screened window. So what does that say about how they must be made? Well, they're small. And because they're small, there has to be some convenient way to organize or store them. That's just a requirement based on their nature. MS chooses to put them on the desktop or side bar, Apple chooses to put them in an alternate desktop thing. And there you have Widgets and Gadgets.
As much fun as it may be to say "Well Microsoft is copying Apple!" people need to consider what it means to be competitive. It's matching and adapting to the competition. If people like Widgets, they should be glad that Gadgets are being used. It's a feature they like which will become more widespread and get more appreciation and usage. Consider the things that might happen:
1. Gadgets end up looking and working worse than Widgets. Apple users laugh at Microsoft and point out that they can't even copy them well.
2. Gadgets and Widgets are about on par with each other. Apple users stubbornly say that they had Gadgets first, so they're automatically better. They also complain that Microsoft is copying them.
3. Gadgets end up being better than Widgets. Apple users cry foul play, that Microsoft copied them, and then promptly forget who has a superior offering when nobody listens to them complain anymore.
Regardless of how the Gadget ends up working in comparison to the Widget, it's still going to be ridiculed.
Is there no way to win this "Feature War" that's going on between OS X and Vista? In the minds of zealots, it doesn't matter who originally showcased the features first or who ends up doing it better or on a wider scale. The only thing that matters is that their side ends up winning, no matter what.
It's these same zealots who make me utterly despise Apple and everything they make. I've got an MP3 player, called a Gmini 400, that also plays videos and stuff. It's just like an iPod, but a little less elegant and a lot more feature-rich. Apple zealots, carrying their iPods which can't even display JPEGs in color most of the time, just kinda scoff at what I've got. They don't even take a look at what it can do, they just assume that because they have something smooth and shiny and reassuringly expensive, it's better than anything else. Their devices are simple and superficial, just like they are, so it suits them fine. It's these people, who belittle my search for a good MP3 player by shrugging it off, that make me hate the products they carry. They do this to everything, claiming that Apple is the best at whatever it takes a swing at. I think that's utterly absurd. They think I'm jealous. I think they're stupid.
