Here’s a choice quote from Simon Aldous, who is a Microsoft’s partner group manager, regarding Windows 7. While on one hand it’s nice that Microsoft have (finally) admitted that they’ve drawn heavily from Mac OS X’s design and philosophy when it comes to the user interface, his closing comment is what stands out (for all the wrong reasons):
One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it’s very graphical and easy to use. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.
Emphasis mine. What a truly remarkable thing to say.