OSX and Longhorn Development
Interesting notes from a trade-show panel that featured ex-Apple and ex-Microsoft software designers, discussing how Mac OS X and Vista came into existence. Can’t remember ever seeing Apple and Microsoft engineers on a single panel, their comments are very interesting. As you’ve probably always suspected, Apple creates software with the design first; Microsoft begins with the engineering.
A couple interesting comments:
"Do people read everything in the dialogs & screens? Is that why Windows is wordier? In many cases the dialog should have never have come up, an engineer couldn't make a decision and put the burden to do so on the user."
and
"To what extent did engineering vs. design drive development? Apple: definitely driven by design. Engineers would ask "please don't show this to Steve" 
- Jobs compared pixel to pixel from Director prototype to OSX prototype, if it wasn’t right it had to be fixed
Behind the Scenes: Developing OS X and Longhorn
07/08/02006 8:26 AM
