I read it again. It must have been the 100th time. I know I shouldn’t get so annoyed, but what can I say, I must be right at all costs. (at least that’s what my therapist tells me, or told me till I realized she was wrong and fired her)

The offense in question? “Windows 7’s taskbar looks like it copied OS X’s dock.” Now I am not one to talk bad about people for being stupid, I know that it takes all kinds of people to make a world, but follow my logic for a moment here.

Do these two things look alike?

I don’t think so, but let’s make sure, I know this stuff can be very confusing…

How about these?

I am pretty sure there is only one of those I am drooling over.

Let’s try one more…

So from a pure aesthetic perspective, it’s a variable sized glossy translucent shelf that holds icons that launch applications or folders, while Windows 7’s taskbar is a single sized, full width bar, flat and transparent, which holds icons (which it identifies as open by jewelling with a square instead of a small glowing light beneath it.) As if visual wasn’t enough differentiation, it’s quite a bit different functionally. I took a close look at it on my PC and Mac, side by side, and created this quick grid to compare features and characteristics:

That’s 14 dimensions of measurement and only two of them are shared. Come on, that’s 14% functional symmetry! If you ask me, they are about the same as Peanut Buttery & Jelly sandwiches and Tuna Loaf. I prefer the PB&J.

One last thing to mention, this is Windows 98’s taskbar

Does it look more like this?

or this?

Yea, I thought so too, so who copied who?

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