Mortal enemies usually aren’t supposed to admit to admiring one each others work.Yesterday, Simon Aldous, a guy who even the most hardcore gadget devotees couldn’t pick out of a lineup, made himself briefly very famous. And possibly very unemployed.In an interview, Aldous, a manager at Microsoft, said that the Redmond giant’s Windows 7 deliberately sought to copy the “look and feel” of Mac’s competing operating system. In the Cold War that is the battle between Apple and Microsoft, this was the equivalent of the Soviets admitting that, when it comes to coercing valuable intel out of a prisoner, no one does it better than the C.I.A.Unfortunately for his employment prospects, beyond starting a flame war, Aldous also managed to royally piss off his bosses. In a reply to tech blog engadget, a Microsoft flak said Aldous was “not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7.”Aldous didn’t make himself available for follow-up comments. But we’re told he’s trying to approximate the “look and feel” of a guy who’ll be allowed to keep his job.
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