Surely, it's the shocker of the year -- Windows XP edged out Mac OS X for PC Magazine's Eighteenth Annual Awards for Technical Excellence. That's sarcasm, folks, in case you weren't sure. Mac OS X did rate as a finalist, but it's Microsoft's new and improved operating system that took top honors.
Why? Well, PC Magazine's editor particularly liked Windows XP's "compatibility with a broad base of applications and hardware" -- nothing like Mac OS X, we suppose. And XP's integration of a video editor and digital camera software also earned a nod -- again, nothing like Mac OS X's iMovie and Image Capture software, apparently.
PC Magazine did have some kind words for Mac OS X, though. PC Magazine calls Mac OS X's Aqua interface "an aesthetic improvement on the already attractive Mac interface." The company gives Apple high marks for producing an operating system that "pairs the dynamism of Aqua, a fresh user interface, with the speed, strength, and stability of its Unix core, Darwin." Apple also gets kudos for Mac OS X's support for symmetric multiprocessing and a protected memory architecture.
Other than that, Apple and Mac-compatible products were totally overlooked by the judges, outside of a few products like PDAs and printers that just happen to work on the Mac too. And to add insult to injury, Michael Dell -- the Dell Computer founder and CEO who's made a special habit in recent years of trash-talking Apple and the Mac, got a lifetime achievement award. Oh well. Better luck next year, everybody!
This story, "OS X loses to XP in PC Mag's Tech Excellence Awards" was originally published by PCWorld.