Engadget has published the results of its shoot-out between Vista and Leopard. Naturally, Mail.app and iCal win over Windows Mail and Windows Calendar.

In fact, to cut to the chase, Leopard wins the features shoot-out with 46 points to Vista’s 41.

Thinking about this exercise put me in mind of Umberto Eco’s well-known comparison between Macs and PCs, which he published in the Italian news magazine Espresso in 1994.

It is worth quoting at length:

…Insufficient consideration has been given to the new underground religious war which is modifying the modern world. It’s an old idea of mine, but I find that whenever I tell people about it they immediately agree with me.

The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counter-reformist and has been influenced by the ‘ratio studiorum’ of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach–if not the Kingdom of Heaven–the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.

DOS is Protestant, or even Calvinistic. It allows free interpretation of scripture, demands difficult personal decisions, imposes a subtle hermeneutics upon the user, and takes for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation. To make the system work you need to interpret the program yourself: a long way from the baroque community of revellers, the user is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.

You may object that, with the passage to Windows, the DOS universe has come to resemble more closely the counter-reformist tolerance of the Macintosh. It’s true: Windows represents an Anglican-style schism, big ceremonies in the cathedral, but there is always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions; when it comes down to it, you can decide to allow women and gays to be ministers if you want to…..

And machine code, which lies beneath both systems (or environments, if you prefer)? Ah, that is to do with the Old Testament, and is talmudic and cabalistic…

Which is more whimsical: the attempt to compare the feature sets of Vista and Leopard on the assumption that they rest on some notional level playing field or structuralism gone wild in correlating computers with Christian denominations?

What spirit of prophecy lead Eco to pair Anglicanism’s current troubles so precisely with the ever-increasing torment of Windows users? apple, not apple mail, not mail.app, windows, vista, leopard, catholicism, protestantism, Anglicanism, whimsy, switching, conversion

Many people will tell you that a mother-in-law is nothing but trouble.

But it’s not true.

Last night my mother-in-law sent me an engaging picture that is just begging to be included in a productivity photo caption competition:

Perhaps, “A first look at Vista”? Or “Worker gets the wrong end of the ‘Inbox Zero’ concept“?

This kind of humour might appeal more to British readers, but I’m open to better offers from any quarter.productivity, not apple mail, laptop, vista, install, inbox zero, caption

This post will appeal to Mail users who keep an eye on the wider picture or who live partly in a Windows world.

As Microsoft revs itself up to deliver Windows Vista sometime next year, it is working on the next generation of email clients for the new OS, Windows Mail and Windows Live Mail Desktop.

Bryan Starbuck , the development lead for Windows email clients, has posted a feature list of the two apps:

Windows Mail, which Hawk Wings has already covered , is the new name for Outlook Express. It is the default client in Windows Vista, Apple Mail’s most direct “competitor”.

You can read more about it on Microsoft’s Vista preview site or watch a 46 min video demo.

Windows Live Mail Desktop is a more ambiguous project. It aims to broaden the scope of “the email experience” by integrating RSS feeds and web searches into its interface.

The RSS feed feature sounds clever. It will allow you to forward or email your thoughts about a particular blog post to the author as you read it. Search-as-you-type promises to locate information quickly.

Active Search will be great, Bryan says :

Active Search bridges the gap between your inbox and the broader web using the power of search. Using Active Search is essentially the same as conducting a ton of related searches the old fashioned way – by cutting and pasting terms from your email into a separate web browser – only without all the effort.

Screenshots of the next Outlook beta speak for themselves .outlook, windows, vista, email, windows mail, windows live mail desktop, RSS feeds, searching

This is not really news, but I missed it when it first broke.

Brandon LeBlanc at Longhorn Blogs is excited. Windows Vista will feature “an exciting new application” called Windows Calendar. Users will be able to set up multiple calendars designated by different colors with different events for each calendar. (Cf. Microsoft’s innovative new Windows Mail app.)

The new application will support the .ics file standard, which will allow Mac users to send event invitations to the rest of the world. Outlook 12 will also have full .ics support, apparently. No more hacking away at iCal‘s mail.scpt.

For those times when the spirit of “live and let live” is not enough, Hawk Wings presents a Special Limited Edition “Hasta la Vista” Junk and Trash icon replacement set.

The set’s large Junk icon features a well-known email client and browser peeking out in a jaunty manner over the top of Junk’s brown paper bag.

On its large Trash icon a future operating system release nestles in the bin at peace like a rudderless ship that has found safe harbour at last.

The small trash icon throws all pretence at subtlety to the wind.

In fact, while it may seem like gloating, the Hasta la Vista icon set is perfect for those Mac users who are tempted to arrogance by their enjoyment of a computer that “just works”.

Through its gentle visual reminders of those who are less fortunate, it promotes compassion and staves off hubris of any kind, helping to make the world a better place.

The set contains five icons – junkmail.tiff, junkMailFlag.tiff, TB_Junk.tiff, TrashMailbox.tiff. TrashMailboxLarge.tiff – to replace the defaults in the Resources folder of Mail.app.

Probably the best thing here is to enjoy the idea for a minute and then move on. But if you want to try it out… Make copies of the original files first. Then follow the same instructions for replacing Apple Mail’s new mail badges.

Or better still, if you (unlike me) actually know what you are doing in Photoshop, knock out a decent set and share it.

You can download these exceptional artworks here for a limited time, until I think better of it.mail.app, apple gui, apple mail, tips, hacks, humour, tips, windows, vista, outlook