Microsoft's Windows Insider wallpapers were apparently made on a Mac

[zohaibahd]

Connecting the dots: Microsoft is asking creators to swap their MacBook Pros for the new $2,600 Surface Laptop Ultra. So it's awkward that the wallpapers it just shared with Windows Insiders appear to have been saved in Photoshop on a Mac.

Most image files carry a small tag naming the app that last saved them, buried in a properties menu that few people ever open. When a Windows developer checked it on Microsoft's newest wallpapers, it pointed to Photoshop running on a Mac. The company has since swapped in cleaned-up copies.

The wallpapers went out by email in mid-October as a thank-you for 12 years of the company's early-access Windows Insider Program. The message said the designs drew on the program's history and "the latest Surface design aesthetic." There are ten in all, built around flowing ribbons in five colors, each in a light and a dark version.

A developer called Rafael Rivera dug into the files almost as soon as the email landed. One of the image's properties listed a Mac version of Adobe Photoshop as the program that saved it. He posted a screenshot on X with a short caption reading "Created on a Mac."

In a follow-up, he said the set came from Microsoft's in-house design team. That means the Macs in question most likely sit on desks inside the company itself.

To be fair, Macs have been a staple in design studios for decades, so Microsoft's own team working on them isn't all that surprising. The timing is just a little funny, since Rivera's post went up a day before the $2,600 Surface Laptop Ultra started shipping.

Microsoft has pitched that laptop as a MacBook Pro alternative for creators. Its online stores in the US and Canada are even offering MacBook Pro owners up to $1,000 on top of their trade-in value to switch.

The company hasn't commented on any of this, but it appears to have taken notice. Within days, someone pointed out that the files on its design site had been quietly swapped out. French outlet MacGeneration then tracked down the original pack on the Internet Archive. Opened in the Mac's built-in Preview app, those older files still credit Photoshop for Mac.

Of course, that tag only shows which app saved a file last, so it can't say where the ribbons were first drawn. Last year's 11th-anniversary pack left a different clue behind. Anyone who unzipped it on Windows found a stray __MACOSX folder, the hidden housekeeping folder macOS adds to archives created in Finder

On its own, that only proved the ZIP was packed on a Mac. Paired with this year's tag, it suggests Macs are a regular part of the team's workflow.

For anyone who just wants the ribbons, the full set is still a free download on Microsoft Design's wallpaper page.

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Microsoft's Windows Insider wallpapers were apparently made on a Mac

 

[Jarenien]

Who cares, everyone knows that for graphic artists Mac's are king, but for pretty much everything else, Windows owns, so let them have their tiny arse win, and it is pretty effin' tiny, lmao.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Who cares, everyone knows that for graphic artists Mac's are king, but for pretty much everything else, Windows owns, so let them have their tiny arse win, and it is pretty effin' tiny, lmao.

It's a pretty bad look when a multi trillion dollar corpo that holds a stranglehold on something as important as an OS is using its competitors to build parts of it.

Imagine if it was revealed that Mac OS' system sounds were made on Windows. You'd never hear the end of it.

Photoshop runs on Windows. There's no reason they should be using Macs to make something as simple as a wallpaper, unless they have that little confidence in their own product.

 

[trparky]

Who cares, everyone knows that for graphic artists Mac's are king, but for pretty much everything else, Windows owns, so let them have their tiny arse win, and it is pretty effin' tiny, lmao.

It's the principle of it all and it's not a good showing when your own employees are opting to use a competitor's product.

Anyway, this isn't the first time that the idea of Microsoft employees using MacOS as versus Windows, in fact it's not hard to Google just how many Macs are used inside Microsoft. If Microsoft employees are unwilling to eat their own dog food, it doesn't surprise me why Windows is in such a dire situation. You can't fix issues if you don't run your own damn software.

 

[axiomatic13]

It's more simple than that people. Creative types prefer Mac's regardless of whether its the better hardware/OS or not. Yes, it is counter intuitive as well since the hardware is most definitely not superior. However, the demographics remain what they are. Hell I have a "Hackintosh" VM that outperforms my son's Mac he uses for college.

 

[Puiu]

Who cares, everyone knows that for graphic artists Mac's are king, but for pretty much everything else, Windows owns, so let them have their tiny arse win, and it is pretty effin' tiny, lmao.

As somebody who uses both, MS is trying really hard to ruin the OS. They botched it so much that the only advantage windows has now is compatibility with some older software and games. The rest? It's completely dead. Maybe Explorer is still a bit ahead of Finder (but not by much).

 

[DrSuess]

Things have come full circle. I remember in 2000s when Apple was caught using Windows for creating marketing and ad materials only then there was a photograph of Apple employees using those PCs.

 

[jdrch]

News outlets documented Xbox's creator using a G4 Mac as far back as the 2000s.