Windows 7 borrowed 'look' of Mac

A Microsoft executive was quoted in an interview as saying "what we've tried to do with Windows 7...is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics".

The comments, by partner group manager Simon Aldous, appeared in UK computing trade magazine PCR.

Microsoft countered that Mr Aldous was not involved with the development of Windows 7.

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said in a blog that Mr Aldous's comments were "inaccurate and uninformed".

Suggestions that Microsoft has borrowed technology ideas has been rife for as long as the Windows and Mac operating systems have been around.

The very idea of who invented the "windows" on a "desktop" in Windows 1.0 was the basis of a 1988 lawsuit and remains a point of contention.

'One of our own'

However, many of the significant graphical changes present in Windows 7 have analogues in Mac's OS X - although neither firm has made an official statement about the apparent similarities.

"One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it's very graphical and easy to use," Mr Aldous told PCR.

"What we've tried to do with Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format - is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance."

Mr LeBlanc countered the claims in a post on the official Windows blog.

"Unfortunately this came from a Microsoft employee who was not involved in any aspect of designing Windows 7," he wrote.

"I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed."

Robbie William's joins Take That on stage

Robbie Williams has joined his former Take That bandmates on stage at the Children in Need charity concert, but there was no reunion performance.

Take That opened the show at London's Royal Albert Hall before Gary Barlow introduced "old friend" Williams, who then performed solo material.

However, Williams and Barlow were later back on stage singing alongside the show's other artists during its finale.

Sir Paul McCartney and Dame Shirley Bassey were among other performers.

Take That perform Rule The World

The event was organised by Barlow, with more than £500,000 raised from ticket sales, which were allocated by ballot.

After Take That's opening performance of their song Greatest Day, Barlow told the 4,500-strong crowd: "What a perfect night for us to introduce an old friend."

Awww.... Robbie and Gary have left the stage arm in arm, and the show is done BBC Twitter reports from the gig

Williams, who left Take That in 1995, then appeared on stage before moments later being left to perform songs from his new album, Bodies and You Know Me.

Afterwards, he said: "I started tearing up just before I came on, and the lads were singing and knowing it was just about to happen and knowing what the reactions were going to be like, and then all my team were like 'Please don't cry'.

"And I think we should have milked it for a lot longer than we actually did. I think Gaz, in his wisdom, went, 'Right, we should get off now, let the lad do his singing.'

"I was trying to get them back to do a bow and everything. That's the first time in 15 years, we should have at least stayed there for 10 minutes."

Of speculation about him performing with the band again, he said plans were "shaping up to be very exciting" but added that he did not know where, when or how it would happen.

Robbie Williams on appearing with Take That: "This feels good"

"I just hope people don't get bored of the idea before it actually happens," he said.

Williams and Take That returned to the stage with all the other artists to round off the show with a performance of The Beatles' Hey Jude.

Other acts on the bill included Leona Lewis, Lily Allen, Mika, Muse, Dizzee Rascal and Katherine Jenkins.

Among "one-off" duets planned as a key feature of the show, Dame Shirley sang This Time accompanied by Barlow on piano, before rapper Dizzee Rascal joined her to perform her classic song Diamonds Are Forever.

Cheryl Cole appeared with Snow Patrol, with the Girls Aloud and X Factor star singing Martha Wainwright's lines from the guitar band's song Set The Fire To The Third Bar.

Frontman Gary Lightbody had told the Spinner Music website that some people had "raised an eyebrow" when they heard about the collaboration.

"Everyone doing that gig has to duet with someone from the gig," he said.

Snow Patrol and Cheryl Cole were one of the show's unlikely collaborations

"Everyone gets a partner, it was like getting a partner at school. We got the prettiest girl in the class.

"People have raised an eyebrow now and again when we've mentioned we're doing it with Cheryl Cole."

Other duets saw Lily Allen joining Take That on the boy band's song Shine, while Dizzee Rascal and Noisettes' Shingai Shoniwa performed Dirty Cash (Money Talks).

Barlow also dedicated a performance of Rule The World to his father, Colin, who died last month.

"This song is dedicated to everybody who's lost somebody they love. Dad, this one's for you," Barlow said.

The concert will be shown on BBC One next Thursday, 19 November, from 2000 GMT.

Thriving trade in out-of-date best-before foods

Thousands of tonnes of food are binned annually in the UK because of confusion over use-by dates. But those willing to overlook the labels are finding big online discounts on food past its prime.

The UK appears to be a nation of food wasters, throwing away 8.3 million tonnes every year. That is a mountain of leftovers, enough to fill 4,700 Olympic-sized swimming pools, says the government's anti-waste arm, Wrap.

FOOD LABELS EXPLAINED Use-by: the key date in terms of safety. Never eat food after this date. Found on cooked meats, soft cheeses and dairy-based desserts Best-before: is about quality not safety. Food should be safe to eat after this date, but it might not be at its best. One exception is eggs Sell-by/Display-until: this information is for the retailer, not the customer. It is mainly used for stock control purposes

Of that, 5.3 million tonnes could have been eaten, it claims.

The cause of much of this waste is down to confusion over date labels. A recent survey suggests half of people do not understand the differences between them.

More than one-third believe any product past its best-before date should not be eaten and 53% never eat fruit or vegetables after they have reached that date.

"We lead extremely busy lives and taking an interest in what's written on the date label and then understanding what that actually means is a step too far for a lot of us," says Julia Falcon from the Love Food Hate Waste Campaign.

"If people were more confident about what date labels mean they'd get round to eating more of their food rather than throwing it away."

Offers online

Some are already comfortable with eating food past its prime. Two years ago Dan Cluderay quit his job as a market stall holder and set up an online supermarket specialising in products past their best-before date.

The recession has boosted sales of old fashioned cuts of meat

His stock includes tinned and packaged groceries, biscuits, crisps and fizzy drinks.

"In the last year sales have gone up 500%. The reason we've done well is that we're offering value for money," says Mr Cluderay. His Approved Foods site is one of a small number of online retailers selling short-dated or out-of-date best-before produce.

"At one time, health inspectors would say you can't have that if it's past the best-before date and now there's a complete shift in the way people think. Perhaps it is more acceptable to drink a can of pop that's a week out of date."

And, comparing the offers of such sites with High Street retail prices, it is easy to see where its success lies.

I've made a career of selling food past its best-before and never once had someone say 'you've made me ill' Dan Cluderay Founder, Approved Foods

Chocolate brownies two weeks past their best-before date are 20p instead of 89p. A dozen tins of olives with a best-before date of last August are going for £1 - as are 10 bags of crisps a week out of date.

Brand names are often erased, but otherwise the website looks like any other online supermarket: customers add products to a basket, pay up and a courier delivers the shopping.

Customers are asked: "Can you find it cheaper? Tell us."

It is perfectly legal, and other online retailers are following suit. "Shops are allowed to sell food after its best-before date has passed," says Sam Montell, nutritionist for the Food Standards Agency.

"Best-before dates are concerned with quality rather than safety, so it doesn't mean that the food is dangerous if the date has passed."

Consumer advice

Although date labels are now a ubiquitous part of grocery shopping, they were introduced relatively recently. Sell-by dates came in when supermarkets began to take over from milkmen, selling milk and cream.

Marks and Spencer started using them in the 1950s, to give people confidence in the products in their chilled cabinets.

Date labels came in in the 1950s

For some, attitudes towards food labels are now changing. Perhaps it is down to a rising awareness of how much food and drink is wasted, and the cost.

Recent Wrap data suggests £12bn worth is binned every year in the UK, or around £680 for the average family.

Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn has suggested sell-by dates should be scrapped and best-befores ignored.

It is a notion many market traders subscribe to. At the Bullring Open Market in Birmingham, renowned for hundreds of stalls selling fresh produce, much of the food is sold without packaging or date labels

"We're much too fussy now, it's out of all proportion. We don't use best-before or sell-by dates here," says stallholder John Harris. "A piece of cheese, you can take it home and it'll keep for a good three weeks."

But retailers argue that doing away with date labels would not reduce food waste. "Customer education will," says Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium.

"Date labels are there to help customers but they need to understand what they mean.