Windows '95 copied the 'look and feel' of the 10-year-old Mac OS. Windows '98 came up to the capabilities of Mac OS6, already 5 years old. Win2K roughly equalled Mac OS7 and WinXP roughly matched Mac OS8--when OS X had just hit the market. Vista tried to match OS X--almost 7 years later and Win7 finally came close to that goal.

Yes, Apple drags Windows into the future, but it looks like that rope is beginning to wear thin as Apple gains on Windows' lead.