Well, it"s hard to create a ripoff of Xerox's work that is then not called a ripoff of Apple's work:
- bitmapped display with blitted cursor
- bitmapped fonts
- windows
- pulldown menus
- scrollbars
- onscreen video conferencing
- onscreen gesture recognition
whenever Apple complains of the above they neglect to say that they were invented by Xerox, implemented by Xerox, licensed by Apple and now used to "demonstrate" copying even when Apple has no claim to them. Some days Apple reminds me of that female artist who got prints of Ansel Adams from the Library of Congress, signed them, staged a show, and claimed they were now her original works because after all she had "appropriated" them by signing them. Steve Jobs is a hero, Alan Kay and Doug Engelbart are has-been idiots. The same story holds of Linus Torvalds and the Multics and Unix guys - even I cannot remember their names. Although to be fair Torvalds never claimed he invented anything, but he never went out of his way to hoist the inventors up on the podium, either.
Edmund
Well, it"s hard to create a ripoff of Xerox's work that is then not called a ripoff of Apple's work:
- bitmapped display with blitted cursor
- bitmapped fonts
- windows
- pulldown menus
- scrollbars
- onscreen video conferencing
- onscreen gesture recognition
whenever Apple complains of the above they neglect to say that they were invented by Xerox, implemented by Xerox, licensed by Apple and now used to "demonstrate" copying even when Apple has no claim to them. Some days Apple reminds me of that female artist who got prints of Ansel Adams from the Library of Congress, signed them, staged a show, and claimed they were now her original works because after all she had "appropriated" them by signing them. Steve Jobs is a hero, Alan Kay and Doug Engelbart are has-been idiots. The same story holds of Linus Torvalds and the Multics and Unix guys - even I cannot remember their names. Although to be fair Torvalds never claimed he invented anything, but he never went out of his way to hoist the inventors up on the podium, either.
Edmund
Edmund, in my opinion there is no ripoff if the one been ripoff is a willing participant. There were even a stock related exchange.
If I invite someone to my home to learn about baking, and I charge them, it's expected that they will bake something using what they learn. I am aware that Xerox sued Apple about the GUI as connected to the Star, but there were never a conclusion due to the status of limitations.
In the results of Microsoft vs Apple is clear that the general ideas are not protected legally, I believe they should not be morally either. The problem is when a platform is so close it's difficult to distinguish one from the other.
I did not did any reference to personal computers, by the way. I was talking about mobile devices. Also there is a difference between a similar technology ( I say that surface was original, but the underlining technology is the same: Multi touch, gesture based interface), and a photocopy.
I see that you are aware of Linux/GNU evolution. I will say that KDE use to be a ripoff of windows. Gnome was not. That is what I am trying to express.
The legacy of Xerox Parc is amizing by the way. Talking about Steve Jobs here is him saying that he remember OOP from his visit to Xerox, and that ifuenced NeXT too (It's very long, the part is on 3:01:14):
Finally : I don't represent Apple Computer, never claimed to do. I am not here to defend Apple, promote tier products etc. I am not invested on hurting them either, or any other company by that mater.
I just like original work. Surface show it to be possible.
Best regards,
James