on 11/20/02 10:28 PM, Martin Joseph at marty_at_barknaturalpet.com wrote:
> I am from the old hacker school, where "stealing" good software ideas
> is not a crime, it's just right thinking.
The problem was not that Microsoft merely stole ideas, but actually stole
the code. Apple gave them the code so that Microsoft could develop Word and
Excel. Microsoft took this code, and used parts of it, and actually
duplicated the Mac OS into minute details. For instance, the top menu bar,
the trash can, the window close and zoom boxes. By the end of the legal
wrangling, all this stuff was gone. This is one reason that each window in
Windows has its own menu bar. This was one aspect of the Look and Feel of
the Mac that Microsoft was never allowed to use.
Interestingly enough, there were a couple other GUIs out at about this time
that also had such features, but Apple didn't sue them. Anybody remember the
GEM desktop or the GEOShell (or something like that)? Both of these
duplicated the look and feel of the Mac pretty closely, including windows
with folder icons, a single menubar, overlapping windows, etc. The GEO even
had scalable fonts like True Type, and genuine overlapping windows, i.e.
windows from multiple apps overlapping each other in one, seamless desktop.
As to why they were never sued, one can only speculate. :-)
-- Jon Glass Krakow, Poland <jonglass_at_usa.net>"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! - I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry
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