Re: [NTLK] Microsoft Tablet PC's designer

From: Lou Forlini (lforlini_at_sspi-software.com)
Date: Sat Nov 16 2002 - 16:32:53 EST


At 12:19 PM -0800 11/16/02, Martin Joseph wrote:
>Xerox get a lot of credit however, as they did incorporate all the
>element together (ie mouse, windows, GUI), although the Alto was not a
>PC. Xerox furthermore get credit because it was there Steve Jobs saw
>the technology (at PARC) and from there he stole the concept and many
>of the team members for the original LISA and eventually the Macintosh.

    No matter how many times you guys repeat the lie that Jobs "stole"
the idea, it won't make it true. This lame and discredited argument
is used by Windows apologists who insist that their stealing of the
Mac interface was no different than what Jobs did.

    From <http://www.mackido.com/Interface/ui_history.html>:

    "Jobs was so hot on the concepts of UI, and the living Demos he
saw, that he, later, negotiated a deal with Xerox. He gave Xerox a
large sum of stock in Apple (worth Millions) if he could come back,
and bring some programmers -- to inspire them more on the concepts of
GUI. This was like a one-day tour. This was agreed to by Xerox, and
so by no stretch of the imagination could this be called
"ripping-off"."

    Speaking about Windows:

    "This sequence of events (Microsoft "borrowing" the Mac interface)
is not the same as taking rough concepts and adding to them to create
your own system -- this is much more intimate than that. Microsoft
took their best Mac Programmer, and had him making almost every
design decision for early windows. He was told, by Bill Gates, to
make a PC look and work, "JUST like a Mac" -- this is a direct quote
from Gates! Contrast that sequence of events, to Apple and Xerox
sequence of events, and you get an idea for the difference in
philosophy and implementation. Microsoft stole, Apple expanded."

    It probably doesn't belong in the Newton FAQ, but this subject
comes up on this list almost as much as poutine.

    Regards,

    - Lou Forlini
      Software Engineer
      System Support Products, Inc.

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