>> This was agreed to by Xerox, and
>> so by no stretch of the imagination could this be called
>> "ripping-off"."
>>
> An imitator copies, and artist steals.
I'd say rather, an artist is inspired to forge ahead and do their own thing
- and better.
While many concepts that made it into the LIsa and Macintosh operating
systems were borne from PARC's research, there is still plenty of Apple's
own thinking to be found. PARC's GUI wasn't considered to be commercially
viable, hence the reason why they let Apple in the door. Apple took what
they saw and refined each element so it WAS commercially viable. PARC's
complex, fragile and expensive 3 button mouse became a simple, robust and
relatively inexpensive 1 button mouse. The PARC's complex click-move-click
routine became the now universal click-and-drag.
It was Apple who created the cut-and-paste concept, the idea of an "Undo"
routine, not to be mention designing their interface around the Human User
Interface concept, placing elements in significantly logical reqions of the
screen; Apple Menu in the top left, trash in the top right, etc.
Apple also managed to make a computer that supported this GUI for just
US$2,500. Pretty good stuff, seeing as an IBM compatible at the time cost
around US$4k. The PARC systems, while not proper production machinery, were
worth tens of thousands.
Apple paid for the rights to see a few good concepts, then went and turned
it into a highly useable, commercial product. That's inspired design.
Microsoft saw a highly useable product with immense commercial value, copied
it poorly over 10 years, then paid a team of lawyers to stop Apple from
sueing them. That's highway robbery.
Cheers, Ben.
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