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Windows 7 borrowed 'look' of Mac
news. ^ | Friday, 13 November 2009

Posted on 11/13/2009 6:35:36 AM PST by JoeProBono

A Microsoft executive was quoted in an interview as saying "what we've tried to do with Windows 7...is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics".

The comments, by partner group manager Simon Aldous, appeared in UK computing trade magazine PCR.

Microsoft countered that Mr Aldous was not involved with the development of Windows 7.

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc said in a blog that Mr Aldous's comments were "inaccurate and uninformed".

Suggestions that Microsoft has borrowed technology ideas has been rife for as long as the Windows and Mac operating systems have been around.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: jpb; mac; windows7
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1 posted on 11/13/2009 6:35:37 AM PST by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono

Typical M$ “innovation”.


2 posted on 11/13/2009 6:36:43 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Typical Mac crybabies.


3 posted on 11/13/2009 6:39:20 AM PST by Porterville ( I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum)
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To: JoeProBono

Forget Windows 7. Windows stole the look and feel of the Mac in the first place.

They spent years and millions on court fights and the courts said that it was OK for Bill Gates to copy Steve Jobs’ homework.

Why stop now?


4 posted on 11/13/2009 6:40:00 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: JoeProBono

The entire point of Windows was to make a PC more like a Mac.

This one will run just fine, with none of the problems of Vista... trust us!


5 posted on 11/13/2009 6:41:34 AM PST by snowrip (Liberal? YOU ARE A SOCIALIST WITH NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT.)
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To: paulycy

yep...this is a yawner...goes back to at LEAST Windows 95...


6 posted on 11/13/2009 6:43:12 AM PST by Crapgame (What should be taught in our schools? American Exceptionalism, not cultural Marxism...)
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To: paulycy
Both Microsoft an Apple stole the look and feel from Sun Microsystems which publicly showed their future technology in the 70’s.
7 posted on 11/13/2009 6:44:41 AM PST by Leo Farnsworth (I'm not really Leo Farnsworth...)
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To: JoeProBono

Let us not forget Xerox.


8 posted on 11/13/2009 6:45:47 AM PST by ThomasThomas (Sometimes I like nuts. Thats why I am here.)
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To: Leo Farnsworth
Both Microsoft an Apple stole the look and feel from Sun Microsystems

Actually the concept of a "window" goes back to the Xerox PARC labs. I believe the "mouse" came from there, too.

9 posted on 11/13/2009 6:46:22 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: Paladin2

10 posted on 11/13/2009 6:46:39 AM PST by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: paulycy

“They spent years and millions on court fights and the courts said that it was OK for Bill Gates to copy Steve Jobs’ homework.”

“Actually the concept of a “window” goes back to the Xerox PARC labs. I believe the “mouse” came from there, too.”

So it’s really NOT Job’s homework, eh?


11 posted on 11/13/2009 6:48:52 AM PST by Leo Farnsworth (I'm not really Leo Farnsworth...)
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To: paulycy

Yep. Windows 95 was really Mac 84 with the addition of color and the fact that it didn’t work as well as the original.


12 posted on 11/13/2009 6:50:53 AM PST by Infralutheran
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To: Porterville; paulycy; ThomasThomas; ShadowAce

At one point Xerox sued Apple for copying its user interface


13 posted on 11/13/2009 6:56:14 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: Leo Farnsworth

Douglas Engelbarthad had a version of a windows type program but it was not considered patentable (no software patents were issued at that time).

14 posted on 11/13/2009 6:57:44 AM PST by ThomasThomas (Sometimes I like nuts. Thats why I am here.)
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To: Leo Farnsworth
So it’s really NOT Job’s homework, eh?

And the concept of "software" goes back at *least* to MIT so nobody else can get credit for having written any since then?

I did a Master's thesis on the Mac user interface in the late '80s (I forget a lot of the details now 'cause I'm old and decrepit) where I followed the whole history from the altair to Xerox PARC to Alan Kay, Douglas Englebart, Bill Atkinsons, etc. etc. etc.

I will not get into a PC/MAC fight. I've learned that you solve problems with software, so you buy the right software and then choose the most cost-effective hardware to support it. Anything beyond that is personal preference based on biases, experience, needs and taste.

The original point is that Bill Gates did not steal the Xerox PARC interface, he stole the Macintosh interface, icons, etc. etc. The ruling of the courts can be seriously debated from now 'till the end of time but the ruling stands and it doesn't much matter who copies whom anymore since the elements of a graphic user interface are now essentially in the public domain and *all* graphic user interfaces use them - Mac/PC/*nix/Chrome(probably.)

(On a personal level maybe you can tell that I'm sick to death of the PC/Mac wars....they are pointless. Nothing personal, I'm just weary of religious wars.)

15 posted on 11/13/2009 6:59:20 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: paulycy

Do you remember who did that cube thingy that you spin around to different sides. I think it was a windows add on third party.


16 posted on 11/13/2009 7:03:52 AM PST by ThomasThomas (Sometimes I like nuts. Thats why I am here.)
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To: paulycy

“altair”

I meant the STAR. The Altair was the first home computer.

Sorry.


17 posted on 11/13/2009 7:03:56 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: ThomasThomas
Do you remember who did that cube thingy that you spin around to different sides. I think it was a windows add on third party.

I'm not sure what you mean but it sounds interesting...

18 posted on 11/13/2009 7:05:10 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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To: paulycy
"Windows stole the look and feel of the Mac in the first place."

Apple stole everything from Xerox.

19 posted on 11/13/2009 7:06:07 AM PST by Paladin2
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To: ThomasThomas

OH. You meant Douglas Englebart’s mouse prototype? I get it now. Nice picture.


20 posted on 11/13/2009 7:10:38 AM PST by paulycy (Demand Constitutionality.)
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