[Doc HM]

BBC NEWS | Technology | Windows 7 borrowed 'look' of Mac

Other MS execs not so sure. I would guess the outspoken employee has been taken round the back of the bike sheds and given a seriously extensive kicking.

[CharlesS]

Gotta love this quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Aldous

We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...

[Hawkeye_a]

So now i guess they're about 20 years behind in noticing the "similarities"...jeeze will that company ever be the first to do anything ?

[CreepDogg]

I'm a Mac, and Windows 7 was my idea!

[shifuimam]

Boo-hoo, Microsoft didn't reinvent the wheel. Those BASTARDS.

I hear that Safari copies other browsers, cause it has a back button and an address bar! And they stole icons from Chrome! Oh, and I think they used this weird graphical operating system that they ganked from Xerox!

But hey, everything they do is brand spankin' new, while Microsoft has never, ever, ever innovated anything in their entire lives.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Mr. Aldous

We've significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it's built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.

Originally Posted by Mr. LeBlanc

I hate to say this about one of our own, but his comments were inaccurate and uninformed.

Heh. Nice one, Mr. LeBlanc.

Seriously, though, I don’t see anything about copying in that article. He’s saying that Microsoft have looked to Apple’s general look and feel of the GUI, and taken the success of this as the basis for the GUI of Windows 7, which is not copying, stealing, or even borrowing. I’m sure most of the graphical changes in Windows 7 that have “analogues” in OS X also have “analogues” in several other OSes, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t.


The most shocking thing about this article seems to be this part:

Windows 7 - whether it's traditional format or in a touch format

I honestly thought the Beeb was one of the remaining bastions of proper apostrophe usage. I guess I was wrong.

[dav]

Originally Posted by shifuimam 

Oh, and I think they used this weird graphical operating system that they ganked from Xerox!.

yeah, yeah, i get the sarcasm, but there does seem to be this idea out there that apple ripped off xerox-parc, which i think is far from the truth.

apple interface

Apple did not rip-off the Alto (Xerox-Parc) -- how could they? Apple was a product oriented company that produced a computer on their own. That computer had a few similarities in concept (user interface) with stuff Xerox was doing, but almost NOTHING in common design or implementation. Apple's metaphors went way way beyond what Xerox was doing (though there are other areas where Xerox was beyond Apple). They were trying to achieve different goals -- and from different points of view. Apple was creating the ultimate personal computer. Xerox was doing research tools, and later tried to make a big client-server type document distribution systems. These are about as similar as a motorcyle and a commuter Bus.

Microsoft on the other hand did rip-off Apple. The concept of making a computer easy to use is way to broad to protect, and Apple didn't complain about that. Windows, icons and menus are not ripping Apple off either -- these are broad concepts. Microsoft got sued because they stole design, implementation and finally metaphors (look and feel). They stole the way you manipulate things on the computer -- as well as almost everything underneath.

[osiris]

What's "Windows"?

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by osiris 

What's "Windows"?

Thin sheets of glass that you put in holes in the wall, so that you can see out of your house without having to suffer draughts.

[olePigeon]

Oh, I thought it was a Mormon cheating tool.