Imitation is purest flattery as Apple, Microsoft battle

TalkBack 20 of 237:: Next »; « Previous

Thread View
Flat View

Tightening OSX and Paying Xerox: ---I can't say I'm informed enough about Apple code but I'd be surprised if it's gotten quicker---

Trust me, it has, since I haven't upgraded any of my hardware in 4 years, and they all run better now than they did with the OS that came with them.

---That would almost suggest they sold 'beta', then fixed it, then sold it to you 'again'. (maybe I'm twisted?)---

I'd certainly say that the original release of OSX was pretty much a beta. It didn't really become useable until OSX.1. But I personally really appreciate Apple making the effort to make their code more efficient and make older hardware run better, rather than forcing you to upgrade your hardware to take advantage of new features as Windows seems to require. When was the last time a new edition of Windows ran faster than the previous iteration on the same machine?

---Can't say anything about that except I believe it was provided as open-code, non copyright by Xerox---

I don't believe Xerox supplied any code to Apple. Apple paid them for concepts and inspiration:

http://www.factbites.com/topics/Xerox-PARC
A young man named Steve Jobs, looking for new ideas to work into future iterations of the Apple computer, traded US $1 million in stock options to Xerox for a detailed tour of their facilities and current projects.

http://www.smalltalk.org/alankay.html
At the height of Apple's early success in December 1979, Jobs, then all of 24, had a privileged invitation to visit Xerox Parc.
This is what Steve had to say about his visit to Xerox Parc.

"And they showed me really three things. But I was so blinded by the first one I didn't even really see the other two. One of the things they showed me was object orienting programming they showed me that but I didn't even see that. The other one they showed me was a networked computer system...they had over a hundred Alto computers all networked using email etc., etc., I didn't even see that. I was so blinded by the first thing they showed me which was the graphical user interface. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life. Now remember it was very flawed, what we saw was incomplete, they'd done a bunch of things wrong. But we didn't know that at the time but still though they had the germ of the idea was there and they'd done it very well and within you know ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day."

It was a turning-point. Jobs decided that this was the way forward for Apple.

---I'm sure that was Bills get-out-of-jail-free card when Apple sued MS for the GUI imitation/theft. Open is open to all, after all.---

Remember though, that the XParc GUI was extremely different from Apple's GUI. Bill's "get out of jail" card was in fact, a loophole he'd put into his contract with Apple:
http://www.macedition.com/scripts/showmessage.php?articleid=405&postid=3548&threadid=2022
When Apple developed the Macintosh, Gates had all the Macintosh code, he was writing software for the Mac. When Gates came out with Windows 1.0, Apple raised hell, but finally Apple allowed him Gates to lease it. But Gates put a loophole in the contract that allowed him to copy future Mac versions in Windows. Bill Gates had outsmarted both IBM and Apple. (Gates was allowed to lease DOS to other companies in his contract IBM, another loophole) Apple and IBM most certainty had poor lawyers.; Posted by: tic swayback Posted on: 04/20/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use