[Tfug] Microsoft reportedly wants open source software users to pa y rolyalties

[Anthony Hess]

Its kind of funny because they went and copied the object oriented
programming and email/networking into the NeXT - which gave inspiration to
Berners-Lee in making the WWW.

Anyway - my argument was never really that there wasn't some inspiration
given by the Xerox work but that it was far from a copy or "stolen" as Bill
Gates would have people remember.  Windows, on the other hand, was very much
a copy of the Mac.  As a side note, the Lisa project began the year before
the visit of Jobs to Xerox in 79 and Im pretty sure it was already going to
have a GUI.  And I think Raskin started on the Mac in 79 before ever having
seen the Xerox work.

To be sure its convoluted history and everyone is inspired by someone else
to one degree or another.  To tie it back into the original thread I think
its pretty amazing how Microsoft can make those threats when they
essentially did the same thing to Apple that the Linux community is doing to
them.

Tony


On 5/18/07, Paul Scott <waterhorse at ultrasw.com> wrote:
>
> George Cohn wrote:
> > Paul Scott wrote:
> >
> >
> >> My understanding is that Jobs toured PARC and even though there was
> >> networking and windows the mouse was what stuck in his head.
> >>
> >
> > Here's a part of a transcription of an interview on PBS called "Triumph
> > of the Nerds" where they interviewed many of the pioneers of the
> > computer age from PARC, Apple, and MS:
> >
> (snip)
> > Steve Jobs
> > 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.
> Thanks!  I misremembered slightly.  Louis Taber and I show those videos
> to our Intro to Computers classes at PCC.  They are quite good.
>
> Paul
>
>
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