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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jonkai who wrote (67247)	4/13/2002 12:38:03 AM
From: rudedog	Respond to of 74651

A few references - The Star - geocities.com Who invented what when www-ee.stanford.edu Lawsuit analysis A second case that provided the computer community with legal protection rulings was the Apple Computer Corp. vs. Microsoft Corporation lawsuit. This case ended with a different ruling. To quote presiding Circuit Judge Rymer, Lisa and Macintosh are Apple computers. Each has a graphical user interface ("GUI") which Apple Computer, Inc. registered for copyright as an audiovisual work. Both GUIs were developed as a user-friendly way for ordinary mortals to communicate with the Apple computer; the Lisa Desktop and the Macintosh Finder are based on a desktop metaphor with windows, icons and pull-down menus which can be manipulated on the screen with a hand-held device called a mouse. When Microsoft Corporation released Windows 1.0, having a similar GUI, Apple complained. As a result, the two agreed to a license giving Microsoft the right to use and sublicense derivative works generated by Windows 1.0 in present and future products. Microsoft released Windows 1.03 and later, Windows 3.0; its licensee, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), introduced NewWave 1.0 and later, NewWave 3.0, which run in conjunction with Windows to make IBM-compatible computers easier to use. Apple believed that these versions make Windows more "Mac-like," and infringe its copyright. Further in the court documents, such detail items as "zooming rectangle", animation associated with the opening or closing of an icon into a window, etc. are questioned as being an infringement on the part of Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. Apple lost this lawsuit and later took it to the Court of Appeals. Apple's position was that the license to Microsoft for Windows permitted use of visual displays as long as Windows or any other Windows product did not become more like the Macintosh than Windows 1.0. According to Stephen Manes, Microsoft's legal strategy was that of "breaking Apple's nebulous 'gestalt' and 'look-and-feel' theory into specific identifiable elements and then knocking each one down like uncopyrightable bowling pins...demonstrating nearly two dozen windowing systems...that used elements Apple claimed to own." Was VisiOn really the seed of MS Windows? VisiCorp shows the VisiOn graphical user interface at the Fall 1982 Comdex. Bill Gates sits through three back-to-back demonstrations. He flies in other Microsoft officials to watch, then hightails it back to Washington to work on plans for his own graphical overlay for DOS. and then Another near fatal blow to the Windows project occurred when Digital Research released their GEM windowing system. It was so close to the Macintosh interface that is sold like hotcakes. members.fortunecity.com A history that supports your views to some extent: mackido.com "But as far as real design work for Windows, there was none -- the Mac was a living design document. At first, MS only ripped off the design and implementation, but stayed away from Apple's look and feel. They knew that Apple would only tollerate so much theft. Later MS crossed this line as well, and Apple sued. It was when they started to steal the desktop metaphor (folders, trashcan, etc.) that Apple had enough. " An opposing viewpoint "How Xerox created the gooey, and how Apple copied it to make the Mac" twcny.rr.com Comments from Bruce Horn, who ought to know www2.h-net.msu.edu Lawsuit analysis More Lawsuit and apple history 1992: The core of Apple's lawsuit versus Microsoft Windows is dismissed www-db.stanford.edu A populist view, maybe apochrephal - The History of the Graphical User Interface - The Apple Lisa inventors.about.com "No, Steve, I think its more like we both have a rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to steal the TV set, and you found out I'd been there first, and you said. "Hey that's no fair! I wanted to steal the TV set! - Bill Gates' response after Steve Jobs accused Microsoft of borrowing the GUI (Graphical User Interface) from Apple for Windows 1.0* "