Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!vax5.cit.cornell.edu!umh
From: umh@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Apple Computer wins ruling against 'Windows'
Message-ID: <1991Mar29.031246.3691@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 29 Mar 91 03:12:46 EDT
References: <46873@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1991Mar15.101202.1@csc.anu.edu.au>  <438
Distribution: comp
Organization: CIT, Cornell University
Lines: 41

In article <4387@gmdzi.gmd.de>,
strobl@gmdzi.gmd.de (Wolfgang Strobl) writes:
> anders@verity.com (Anders Wallgren) writes:
>
>>In article <4323@gmdzi.gmd.de>, strobl@gmdzi (Wolfgang Strobl) writes:
>>>doner@henri.ucsb.edu (John Doner) writes:
>>>
>>>>As for Windows, the original version, the one current when the Apple
>>>>lawsuit was filed, was no more than a slavish copy.
>>>
>>>As far as I know, the Apple lawsuit wasn't filed against the original
>>>version. Anyway, I would like to hear some arguments why you think that
>>>Windows (either version) is a "slavish copy", in your opinion.
Long list of Apple lawsuit issues criticized is omitted.
> Wolfgang Strobl
> #include <std.disclaimer.hpp>
> (nonstd disclaimer: I'm no lawyer, and am glad about that.)
There are two points here.
The first is that for this part of the suit, Apple is not suing for Look and
Feel. It is suing for breach of contract, in that MS and Apple made a contract
regarding Windows many years ago which held Apple's lawyers off MS. Apple feel
that this contract has been breached by MS, and of course that's something
easier to sue for- more clearcut- than a Look an Fell suit.

Secondly, as regards whether these are the only ways of creating a GUI- that's
not as clearcut as Mr Strobl feels. There are many ways to implement a GUI that
differ substantially from the Mac- far more so than Windows does. One example
is NeXTStep, which looks nothing like the Mac- no MenuBar moved to the window
etc. A second example is different incantations of Motif. For example one can
set up Motif so that the active window- the one receiving keystrokes- does NOT
automatically come to the top- you can tell it's active by the change of border
color. This would probably be of no use of my dinky 512x384 Mac screen, but is
wonderful on a 1280x1024 workstation screen with 8 active processes when you
don't want the window you're happy to type a few lines in to come to the top. A
second thing you can do in motif is to have the activeness of a window governed
not by clicking in the window, but simply by having the mouse pointer in that
window. Once you get used to that, it seems much faster than having to click a
window to activate it- another different way of doing things.

Maynard Handley