Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:13858 comp.sys.mac:14561 comp.sys.apple:4994 comp.sys.atari.st:8689 comp.sys.hp:631 comp.sys.amiga:16892 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!ima!necntc!mit-eddie!zrm From: zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.atari.st,comp.sys.hp,comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Apple Challenges HP New Wave, MS-Windows, Potentially OS/2 PM Message-ID: <8643@eddie.MIT.EDU> Date: 29 Mar 88 15:34:57 GMT Reply-To: zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks) Distribution: na Organization: MIT, EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA Lines: 33 The two arguments I have seen in this newsgroup and in the press against Apple's suit are 1) That Apple should allow the industry to standardize around a Macintosh-like user interface, and 2) That user interfaces are so alike that all usable, efficient user interfaces look like the Macintosh user interface. Balderdash to both these arguments. Apple's lawsuit is appealing to me because it states that if you don't have the basic guts to try to do Apple one better, then you deserve to be sued. Microsoft certainly have the talent and the wherewithal to create a next-generation user interface tool and not a "derivative work." Why don't they use it? Apple's intellectual property rights would not then be violated and we the users might be much better off. VisiOn, Generra, and Sun's window systems are all examples of user interface technologies which are not derivative works and Apple has no problem with them. And Apple's work is sufficiently different both in look and in capability from Xerox's SmallTalk browser that, apart from Apple's claim to "broad licences" from Xerox, there is no need for legal struggles in that area. Except for Apple's timing, which seems calculated to further increase the FUD factor surrounding OS/2, I see no reason why Apple should not go after gratuitous copying when equal and better alternatives are available. "Originality, it's not just a good idea, it's the law." -- Joe Biden never said this -Zigurd -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zigurd Mednieks MURSU Corporation (617)424-0146 25 Exeter Street Boston, MA 02116