Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!bbn!gateway!NSWC-OAS.ARPA!dsill From: dsill@NSWC-OAS.ARPA (Dave Sill) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: ./etc/APPLE. No Free Software for Mac users. Message-ID: <30513@bbn.COM> Date: 5 Oct 88 16:58:52 GMT Sender: news@bbn.COM Organization: Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, VA Lines: 41 Keith Moore writes: >In article <664@esquire.UUCP> sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten) writes: >>Apple has no quarrel with people or companies that develop different >>(and preferably better) interfaces. [Various other commercial >>interfaces are] fine. Microsoft Windows may not be. It is a >>windowing system that bears more than a slight resemblance to the >>Macintosh windowing system; this is why Microsoft is being sued. > >Microsoft is being sued because their windows system is the only serious >competitor to Apple's and because if Apple wants to keep people from >competing with them, the time is now. Exactly. If you think Windows resembles the Mac interface, I'd advise you to take a closer look. Shoot, Windows didn't even have overlapping windows until version 2, I believe. Fire up Windows and what do you see? A list of file names. Windows is not nearly as icon-based as the Mac. The Amiga Workbench, though, is another story. It's very Mac-like. Disk drive icons appear along the right edge of the screen. Every object has an icon. The trashcan icon deletes objects. I could go on an on. So why hasn't Apple sued Commodore? The obvious answer is that Apple doesn't feel threatened by the Amiga (more's the pity). Some say Apple is suing Microsoft on the basis some source code that was licensed to MS, but if my memory serves me, Apple sued DRI over GEM's use of a trashcan icon some time ago, and there was no source code sharing involved. >Furthermore, since the suit doesn't appear to have much real merit, it's >value to Apple is to stall the competition and retain its advantage for >as long as possible. Wouldn't it be nice if the judge slapped a fine on Apple for using the court to hinder its competition? ========= The opinions expressed above are mine. "Computers should work the way beginners expect them to, and one day they will." -- Ted Nelson