Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!bbn!bbn.com!mesard From: mesard@bbn.com (Wayne Mesard) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Re: look and feel Summary: at least I mentioned rms. Message-ID: <37217@bbn.COM> Date: 14 Mar 89 21:14:53 GMT References: <37205@bbn.COM> Sender: news@bbn.COM Reply-To: mesard@BBN.COM (Wayne Mesard) Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA Lines: 26 In article dsill@RELAY.NSWC.NAVY.MIL ("David E. Sill") wrote: >At what point does the spreadsheet become other than a clone of Lotus >1-2-3, whether by additional functionality, different behavior or >appearance, or if its name happens to be Visicalc:-) Which just confirms rms's point: One would be hard-pressed to find truly revolutionary, innovative, unprecidented software products. The innovation is marginal, but what makes or breaks it is the clever ways in which the designers integrate *existing* ideas/technology (using genuine innovation to fill in the cracks). This goes for Hypercard, Mathematica, UNIX, Emacs, and most certainly 1-2-3. If one accepts this premise, the stringent l&f copyright laws being discussed may well be the end of "innovative" computing. [ My, I do sound like quite the radical. Hearing yourself make an argument can certainly increase your belief in it. Sorry for the marginally relevant article. ] -- unsigned *Wayne_Mesard(); "I just can't grow parsley, and that's MESARD@BBN.COM all there is to it!" BBN, Cambridge, MA -AN