Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!cs122aw
From: cs122aw@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Scott Alfter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Apple ][ threatened again?!?
Message-ID: <1990Feb24.072704.28642@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 24 Feb 90 07:27:04 GMT
References: <332@mtune.ATT.COM> <1084@batman.moravian.EDU> <1990Feb24.053907.4257@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu>
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 23

In article <1990Feb24.053907.4257@spectre.ccsf.caltech.edu> toddpw@tybalt.caltech.edu (Todd P. Whitesel) writes:
>And the high end to DOS clones with new versions of windows. Microsoft is
>working their asses off to close the gap.

Didn't Apple take Microsoft (and Hewlett-Packard as well) to court over copying
the appearance of the Desktop?  Microsoft Windows may be on the way out (ditto
for whatever the HP product's called).  Why do you think the NeXT looks quite a
bit different from the Macintosh, with things such as a program dock instead of
a menu bar on the top of the screen?

IMHO, I don't think Apple stands a chance in the case.  Copyright law would
protect them if they could prove that Microsoft copied Apple code (as Franklin
did years ago), but you can't put a copyright on an idea such as the Desktop.

Finally, PLEASE don't flame me if this case was resolved a long time ago.  I 
saw some initial press releases that I FTP'd from apple.com, but I haven't seen
a thing since.

Scott Alfter-------------------------------------------------------------------
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