The Creation of GUI + other things

[Timotheos]

I just found this pretty interesting website about the development of computers. An interesting article relating to macs was the creation of GUI.

"Steve Jobs had quoted a saying of Picasso that "good artists borrow, but great artists steal" in describing what the Macintosh had got from Xerox PARC. Microsoft might say the same about what they got from Apple."

Creation of GUI: http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/lesson16.html

All the other articles: http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/lessons.html

[Satcomer]

You want to start up this OLD argument again?

[fryke]

Well, sometimes it's interesting to delve into those things again. Plus: The more time passes, the more these things are changed or forgotten in "new" people's minds. So why not.

And: We don't have to argue about it, Satcomer. Just nod and say: "Ah yes, the olde days..." Or something like that.

[Mikuro]

Ah, yes, the olde days.... *nods*

What is often ignored by tech "historians" is that Apple bought these things from Xerox. There were people at Xerox who thought they sold it far too easily, but the management there had no desire to use it. Microsoft, on the other hand, went to Apple, saw the Mac, and just plain copied it. Apple took them to court more than once, but they just lacked the resources to see any of it through. When Jobs came back he buried the issue by settling out of court with Microsoft in exchange for a hefty investment and MS's continued development of Mac software.

Jobs' more recent quote is "Real artists ship." Apple was not the first to think up a lot of the things they're known for, including the GUI, the mouse, and more recently multi-touch (among others). But they were the first to actually use these things in any significant way (well, multi-touch is still vaporware as of now).

People have the idea that the tech industry is lighting-fast, never misses a beat, and is always on the cutting edge. This could hardly be further from the truth. Most great computer technologies, from the mouse to the Internet to AI to speech recognition, languished for decades before anyone put them to good use (in the case of AI and speech recognition, they still languish). The multi-touch concept has been around since the early 90s at the latest, but it's never actually shipped in anything.

Steve Jobs is not a computer genius. He's even less of a computer genius than Bill Gates. Both of them are businessmen. Jobs has vision, Gates has cunning.

At this point "borrowing" is less scandalous and more amusing. For instance, I don't blame Microsoft for Windows Flip, or Aero, or any number of things in Vista. I just point, laugh, and say "Welcome to the past. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."

I'm still annoyed at Apple every time they steal shareware developers' products, though. Watson and Konfabulator spring to mind. (And I probably just sparked another debate right there.)

[fryke]

I think you did pretty well. And _since_ Dashboard, I haven't heard much talk of Apple ripping off Shareware-devs. But I guess the next such thing is almost _bound_ to happen. Let's hope, though, that Apple simply _buys_ (or employs) them outright (like they _also_ did for example with the CarbonCopyCloner-creator, but those things make far less waves).

[Timotheos]

Never knew apple bought out the CarbonCopyCloner-creator.

Its good to know Jobs never actually stooped to Gate's level.

So if multi touch, AI and speech recognition have been around for ages andd (possibly) could be implicated in the near future. Then what is on the cutting edge right now that wont be seen until atleast another decade?

[fryke]

They employed him, I guess. I'm not sure whether he got directly paid for CCC. (My guess would be no, though.)