Your page (www.synthfool.com)

[Doug Ferrell]

	Actually the mouse was invented at SRI (Stanford Research Institute).  PARC
researchers made good use of it.  As for Xerox, I used to work there.  They
did produce and sell computer systems with their GUI (before my stint
there).  It was actually a much more flexible system than even the Mac.
Xerox management didn't know what to do with those pesky computer things and
got out of the business.  Besides, where does the paper and toner go?  Yes,
another short-sighted "vision" that changed the world...

Doug Ferrell


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl
[mailto:owner-synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl]On Behalf Of Thomas Hudson
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 1999 8:33 AM
To: tomg
Cc: jbv; synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl
Subject: Re: Your page (www.synthfool.com)


tomg wrote:
>
> > > Take your pick most companies are guilty of this. Most notably Apple
and Microsoft. Almost the
> same
> > > situation of buddy-up, infiltrate and rip-off. How about a
Apple/Microsoft boycott until they
> > > compensate the people they ripped-off?
> >
> > Which company did Apple ripp-off (besides Xerox ppl in Palo-Alto) ? Just
curious...
> >
> > jbv
>
> Their original product was a blue-box for ripping the Bell system. Woz
built most of
> the Apple I stuff at HP and you mentioned Xerox the Lisa and Mac. After
Woz saw
> MS basic he wrote Applesoft (he did write integer before then). I think
that covers
> most of their product line. Don't get me wrong. They stole the golden key
and changed
> the way we live, work and play in this world. The drive was Steve Jobs'
the ideas
> belonged to others. There isn't anybody suing them and I love my Mac. What
else is
> there to say?

I often wonder what would have happened if Jobs hadn't stole these ideas. It
doesn't
seem like Xerox would have done anything with them. And if Apple hadn't
created the
Mac, M$ would have never ripped them off and created Windows (which may be a
good
thing).

Though, had I been one of the guys at Parc, I'd be pissed at Apple AND
Xerox.
At Parc, they invented:

The mouse.
The GUI.
Smalltalk and object-oriented programming.
Ethernet and networking.

But I have to make a big distinction between being inspired by ideas and a
complete
total ripoff. Apple wrote their own code for the Mac. If this Scott Hunter
had
developed his own design from scratch it might be different. But lying about
being interested and watching one being built, this is just scum. Buying a
product
and taking it apart to reverse engineer it is still pretty lowlife,
but this guy was even too cheap to purchase a unit.

Thomas