iTablet/iSlate/iPad/Apple tablet

[E]

Originally Posted by SlothropDawg

I thought they lifted the GUI from Xerox. That's the story I've always heard. Then MS lifted it from Apple.

You inspired me to do some Googling. From what I gather, it depends on who you ask. There's no doubt Jobs was very impressed/inspired with Xerox's GUI in the late 70s, and the Mac GUI was influenced by it (maybe heavily). I think it was unlicensed, so there was no legal reason for Apple not to do what they did. Xerox later sued, but I don't think Xerox got anything out of it, and they didn't even file suit until like 10 years later.

A few interesting links:

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/bu...copyright.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_C...ft_Corporation

http://obamapacman.com/2010/03/myth-...rox-parc-alto/

[SlothropDawg]

Originally Posted by E

. I think it was unlicensed, so there was no legal reason for Apple not to do what they did. Xerox later sued, but I don't think Xerox got anything out of it, and they didn't even file suit until like 10 years later

Oh, I don't think anything was illegal. I just brought it up because you made the comment that Apple is an innovator that other companies emulate. Kind of ironic, given their beginnings as a company that lifted someone else's idea.

[Simply Brilliant]

Apple is as much of an innovator as Microsoft is. They see something and they either "steal it" or buy the company out. Jobs is brilliant in that he can see someone elses innovation and realizes the value in it before anyone else does.

I though xerox pretty much gave away the gui stuff. I think xerox thought that there was not a lot of money in the software side and the money was in the hardware side. IBM took a similar approach and that they thought that the money was on the hardware side, and it wasn't until I think the 2nd release that they started to see the value on the software side. Thus there bone headed/smart move of getting dos from microsoft for nothing, but allowing them to sell it to other companies at will. Also thus what lead to a lot of money, and also the first layoffs in IBM history.

Originally Posted by SlothropDawg

Oh, I don't think anything was illegal. I just brought it up because you made the comment that Apple is an innovator that other companies emulate. Kind of ironic, given their beginnings as a company that lifted someone else's idea.

The iPod wasn't a brand new idea, either. Others had already invented MP3 files, and hooked up hard drives to music playing equipment. A friend even described a system to me in some detail before the iPod came out.

What Apple has been really good at (what Steve Jobs has been really good at, I suspect) is seeing the potential in recent inventions and packaging it in an attractive way. He saw the potential of a GUI on a computer. He saw the potential of packaging a (recently invented) tiny hard drive with MP3 software. Apple has had some flops, too. We'll see how the iPad does. It's a sexy little machine, and perhaps it will do to movies and books what the iPod did to music. Or perhaps not. Or perhaps they didn't quite get it this time, and the Android tablet, or even the HP WebOS tablet, will be the one that catches on. I give Apple good odds on this one, though.

[Jemaine Clement]

Posting from my new iPad 3G

[Simply Brilliant]

I had my first exposure to using MP3s in 1993-1994, actually it was not MP3s then they were a lower format that I can't remember the name of. I remember searching for the music, and it took over 2 hours to get 1 song to download over dial up. Then I would take that MP* and transfer it to tape using a cord between my computer and my stereo. CD burners were not common or a big thing then.

Ok, now I feel old.

[SlothropDawg]

Reason to dislike innovative Apple:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_wguy/2...ch_wguy_tc1883

Apple has announced today that it is shutting down the Lala.com music service, a streaming music site it acquired late last year, as of May 31. Lala has undergone many incarnations — from an early CD-trading website to a cloud-based music retailer and streaming service — but none so significant as whatever it will become under the umbrella of Apple.

Many have suggested that Apple is likely to roll Lala into a new, subscription-based service that would operate alongside the download-to-own iTunes Music Store.

Thanks for buying something good and rolling into your craptastic iTunes! Yay, Apple! Thanks for innovating this for us!

[ADoubleDot]

Sounds like they just bought a competitor to make it go away. I never heard of lala though, you paid for something like an XM radio service? iTunes provides a free internet radio now which has many options. I use it a lot.

[E]

Originally Posted by SlothropDawg

Oh, I don't think anything was illegal. I just brought it up because you made the comment that Apple is an innovator that other companies emulate. Kind of ironic, given their beginnings as a company that lifted someone else's idea.

I was just making the observation that Apple's design of mobile hardware and mobile OS has been really successful and is being copied/emulated by just about everyone else in the mobile game right now.

Whether or not Apple "stole" Xerox's GUI in the 1970s seems like a separate argument. Maybe they did. To the extent that its ripple effects lead to the iPhone OS 30 years later, I'm glad they did.

[Bama Gambler]

Over 1 million iPads sold in first month. Over 12 million iPad apps downloaded.

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/03/...-million-sold/