"I think Windows itself was ripped off from somewhere.
NO OFFENSE, but you must be young. YES Windows was ripped off, from Apple.
In short, when MS was a little bitty company, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs hired MS (Gates) to write an OS or some programs (IIRC). When Gates saw the Apple 'windows' look he basically said to his people 'steal it', make it ours. They did, and it was."
You must be young too. Apple ripped off their interface from GEM, Digital Research I think, who also did the Atari. Apple then sued them out of business.
The original mouse and windows motif came from Xerox's PARC research center in the early '80's.
"The original mouse and windows motif came from Xerox's PARC research center in the early '80's."
Actually, from the early '70's, not the 80's.