[Leo Farnsworth]

“They spent years and millions on court fights and the courts said that it was OK for Bill Gates to copy Steve Jobs’ homework.”

“Actually the concept of a “window” goes back to the Xerox PARC labs. I believe the “mouse” came from there, too.”

So it’s really NOT Job’s homework, eh?

[ThomasThomas]

Douglas Engelbarthad had a version of a windows type program but it was not considered patentable (no software patents were issued at that time).

[paulycy]

So it’s really NOT Job’s homework, eh?

And the concept of "software" goes back at *least* to MIT so nobody else can get credit for having written any since then?

I did a Master's thesis on the Mac user interface in the late '80s (I forget a lot of the details now 'cause I'm old and decrepit) where I followed the whole history from the altair to Xerox PARC to Alan Kay, Douglas Englebart, Bill Atkinsons, etc. etc. etc.

I will not get into a PC/MAC fight. I've learned that you solve problems with software, so you buy the right software and then choose the most cost-effective hardware to support it. Anything beyond that is personal preference based on biases, experience, needs and taste.

The original point is that Bill Gates did not steal the Xerox PARC interface, he stole the Macintosh interface, icons, etc. etc. The ruling of the courts can be seriously debated from now 'till the end of time but the ruling stands and it doesn't much matter who copies whom anymore since the elements of a graphic user interface are now essentially in the public domain and *all* graphic user interfaces use them - Mac/PC/*nix/Chrome(probably.)

(On a personal level maybe you can tell that I'm sick to death of the PC/Mac wars....they are pointless. Nothing personal, I'm just weary of religious wars.)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

So it’s really NOT Job’s homework, eh?

Nope. He got a tour of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, got a look at what they left lying around and ran with it. With Xerox's blessing, I believe.
There's no doubt that Gates got a chubby when he saw what Jobs did with it. The rest is history.