Question about Microsoft

[Bratmon]

Have they ever had a good new idea? Like, ever?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yes. They made the first software box that requires instructions to open.

(P.S. Correct me if I'm wrong. )

 

[Bratmon]

See my edited post.

 

[GVBN]

screw micro$oft install lunix porblem solved

 

[Bratmon]

I know that. What do you think is the point of the thread?

Spoiler a hint :

Microsoft bashing

 

[Genocidicbunny]

To quote someone on slashdot:
"Everything has already been said. If you think you have a new idea, you just havent done your research"

Not entirely true, but lets see you name something that apple or google did that someone else didnt already come up with? ( No, the iPhone isnt a new concept, it was a good implementation of the concept though )

 

[Bratmon]

Apple: A GUI

Google: Hmmm... not sure.

 

[Cutlass]

Apple: A GUI

Google: Hmmm... not sure.

I think Xerox had that first, but failed to market it.

 

[Zelig]

Who cares about good new ideas?

What's important is who delivers the best implementation to consumers.

 

[Turner]

Yeah, the Mac GUI was a pretty blatant rip off of Xerox PARC.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Who cares about good new ideas?

What's important is who delivers the best implementation to consumers.

Exactly. I could care less who came up with something, I care more about who makes the version that suits me best.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I think Xerox had that first, but failed to market it.

What about the Imlac PDS-1?

 

[Turner]

Wiki contradicts itself - no surprise there - by saying that both the PDS-1 and the Xerox Star came out in 1970.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Wait, I thought the Star was in the 1980s?

 

[Turner]

Yeah, you're right. Wiki's not giving a date when Xerox actually brought out the GUI.

FWIW, Xerox is acknowledged to be the first GUI.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I believe it was the Xerox Alto which had the GUI.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Have they ever had a good new idea? Like, ever?

From a business perspective? Lots, especially if you don't mind the occasional intentional violation of the law.

From a technical perspective? Nope. Bill Gates doesn't believer in innovation. He believes in ripping off or buying existing ideas he thinks will be commercial successes. And he is quite good at it.

And the first commercial computer with a GUI and offered to the public was officially released by Xerox PARC in 1981. But the fundamental ideas came from various people dating all the way back to 1945.

http://imrl.usu.edu/OSLO/technology_writing/004_003.htm

The honor for producing the first working GUI goes to Doug Englebart – at the time an employee of Stanford Research Institute. Englebart and colleagues created a program called the oNLine System in 1965-‘68. This program used the first mouse, a windowing system, and hypertext, and was based on a description of a system called “memex” proposed by Vannevar Bush in 1945. The name “mouse” comes from this period. The mouse used in oNLine had three buttons on one end and the line coming out the other end. Apparently, the buttons for eyes and nose, plus a cord for a tail, reminded the users of a mouse and the name stuck.

Years later, still in a time when nobody knew what the future of computers was to be, Xerox put together a team of researchers who did nothing more than put ideas together to see what they produced. The team, located at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, was convinced that Englebart’s model would work on computers available for individual work stations, and they produced two working models, the Alto and the Star. The Star was made available to the public, mouse and all, in 1981. But it was very expensive, and they sold only 25 thousand of them. But this was the first GUI-based OS available to the public.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I remember reading about something called WIMP, which I think is.... Window, Icon, Menu, and something else...maybe Pointer.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Aimee, if you're ever in the bay area, go to the Computer Museum here. They have an exhibit on the first GUI systems.

 

[Zelig]

the bay area

Which bay area?