Top 10 features that Apple stole from Windows
In the battle between Mac OS X and Windows, here's a reminder of where Microsoft supplied the innovation first
October 12, 2009
20 Recommendations
lol As far as the movie, Woz said for a movie where no main parties in the movie were ever interviewed, the events were 90% correct...what was wrong was some things didn't happen in the order the movie had...and of course they had to ad-lib the scenes. So they didn't happen the way they played it. But they did ellude to the concpet of the story around them. However the events in the movie can all be looked up and verified without interview principle ppl.
You are right about CP/M vs DOS However DOS was chosen for the same reason as Windows. It was cheaper to make widely available to everyone and could most of the same things.
I remember the Amiga had all its System Preferences files in one folder called, strangely enough, 'Preferences' in 1985.
Fast user switching
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Computer history articles shouldn't be written by children. Anyone who seems to think that anything meaningful in either Windows or MacOS was implemented in the 21st century is too callow to be allowed near a keyboard without supervision. Besides, many of these features were found, as some have pointed out, in operating systems that pre-dated both the Microsoft and Apple implementations, so it's more accurate to say that both stole them (or in some cases, probably licensed them) -- certainly not that either "supplied the innovation first".
Agreed. MSFT didn't invent the GUI...nor did Apple...it was invented by Xerox. However there was a GUI even before that. Apple beat MSFT to the punch with the Lisa and teh rest is history. Now we know who had the better approach. If only Bill Gates could make Windows as preety as OSX and keep all of Windows functions in tact. Oh wait they did...its called Windows 7...:-) sarcasm
here's your history:
http://www.mackido.com/Interface/ui_history.html
I'm not sure which is worse, the blatant errors in both articles or the two recommendations each article received. Who recommended these poorly researched pieces, the authors parents?
Terminal App and System Preferences are both out of the OpenStep (NeXT) branch of Mac OS X, and thus date back to at least 1993 when I started with NeXTStep / OpenStep.
There are two modes of "minimization" in OS X, both of which were present, again, in OpenStep / NeXTStep. The first minimizes the current open window to an icon on the dock, the second minimizes all the documents open windows into the application icon on the dock. martinws is correct in that an active app did have ellipsis when running.
Didn't NeXTStep minimise documents windows into its app icon? I remember the icon would get an ellipsis if it had minimised windows.
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Ghaaaa! The unified system preferences application comes from System 6! In 1988 if not before! Who does your research?
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No kidding! This is a pretty blatant example of a lack of research.
If my memory serves me correctly, System Preferences, then called Control Panels, was actually part of System 1 which shipped on the original 128K Mac. My first experience with it was System 1.1 that was running on the Mac 512K I bought in December 2004.
The original Control Panels name continued forward until Mac OS 9. So, clearly Control Panels and System Preferences were "borrowed" by Redmond.
The Zoom button was on EVERY Finder window in the original version. Yes, it did and does slightly different things from the Windows Zoom button, but the concept is similar.
The Dock originated it the NeXT OS, which predates Windows Task Bar by quite a few years, I believe. I've seen screen shots from 1988 with a Dock/Task Bar thing. Since NeXT was started by Steve Jobs and was absorbed by Apple in 1996, the Mac pedigree is pretty strong!
Remote Desktop or Screen Sharing appeared on the Mac in Timbuktu back in the early 90's. Who does one credit here?
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I would certainly agree that the content in this article was poorly researched. Nearly every example cited can easily be proven wrong. Many have already been mentioned in this thread. Another example is the Finder side bar. When Apple brought this feature to the Finder, it claimed to do so in order to keep a consistent interface with applications like iTunes, etc. That is, Apple's use of this feature predates Microsoft's. Going to Apple's OS X web site, Apple still makes that point. Likewise, it's silly giving attribution to Microsoft for this feature. John Rizzo needs to go back to the drawing board and do some actual research before posting such nonsense in the future.
Actually that WIndows Sidebar appears in Windows 98SE. Windows 95 did not have a sidebar in the Explorer window. Windows 98SE did...can't remember Windows 98. Early versions of NT also didn't have the sidebar. Windows NT 4 has it I believe. I would say either will pre-date Apple.
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Most GUI innovations Microsoft is credited with instituting actually began in X Windows or what is now commonly called X11 (which was developed largely at MIT). Minimizing windows is but one example. Remote desktop functionality is another.
sheesh I brutalized that entire post :P
Let's try again
"Most GUI innovations Microsoft is credited with instituting actually began in X" ...
Which can also be said for OS X?
"Most GUI innovations Microsoft is credited with instituting actually began in X" ...
Which then then also be saif for OS X?
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Windows doesn't have built-in support for Exchange 2007 or ActiveSync.
You can't do either of those with Windows out of the box, without installing more software. I believe that has always been the case with Windows.
So, if anything, this is a feature that Apple has added to Mac OS X, that Windows does not have, and has never had on its own.
And if Microsoft does add this support to Windows itself in a future release, it really would be Windows who lagged behind in the idea of building support right into the OS.
True. However, for Windows users who needed Excahnge, MSFT made it more avilable by including it in Outlook. Many home users back in the old days didn;t need Outlook. Businesses used it. Remember Exchange is a Enterprise software not a home user one. So why would a home user need this? Apple including it at the OS level is the difference. However, Mac's are just becoming Enterprise worthy as Apple never support MSFT Technologies...so Apple is the one behind. Just because they pulled a move doesna't matter. Also the builtin support is not the same as using Outlook.
Outllok give you full access to Exchanges features, Apple's way does not. Apple's way gives you access to mail and calendar and contacts. Outllok less you control features of Exchange server which allow you to tell the server how to handle mail at an almost IT level. Basic support si not the same as full support.
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The Terminal command line hails from UNIX which pre-dates DOS. Wrong on that one.
I think the point of the article was, between Apple and MSFT who's OS had what first...not eho had it first aongst all with other players included.
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Try to remember MSFT also had a Unix system call Xenix and out of the top 3 POSIX system used back then. Terminal Services is Unix based...but MSFT implemented it in WIndows before Apple brought it too Mac OS. Tell me what Mac system previous to OSX needed to communicate with Unix systems? Mac OS wasn'r built on a NIX OS...only OSX is...MSFT OS's have carried Unix support since Windows NT which is based on the work they did in OS/2 which also had a Terminal.
DOS also had terminal capability.
Apple had A/UX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/UX) from 1988 onwards, this operating system was based on UNIX System V Release 2.2 with a Finder very similar to the Macintosh System Finder on the Desktop Macs and could run most of the Macs applications at the time. Since it was UNIX, it also had a terminal.
'Tell me what Mac system previous to OSX needed to communicate with Unix systems?'
System 7 had a pretty good TCP/IP stack which helped it communicate well with UNIX systems.
The main issue here, is Apple did not _steal_ the command prompt from Windows, but since Mac OS X is built on UNIX you might as well let the users get access to all that UNIX goodness, it would have been silly not to.
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I have to agree with jeffq; most of you were too young and haven't really followed history. Frankly, a lot of what you find in operating systems today dates back to CP/M 86.
Somebody watched the movie "The pirates of silicon valley" too many times and actually believes everything in it....
Kildall was a genius, was ripped off by Gates and Gates never paid the price for what he did..... DOS wasn't an original idea from Microsoft - it was mutated Kildall code (never did work as well as CP/M 86).
If Kildall had gone after Gates and IBM THEN... OS's wouldn't be what they are today and perhaps we'd have hardware and software that didn't follow the TGMLC effect.
I'm certain to get flamed for this post.. but if you weren't there, you wouldn't understand.