Infographic: Ideas Apple bought, Borrowed, and Stole
Every once in awhile it’s a good idea to take a step back from our somewhat sheltered, Apple fanboy worlds and splash ourselves in the face with a bitterly cold dose of what the non-Apple universe is thinking. Why? Well, because it pisses us off, that’s why! And that’s ALWAYS fun.
In light of the recent Apple/Samsung lawsuits where Apple has been vigorously defending its claims that Samsung is copying their designs and innovations, faithful Macenstein reader Jeremy Alder put together this Infographic, entitled:Ideas Apple bought, Borrowed, and Stole”. While many of these numbers and quotes presented are taken a little out of context, there is no denying that Apple, like all tech companies, is not a magical idea well where i-Gadgets magically spawn – there IS indeed some “on the shoulders of giants” standing to give credit too as well. While I doubt any die hard Apple fan will change their mind about Samsung’s design inspiration after reading this, there are a few interesting tidbits here that might deflate your fanboy sails a bit. Enjoy!
Source: BestMastersPrograms.org
I might have made it through the infographic if there weren’t so many errors. Most egregiously, that Nomad does not have click wheel. Circle != wheel. Then there’s the Mac features “borrowed” from Windows. The Finder sidebar doesn’t behave like anything I’ve seen in Windows. There’s something that looks similar in Open/Save dialogs; but it’s not editable, so it’s useless in practice. Screen sharing comes from Unix. Back/forward buttons were popularized by web browsers. And I don’t think any of these were claimed to be originated at Apple or even significant. The hidden-by-default path bar? Seriously?
How does buying the rights to something make it any less innovative, Apple recognized the potential and then paid to use them…
Windows interface items used in the Mac OS are from the cross-licensing between Microsoft and Apple at the end of Apple’s lawsuit over windows. Microsoft has even cross-licensed tablet technology with Apple to use with Surface.
The list of goes on….
Fujitsu licensed Apple to use the ipad name since they knew they had a very niche product.
Mag-Tek launched their IPAD in 2009 from their own website (decade before?), also a very niche product.
Amazing. All information (although possibly slightly flawed) that I never knew.