Re[2]: [Am-info] Re: MS Depositions

[Gene Gaines]

On Friday, February 01, 2002, 8:14:43 AM, John wrote:

> So even the name "Windows" came from someone other than Microsoft?

> John

John, Good lord yes.

Microsoft "lifted" the name "Windows" from Xerox.
Didn't even have to do too much thinking, just
"lifted" the first word from the name which honorable
Xerox developers had coined:
    Wimp - Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointing devices.

Of course, by that time they also had:

"Lifted" their Basic from others.
"Lifted" their Disk Operating System from others.

Even before then.  You may recall a citation from one of
the Gates bio books mentioned on this list.  The statement
in the book to the effect that Gates became interested in
computers because, in high school, he found he could
"modify" a simple school grade reporting program to change
student's grades without the administration knowing it?

In my little personal view, XP and Hailstorm logically
could be predicted from the trend shown above.

Perhaps I am wrong,  If you believe I am wrong, would love
to hear from you via this list, so we can set the record
straight.

(By the way, is it true that Gates invented smileys?)


> Geoffrey wrote:

>> John Poltorak wrote:
>>
>> > On Thu, Jan 31, 2002 at 07:53:43PM -0500, Geoffrey wrote:
>>
>> >>So, where do Apple and Xerox fit into this picture puzzle??
>> >
>> > Xerox invented the WIMP GUI at the Palo Alto Research Centre. Everything
>> > else is derivative. It's difficult to say when it first came out as I'm
>> > not sure if it was part of a commercial product.
>> >
>> > WIMP - Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointing devices.
>>
>> I've not verified the accuracy of the following, but I find it
>> interesting that it appears that, as usual, Microsoft was the last to
>> come to this picture.  As usual, taking everyone else's good ideas and
>> claiming them for their own.  It appears that Xerox had a 'gui' based
>> workstation as early as 1981.  Jobs had Lisa out in 1983.
>>
>> From:
>>
>> http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/dialog-wimp/
>>
>> "The development of WIMP interfaces continued at Xerox PARC. The PARC
>>
>> research team, which included notables such as Alan Kay and Adele
>> Goldberg, designed most of the elements that we associate with WIMP
>> interfaces: a bit-mapped display with movable/resizable windows, buttons
>> and pop-up menus, the desktop metaphor, and an object-oriented software
>> architecture and development library. The Smalltalk language/development
>> environment (1970-) was the research testbed for OOP and WIMP
>> interfaces. The Xerox Star workstation (1981) was the first production
>> computer to use the desktop metaphor, productivity applications and a
>> three-button mouse.
>>
>> Steve Jobs and a team from Apple paid an infamous visit to Xerox PARC.
>> The result was the Lisa (1983) computer and the Macintosh (1984), the
>> first mass-produced WIMP-based machines. A small company, Microsoft, got
>> the contract to develop the first suite of productivity applications to
>> be bundled with the Macintosh. By 1985, Microsoft proposed Windows,
>> which they intended to run on a wide variety of platforms. The reader
>> can fill in the blanks. With the rapid rise of Microsoft Windows, WIMP
>> interfaces have become the dominant interface paradigm."
>>
>> --
>> Until later: Geoffrey           esoteric@3times25.net
>>

Gene
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com

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