acmfiu@serss0.fiu.edu (ACMFIU) (04/30/91)
.from Dave Whitney
.
ACMFIU asks unknown about why he supports his GS after getting riled
up about Nintendo. ACMFIU suggests that Apple simply license their
stuff instead of suing the world.
What I'm about to say is MY OPINION ONLY and will attempt to stick
with the facts:
Microsoft *did* license technology from Apple in order to write
Windows. It is Apple's claim that version 2.0.3 and later versions of
Windows violates the license. That is why Apple is suing. It's a
different matter entirely. Apple isn't suing because it's fun - Apple
is suing because they believe that legal agreements have been broken.
Now whether or not agreements have been broken is another issue.
Whether or not Apple has the right to claim ownership is another
issue. I will stay out of the argument of Apple's claim to ownership
for obvious reasons.
If you don't like a company claiming ownership for what it develops
then you'd better stop buying software altogether. Write your own and
don't get any ideas from existing software or someone will sue *you*
(unless, of course, you license).
Dave Whitney Microsoft Corp, Work Group Apps dcw@goldilocks.lcs.mit.edu or
I wrote Z-Link and BinSCII - send me bug reports. {...}!uunet!microsoft!davewh
I only work here. All opinions herein aren't Bill's, they're mine.
.
. i don't know if i told unknown that it is OK for apple to license their
. user interface. i have no problems with licensing. i have every problem
. with licensing a user interface. i posted the reasons why certain items
. should be placed under copyright here before. since no one has said anything
. regarding that issue, i will then "assume" that what i posted is ok. then,
. if this is true, it should be quite apparent that copyright of any user
. interface does not follow suit with the definition of copyright.
.
. i understand why apple is suing microsoft, well most of the reasons anyway.
. i sometimes read conflicting reports as to why apple is suing microsoft
. so i don't have all the answers.
.
. i have no problem with a company claiming ownership for what it develops.
. is the macintosh interface proprietary. i think not. and yes, i am planning
. on writing all my own software, well most of it anyway. i have unlimited
. time so i can do anything i want. and, i have a C compiler and an
. assembler so i have that opportunity. i doubt the public will know of
. anything i make but i don't care.
.
. albertbsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (Bob Sherman) (05/01/91)
In <3462@kluge.fiu.edu> acmfiu@serss0.fiu.edu (ACMFIU) writes: [stuff cut] >. i don't know if i told unknown that it is OK for apple to license their >. user interface. i have no problems with licensing. i have every problem >. with licensing a user interface. i posted the reasons why certain items >. should be placed under copyright here before. since no one has said anything >. regarding that issue, i will then "assume" that what i posted is ok. then, >. if this is true, it should be quite apparent that copyright of any user >. interface does not follow suit with the definition of copyright. >. > [stuff cut]. >. albert It is quite possible that many folks are quite tired of your whimpering and mouthing the words of others, that you really don't comprehend nor fully understand, and have placed you into their kill file.. So the fact that no one has said anything about your position, does not mean by a long shot that it is ok and accepted.. I for one do NOT agree with your position and have told you that previously... . -- bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu | | MCI MAIL:BSHERMAN
acmfiu@serss0.fiu.edu (ACMFIU) (05/07/91)
In article <1991Apr30.200441.27282@mthvax.cs.miami.edu> bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (Bob Sherman) writes: >It is quite possible that many folks are quite tired of your whimpering and >mouthing the words of others, that you really don't comprehend nor fully >understand, and have placed you into their kill file.. So the fact that >no one has said anything about your position, does not mean by a long >shot that it is ok and accepted.. I for one do NOT agree with your >position and have told you that previously... . >-- > bsherman@mthvax.cs.miami.edu | | MCI MAIL:BSHERMAN it is one thing to say i don't comprehend something but it is quite another to provide proof of this, which was not done here and which should have been to substantiate your fact. moreover, i don't care about people putting me in their kill file. that is their problem, not mine. i won't even begin to get into analogies here. follow up by email if appropriate. i believe that silence is agreement. until someone proves otherwise, i will continue to think this way. albert chin
dlyons@Apple.COM (David A. Lyons) (05/08/91)
In article <3507@kluge.fiu.edu> acmfiu@serss0.fiu.edu (ACMFIU) writes: >[...] >moreover, i don't care about people putting me in their kill file. that is >their problem, not mine. i won't even begin to get into analogies here. follow >up by email if appropriate. > >i believe that silence is agreement. until someone proves otherwise, i will >continue to think this way. > >albert chin In my case, silence is not always agreement. I don't use kill files, but I frequently start ignoring whole topics. If disagreement required continued posting, the net would degenerate (even further) into an endless stream of rebuttals. Anyway, here's my take on copyrighting user interfaces: (1) The engineer/scientist/researcher in me would rather have all ideas in the public domain, freely usable by everyone. (2) Copyright law was not written by scientists. As long as stuff like GUIs *is* copyrightable at some level, we can expect most companies to protect their investment to whatever degree the legal system lets them. (3) You wondered what Steve Wozniak thought about copyrighting GUIs *as an Apple stockholder*. I haven't asked him, but *as a stockholder* I assume he's in favor of it. -- David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc. | DAL Systems Apple II System Software Engineer | P.O. Box 875 America Online: Dave Lyons | Cupertino, CA 95015-0875 GEnie:DAVE.LYONS CompuServe:72177,3233 Internet:dlyons@apple.com My opinions are my own, not Apple's.