[radiorocket]

From an article on newsletters from Jakob Nielson's "Useit" site:

"In any case, from an interaction design perspective, Netscape is a pale imitation of IE, and Macintosh is a higher- priced dolled-up variant of Windows."

Does anyone know of a reaction from Apple or the Mac users community?

 

[SpanishJoe]

Sounds like flamebait to me. Ignore it. Your heart will thank you.

-SJ.

 

[mose]

well JN the god of Heuristics and Human Factor Engineering - well until you look at his site and discover that not only is the cobbler's kid not wearing any shoes - it is just plain awful.

And to think that they are teaching his stuff...well I am teaching his stuff anyway - I use a daily dose of Cluetrain as an antidote...

consider the source. he's an acedemic fergodssake - with a crappy site.

Kinda like going to a barber with a comb over.

 

[MacNutt]

"kind of like going to a barber with a combover"

I LOVE it!! Too funny!

"...OK, Bob...a little off the sides, but NOTHING off the top!"

Wayyyy cool!

 

[PosterBoy]

I think it is important that no matter what anyone says these days, Mac OS and Windows were both rip offs of a GUI OS made by Xerox, way back in the day (well, way back in the computer day).

Since then, yes, MS has ripped off nearly all of Apple's good OS Ideas, but bear in mind that there are a few things that Apple actually copied from MS (though I cannot remember which ones they are, and really I dont care, the fact remains).

--PB

 

[MacNutt]

Okay, Posterboy....I will ammend my last post to an imagined quote from Bill Gates when he refers to Apple:

"..OK Bob, nothing off the sides and EVERYTHING off the top!..."

It may well have started with something that originally came from Xerox (or Rockwell, as I have often been told)....but look at how it all ended up. And look who has spent almost two decades copying whom.....

You know what they say... "Lead, Follow, or get out of the way!"

 

[PosterBoy]

When thinking of industry trend in the tech sector, I like to think of a huge flock of penguins. You know the ones, you have seen them on the learning channel, standing there for hours, days maybe even weeks waiting to start their migration. They stand there and stand there because none of them will go first willingly, and then one gets pushed or falls or jumps or whatever, leading the rest of the thousands of birds into the literally shark infested waters, most of the escaping, but many becoming lunch.

The manufacturers are the penguins, and the market (us) is the sharks.

Apple, is almost always that first penguin, jumping in the water ahead of all the rest. In fact, there are very few times they haven't been that first penguin, but I think it is important to remember that there are many migrations, and while Apple is the first penguin now, they werent always, they were followers at some point, and have been eaten by the sharks on a few occasions too.

We all come from someplace, it is important to remeber that.

Not that Apple isn;t the leader in pretty much every regard right now IMO, but still.

--PB

 

[Cynical Critic]

Two strange thoughts occur to me:

1) Wasn't / Isn't the mascot for the Linux system a penguin?

2) I think the waters penguins inhabit are far too cold for any sharks.

This has no real baring on your metaphor but I'm in a tangential and distracted mood.

As far as rip offs go, those PC-iMac-monstrosities were quite a lark. Typical of those unoriginal clone makers.

BTW this is my centennial posting. Woo hoo! Sweet, sweet triple digits.

 

[MacNutt]

You are a proud puppy, eh CC?

You'll probably develop a bit of serious scar tissue to go along with your four hundredth post...or thereabouts.

I know this.

 

[PosterBoy]

actually, yes, the linux mascot is a Penguin.

And I have seen those penguins on the discovery channel a number of times. Uncountable thousands of them waiting to go on migration, but none of them want to go because of all the ahrks. They all kow however, that if they all go at the same time they will all have a better chance of getting through. The catch is that none of them will go until one of them goes, and none of them are the first one to go willingly most of the time. Interesting stuff really.

Reminds me of the Far Side cartoon of a huge gathering of penguins, and one in the middle singing "I just gotta be me!"

--PB

 

[gordguide]

Just some minor historical points...

Jobs and Woz were given the right to copy the Palo Alto Research Station's concept of a GUI by Xerox, because Xerox was somehow uninterested in actually doing anything with it (along with anything else PARC pioneered). PARC got the ideas for GUI from others, as well, some of it dating back to the mid-60's at colleges like MIT and companies like IBM (inventor of the mouse, esssential to a modern GUI).

Secondly, Apple sold the rights to copy the Mac OS (System 4 I believe) to Microsoft. Although there was a court battle over some details (Apple argued MS copied some things developed after the deal was made, particularly stuff from System 6, which shouldn't have been covered in the agreement), but essentially Apple lost.

Now I don't think anyone would argue MS Windows isn't derivative of System 4-6; but after all, a judge said it was OK so that's about it.

 

[MACSPECTRUM]

The Banana Theory - A case in Policy Development

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.

To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, and then the fifth.

Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.

And that, my friends, is how company policy begins.

 

[Heart]

Compare a Hyundi and a BMW.

Is a BMW just a higher- priced dolled-up variant of a Car?

 

[Alesh]

LOL! The monkey theory! Thats so true! And so funny! Could be applied to lot's of other things... traditions, wars, governments...