Was the Leopard dock copied from Project Looking Glass?

[dbbolton]

It seems that Mac users take pleasure in pointing out things that other systems have copied from their beloved OS X. For example, one of my Mac-using friends has proclaimed that Compiz Fusion is nothing but a cheap impersonation of features that have been implemented in OS X for years.

He also poked fun at Avant Window Navigator as a shoddy rip-off of the Leopard dock. However, I notice something interesting today. The "original and intuitive" Leopard dock bears a striking resemblance to that of Project Looking Glass.

Could it be possible that the ground-breaking Apple developers copied an idea from someone else? I really don't know which came first, but I know that I saw screen shots of Project Looking Glass long before I saw any from Leopard.

Project Looking Glass screenshots
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/details.xml

Leopard screenshots
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/features/desktop.html

[fuscia]

thank god for openbox.

[ErusGuleilmus]

I can’t say for sure, but I think that you may be correct. It seems that Apple has a tendency to take forgotten technologies developed by other companies, polish it, and say that they have made a revolutionary breakthrough. And even if Linux did in fact take many of its visual effects from OS X, what is wrong with that? No OS ever has all the strong points of another, so why shouldn’t an Os borrow from another OS in what it is lacking?

[macogw]

Ask your friend where the workspaces on OSX are. Oh right, they won't be there til Leopard! We've had them for years! Apple is so behind the times. Gosh, what are they trying to do? Pull a Microsoft?

[smartboyathome]

I agree with you, Erus. Windows may have some features that Linux doesn't (imo, Vista sure does), but that is good, as Linux can learn from that, adapt, and grow. I don't know why there is so much hostility between some of the Ubuntu users against Windows.

[Depressed Man]

I don't mind companies taking ideas from each other. It's when companies take ideas from another, and then in turn sue a company for trying to take an idea from them. *cough* Most companies you know *cough*

[DoctorMO]

I don't know why there is so much hostility between some of the Ubuntu users against Windows.

Some people (like me) don't believe that Windows is a moral option. that to use it is to support business as practiced by Microsoft. I don't happen to think Microsoft conducts it's business in an entirely moral way (or even close to).

Anyway back to the story: Mac OSX has been copying ideas from other people all the time; think about the fact that it's based on BSD, they didn't just take the idea, they took the entire code base.

And Linux is a big copy box, we even copy bad ideas ;-)

[prizrak]

People need to get over the whole "he copied my idea" thing.
1) Most ideas aren't new, the idea behind hyperlinked documents was around years before the internet or computers.
2) Most ideas occur at around the same time, windowing OS just makes sense, Xerox was just the first one to get there.
3) A great man (I think it was Alexander Hamilton, not sure) once said "If I have an apple and you have an apple and we swap apples we will each have an apple. If I have an idea and you have an idea and we swap ideas, we will each have two ideas."

[Adamant1988]

Ask your friend where the workspaces on OSX are. Oh right, they won't be there til Leopard! We've had them for years! Apple is so behind the times. Gosh, what are they trying to do? Pull a Microsoft?

No, I'd say they're doing what an intelligent company would do... saving features to put them into future versions so that you can build hype and encourage adoption.

They're pacing themselves.

Also, yes, the dock was most likely inspired by Looking Glass's version of the dock (which is very nice to use). So, I applaud Apple's decision to use a good dock for their base design.

[Taum]

Research and Development takes years. The systems that, over time, prove to be reliable, functional, and helpful often get adopted (or outright bought) by larger companies that want to acquire better technology for themselves. Sometimes a small company works just to sell to a larger company, in which case it becomes a win-win situation.

[hanzomon4]

Perhaps(definitely) in looks and the stacks, but big deal it looks nice and works, so good for them...