For those of you who haven't been keeping up with the MacOS X "Tiger" controversy (i.e. those of you who are normal with lives!) here's our story so far...

On July 28 Apple introduced the new version of MacOS X coming out next year code-named "Tiger" at the big Macintosh developers conference. Included there were these big banners:

Plus this cute graphic:

Here are the key features of Tiger in a nutshell:

• Built in good searching
• iChat AV (video chatting)
• Dashboard
• RSS support built into Safari (web browser)

On its own, these are reasonably good features for a dot upgrade. But what is stirring up the non-Mac zealots is how pretentious Apple chose to be in announcing this.  For this Apple has the nerve to start a "Redmond (Microsoft) start your photocopiers"? Please.

Let's take a close look at this:

Spotlight searching is quite impressive.  But given Microsoft's work on WinFS which has been in the public record for quite awhile now, this is pretty nervy to talk like this is some sort of major innovation.  Come on.  Wow. Search. Yes, it's better but not exactly a breakthru here.

iChat AV is not only nothing special but arguably quite derivative of the capabilities already found in most other instant messaging programs. What exactly does Apple imagine someone "copying" from this? Especially when, like the search features, Windows defenders could easily argue that these ideas were lifted off of Windows programs.

But it was Dashboard, above all others, that created the controversy.

Dashboard lets you put widgets on your desktop that show up when you hit a hot key (like a dashboard, get it?). What makes these special, however, is that these widgets (mini applications) are made with Javascript and can be made by non-developers. A set of mini-apps to enhance your desktop experience.  And Apple calls this innovative? This is just such a blatant rip off of Konfabulator.

And let's not forget the first program on the PC that let users easily create their own mini-applets to have on their desktop: DesktopX.

DesktopX has been doing "widget" type stuff on the desktop for years.

There wouldn't be so much noise about Apple being inspired (again) by their ISVs or what's happening on Windows if Apple weren't trumpeting very very loudly how they are the innovators and everyone (particularly Microsoft) rips off from them.

But Mac zealots, being zealots, gloss over that.  One example I have seen is that Apple invented widgets in the first place.  Dincha know? Yea. You see, desktop accesories, made way back when,were the same sort of thing.  Please. 

That is such an incredibly weak argument.  Let's make sure we're on the same page: What makes "widgets" special is that creating them doesn't require one to be a programmer. 

Heck, as this screenshot shows, you don't even have to be an artist! (sorry Martin! I'm in the same boat!).

That's what got widgets popular is in the last few years. It opened the door to people who were non programmers but still technical enough to figure out how to do this kind of stuff (a much larger population). 

And these programs are "sexy". They do neat things. And they get a lot of press precisely because they open up customizing ones computer to the masses in ways that weren't possible in the past.  One can almost imagine some Apple marketing manager seeing an article on Konfabulator or DesktopX or whatever and saying "hey, we need a way to stick that in the next version of MacOS!". 

And again, nobody (except the affected ISVs) would give a rip if Apple wasn't so pretentious about inventing everything.  I mean, these guys sue smaller companies on a regular basis for borrowing ideas from them.

The fact is, inspiration is all around us. There's no shame in it unless you claim to be uniquely innovative beyond all others. When we come out with ObjectDock Plus next month, you know there's going to be Mac zealots claiming we ripped it off from the Mac or whatever because in the Mac universe, everything comes from them even though ObjectDock Plus is most closely related to Tab LaunchPad from 1994 (see screenshot) which is part of Object Desktop and is kind of the next logical outgrowth of it (and for you Object Desktop users reading this, yes, there will be an upgrade path from TLP to ObjectDock Plus).

Getting to the main point though: Apple wants to have it both ways. It wants to claim its new features as uniquely innovative to the point where they preemptively accuse Microsoft of stealing their ideas even as they themselves steal their ideas from others. 

And if Mac advocates want to spin it that Konfabulator or DesktopX were inspired by some prior work then fine. But don't complain when Windows users are unimpressed with a built in search feature and a MS Instant Messenger clone.  If you want to play the prior art game, it works both ways.

Now for the record, I am a Mac user too. And I think MacOS X 10.3 is a terrific operating system.  What I wish, however, is that Apple and its advocates would really recognize what makes Apple special: Apple is a full baker.  That is, Apple is really good at seeing a half-baked idea and figuring out how to make it fully baked. 

Apple sees things others have done and recognize where the other guys went wrong and do it much better. iTunes wasn't original, but it was the first music store done right IMO.  The Mac GUI wasn't original, but it was the first GUI really done right.  And Dashboard is a blatant rip off of Konfabulator, but it sounds like it's going to be implemented in a much better way (the widgets hide when you press a button much like the Overlays feature coming in DesktopX 2.2). And for the record: Stardock has been planning to make an ActiveX control that can run DesktopX widgets on a web page for over a year so if and when that comes out, we did NOT get that idea from Apple.

No one likes a hypocrite.  Apple is a very innovative company.  But so is Microsoft. And so are lots of others. And they do themselves no favors by accusing their competitor of "photocopying" their ideas for them even as they run their own photocopier on their own ISVs.