Apple paid Xerox. How do you equate that to stealing??? 😕
Fortunately Apple have Steve Jobs and he's on a roll ;
1: The only founder and pioneer of personal computing technology still in the game - the wealth of innate understanding this gives Apple is almost immeasurable.
2: Apple are 'off the blocks' with touch devices that are both a) shipping!, b) already incredible and c) running on the GUI Unix we call OSX - Everyone else is already in catchup mode and they are going to be
struggling just to match an R1.0 OSX touch interface never mind what's coming in '08.
3: Apple have patented some pretty basic functionality and the success of the touch OS already suggests they got the basic 'interface paradigm' spot on and patented core functionality. Everyone else is going to struggle to 'reprogram' users into a different way of interacting on a touch devices. Let's remember nobody ever picked up a manual to use Apple's touch devices - it's that good!
4: MS are like a headless chicken running in all directions trying to capture all markets. They have zero focus and bloat is endemic.
Worse still MS are
STILLprofitable solely because of technologies ( office/Windows) directly born from the original age of macintosh in 1984 - once again you can thank Steve Jobs for ALL of it!.
If MS loses Office they are finished - simple as that - nothing will hold up that monster - they are nothing without MS Office.
There's no denying Apple got lucky with the Ipod but it's fully empowered Steve Jobs' Apple renaissance.
So back to the original point - Zerox - to quote Steeley Dan ' you wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand the things you think are precious I can't understand'
Steve Jobs mines diamonds and polishes them and ships millions of them!.
Balmer polishes turds and forces them onto the market with the money he makes from Office and Windows ( both stolen property).