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What is THIS? Microsoft has done it again!

Sirin

Sirin

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 17, 2006
85
0
Microsoft has clearly ripped off of Apple.

Just take a look at "Windows Mail"

Ahem? :rolleyes:

Why the similar name, Bill? Why the noticeably similar Layout, Billie? :rolleyes:
 
As far as the similar name goes, I don't think there's a lot of options when choosing a "mail" program, without sounding silly. The layout also seems to be pretty standard; it looks like Outlook/Mail/Thunderbird etc. . Maybe Apple Mail will keep the 'smart folder' advantage over Windows mail; I use this on a daily basis and it's one of my favorite things about the program.
 
Ummm... it's email software.

I don't think the envelope for interface design is going to be pushed by an email program. Form fits function -- I wouldn't expect it to look anything less than that really.

Besides, I want everyone to have a better computing experience and if that means Windows copying Apple or vice versa, then what does it matter in the long run?
 
Blue Velvet said:
Ummm... it's email software.

I don't think the envelope for interface design is going to be pushed by an email program. Form fits function -- I wouldn't expect it to look anything less than that really.
Click to expand...

And I think it's probably a bit rich suggesting Apple Mail was the first one to come up with that particular layout.

Although with the increasing popularity of widescreens I think we might be seeing a move to a more Entourage-like three panel layout. Here's a mockup of what a widescreen mail.app would look like.

Blue Velvet said:
Besides, I want everyone to have a better computing experience and if that means Windows copying Apple or vice versa, then what does it matter in the long run?
Click to expand...

Copying is going to be inevitable (and it does indeed work both ways), my qualm is that we're not really seeing much from MS that Apple would want to copy.

Vista promised so much and even as a Mac user I was genuinely excited, mainly to see how Apple would respond. But now Vista looks like it will just be playing catch up with Tiger. Good news for Windows users, not so great for the computing industry. And in the long run we all lose out.
 
munkle said:
...Vista promised so much and even as a Mac user I was genuinely excited, mainly to see how Apple would respond. But now Vista looks like it will just be playing catch up with Tiger. Good news for Windows users, not so great for the computing industry. And in the long run we all lose out.
Click to expand...

Exactly my stance on the subject. I just think Apple has an advantage in they have more major updates, where it takes MS half a decade to get such a leap forward.
I prefer Apple's way myself. After 3 years I grew sick of Windows XP look and feel. Knowing the biggest advancement in those 6 years as an OS was the SP2 pack.
 
BakedBeans said:
Yet something else that has been ripped off.
Click to expand...


if anything apple rip off M$. It looks a lot like Outlook express and out look to me. The other features in there that are new 2 of them are just junk mail features something already currently in outlook and out look express so nothing new there. The quick searchs maybe but that something that is also in the OS so it easy to have the email programs use it. Outlook and OE both already have search function.

Lay out is almost exactly like OE. Both outlook at OE have been around longer then apple mail program which looks a lot like them. The name they are using fits a theme they are currently using for a lot of their software Windows such and such (windows Media player, windows defender....)
 
Timepass said:
if anything apple rip off M$...

Both outlook at OE have been around longer then apple mail program...
Click to expand...
Apple Mail is a direct descendant of NeXT Mail (NeXT's Mail became Rhapsody's MailViewer which became Mac OS X's Mail). Mail was included in NEXTSTEP since at least version 1.0 (June of 1989)... which predates Outlook and Outlook Express by about 8 years (the first version of Outlook was released in 1997).

A description of the functions of NeXT's Mail can be found in chapters 12 and 13 of this manual (the PDF version is better) and I have a page on Rhapsody's MailViewer here.

On the other hand, there was Microsoft Mail which was an Appletalk based e-mail client for Macs in the early 90's. So Microsoft is reusing a product name which they have used before.

And I believe that the reason Apple changed the name of Mail to MailViewer in 1997 was most likely because they were trying to avoid confusion with Microsoft's Mail. As I recall MailViewer returned to the name Mail in Mac OS X DP3 (February of 2000) since most people had since forgotten about Microsoft's Mail.

:rolleyes:

Just wanted to keep the history of this stuff straight.
 
Sirin said:
Microsoft has clearly ripped off of Apple.

Just take a look at "Windows Mail
Click to expand...

Okay, so what I want to know is, why on the bottom of this page, is there a picture of a man standing on the peak of a mountain? Does this image connect to e-mail in some deep and profound way that simply eludes my feeble understanding? Or is it just random prettiness that's intended to make us feel more comfortable with the product, because using the actual product probably won't?
 
IJ Reilly said:
Okay, so what I want to know is, why on the bottom of this page, is there a picture of a man standing on the peak of a mountain? Does this image connect to e-mail in some deep and profound way that simply eludes my feeble understanding? Or is it just random prettiness that's intended to make us feel more comfortable with the product, because using the actual product probably won't?
Click to expand...
:D Reminds me of the iPod box video.
 
Sorry but really the whole mail preview pane and folders pane isn't anything new and Apple certainly didn't come up with it! Quite honestly, saying that MS ripped off Apple's mail design is like saying MS ripped off Apple's idea to use icons.
 
Kingsly said:
:D Reminds me of the iPod box video.
Click to expand...

Right. Maybe a better comparison than the application UIs, which one way or another are very similar, is the way the two companies talk about them. On their Mail page, Apple actually describes the application's features without the apparent need for unrelated images.
 
IJ Reilly said:
Or is it just random prettiness that's intended to make us feel more comfortable with the product, because using the actual product probably won't?
Click to expand...

Truth in advertising. The product will make you want to climb a mountain and throw yourself off.
 
Another one of these threads? :eek:

It looks more like MS Outlook's mail than it looks like Apple's mail application.

Maybe Microsoft could have called it Post instead of Mail. That would have been completely different.

I'm not going to repeat everything I said in the iCal ripoff thread, so blah blah blah. :p
 
pseudobrit said:
Truth in advertising. The product will make you want to climb a mountain and throw yourself off.
Click to expand...

Clearly, the kid hanging onto his father's back has used one too many Microsoft products.
 
The comment about the image Microsoft use is so on point. The whole "lifestyle" thing is so played out it isnt even funny.
 
Yeah, I don't see what the big deal here is. I don't think they've copied anyone here. And even if they have, it's a pretty mature piece of software in terms of layout form vs function. Personally, it's my favorite mail layout as opposed to a 2-pane side by side, 2 pane top bottom, or 3 pane side by side by side layout.
 
I don't think anyone believes it's a big deal, but it is another opportunity to remind ourselves of Microsoft's consistent lack of original ideas. They spend far, far more on developing Windows than Apple does on OSX, yet nothing really new or innovative ever seems to happen for that investment.
 
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