> The Mac
> GUI was not exactly "ripped off" from Xerox (not Zenith).
If memory serves, Xerox PARC was actively courting Apple and Microsoft (and others) in an attempt to commercialize their Alto computer. Many of the Xerox folks (Larry Tessler, etc.) went to work at Apple and produced the L L L L LLisa.
> Microsoft, in
> contrast, based DOS on a hacked version of CP/M.
And before that Gates took various hackers' Tiny Basics and created Microsoft's first product, which, following his father's footsteps, Gates aggressively protected his property rights to.
> The competing business
> models of (1) Microsoft and (2) Apple were (1) to allow anyone to
> manufacture computers that could run DOS, but to require a licensing
> fee
> from all, and (2) to refuse to license the software to third-party
> manufacturers.
It's worth keeping in mind that Microsoft was/is a software company, and Apple was/is a hardware company. Their business strategies aren't exactly "competing," because they were/are selling different things.
> Microsoft's business model succeeded while Mac's business
> model failed, or nearly so. The "cult of Apple" arose initially among
> pre-Mac Apple users and was later adapted as a marketing strategy,
> not a
> business model, after Jobs was brought back.
Gates was eager to sell to the corporate users, and Jobs has always admitted he had no interest in that market segment. Apple has been very strong in education and design-related fields, but they're a lot smaller than the IT market.
Apple has been very willing to let other peoples' software run on their computers, they just don't want their software running on other peoples' hardware. As early as System 8, Apple disk utils had choices for Unix and Linux partitions, and this has continued with the whole Boot Camp, VMware thingy. So I don't think it's completely accurate to call them "monpolistic." You can run anything you want on their hardware (just like Dell), they just protect their system software (just like Microsoft).
(But see this: <http://www.macgeekblog.com/blog/archive/category/osx86>)
I believe the issue with iPhone apps was a request by AT&T, not Apple.
Best, Charles