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Windows 7 Taskbar = Mac OS X Dock

jav6454

jav6454

macrumors Core
Original poster
Nov 14, 2007
22,303
6,264
1 Geostationary Tower Plaza
Ok, I didn't know where to put this so, here it is. Mods, excuse me for putting this wrong if I did.

So Microsoft unveiled Windows 7. Looks snappy just as Vista did in the beginning. However, I couldn't stop noticing a feature we all here enjoy in our beloved MacBooks, Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis.

Windows 7 has a Taskbar that has big icons in which windows minimize to the taskbar. I'm sure pretty much by now everyone got the idea, Redmond fired up its photocopiers on the Dock. Yes, its true. Just saw the tour of it. It is very similar, the Microsoft employee made a note that a comment was raised regarding this; however, he responded its copied from Windows 1.0, 95 and XP (I called that BS).

What else has Microsoft copied from OS X? Or did they finally finished Vista? Be the judge.

PS - Please don't bash me for wrong forum.
 
NT1440

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
i think its basically the same idea, just implemented differently

I wouldnt call it a direct rip off.

Was apple even the creater of the dock idea?
 
DannyBres

DannyBres

macrumors 65816
Oct 30, 2007
1,412
6
UK
Nope it was Nextstep by NeXT Computer that first had the dock..... which Steve made in his time away from apple and became the basis of OSX i believe

EDIT: damn u beat me to it....
 
mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Jul 10, 2007
8,970
4,225
NYC
one thing the W7 "dock" does that I always wished the OSX dock did is toggle the window of running apps...click a dock icon to minimize an open window, click again to maximize the window.
 
C

chill.

macrumors 6502
Sep 1, 2008
385
0
lay off the kool-aid kids, everyone in the tech business has copied things from each other and apple is no different.

contrary to popular belief, apple has ripped a lot off for their original operating system (xerox), chiclet keyboard (sony), jonathan ives design (dieter rams), etc. etc. and those people probably got the ideas from somewhere else beforehand

stop worrying about who thought of what idea first and appreciate the work that has been built iteratively upon the efforts of others
 
brotherben

brotherben

macrumors member
Nov 3, 2008
44
0
I don't know, I'm biased so I don't like it, But the biggest thing that pisses me off that they copied is their "gadgets" I mean they even got the name close to widgets. :mad:
 
acfusion29

acfusion29

macrumors 68040
Nov 8, 2007
3,128
1
Toronto
chill. said:
lay off the kool-aid kids, everyone in the tech business has copied things from each other and apple is no different.

contrary to popular belief, apple has ripped a lot off for their original operating system (xerox), chiclet keyboard (sony), jonathan ives design (dieter rams), etc. etc. and those people probably got the ideas from somewhere else beforehand

stop worrying about who thought of what idea first and appreciate the work that has been built iteratively upon the efforts of others
Click to expand...

sony and apple are friends though :p
 
J

jaytv111

macrumors 65816
Oct 25, 2007
1,028
875
brotherben said:
I don't know, I'm biased so I don't like it, But the biggest thing that pisses me off that they copied is their "gadgets" I mean they even got the name close to widgets. :mad:
Click to expand...

Um, are you kidding me? Konfabulator was out long before OS X had it. I think they were even called widgets in Konfabulator.
 
SHADO

SHADO

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2008
968
0
Beach
The Windows 7 "launch bar" is basically the Tiger dock...so I would call it copying to a certain degree (and yes i no apple has done it too).
 
chagla

chagla

macrumors 6502a
Mar 21, 2008
797
1,727
jav6454 said:
Ok, I didn't know where to put this so, here it is. Mods, excuse me for putting this wrong if I did.

So Microsoft unveiled Windows 7. Looks snappy just as Vista did in the beginning. However, I couldn't stop noticing a feature we all here enjoy in our beloved MacBooks, Mac Pros, iMacs and Mac Minis.

Windows 7 has a Taskbar that has big icons in which windows minimize to the taskbar. I'm sure pretty much by now everyone got the idea, Redmond fired up its photocopiers on the Dock. Yes, its true. Just saw the tour of it. It is very similar, the Microsoft employee made a note that a comment was raised regarding this; however, he responded its copied from Windows 1.0, 95 and XP (I called that BS).

What else has Microsoft copied from OS X? Or did they finally finished Vista? Be the judge.

PS - Please don't bash me for wrong forum.
Click to expand...

yah, i wonder why all the tires are round you know. why this random person has two ears like me. must be a copycat.

but having used both mac and windows, i can confidently say that your assumptions is wrong. the windows taskbar has been there like forever. it does not work like the mac dock at all. the only difference now is that they are going to magnify it, (ie - make the icons bigger).

so no my friend. taskbar =/= dock.

you'll be surprised to know that if one wants have some validity in their arguments, they usually do some research prior to presenting it.

thanks.
 
chilipie

chilipie

macrumors 6502a
May 8, 2006
983
1
Englandshire
chagla said:
but having used both mac and windows, i can confidently say that your assumptions is wrong. the windows taskbar has been there like forever. it does not work like the mac dock at all. the only difference now is that they are going to magnify it, (ie - make the icons bigger).

so no my friend. taskbar =/= dock.

you'll be surprised to know that if one wants have some validity in their arguments, they usually do some research prior to presenting it.
Click to expand...

That would be because everyone is talking about Windows 7, in which the taskbar is application based (as in OS X), rather than previous versions of Windows where the taskbar was task based.

Read the thread properly before getting snarky with people ;)
 
prostuff1

prostuff1

macrumors 65816
Jul 29, 2005
1,482
18
Don't step into the kawoosh...
This is a vast improvement over the XP taskbar. I don't have much experience with the Vista one but i assume it is very similar (except for previews of windows) to the XP one.

The way i see this is that, like someone else said, the taskbar has become much more application based. And it is the application icons that acts as the taskbar when the app has been launched.

The peek feature is kinda nice to. I do something similar in OS X already with expose>all windows. This little "shortcut" work some of the time, but as i open more windows it becomes impossible to read texts in exposed windows.
 
A

akm3

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2007
2,252
279
richthomas said:
NeXT created the Dock. Steve Jobs created NeXT. Apple purchased NeXT.
Click to expand...

Steve created Apple.
God Created Steve.
God Created Dinosaurs.
God kills dinosaurs.
Man creates dinosaurs
Dinosaurs kill man,
Women inherit the Earth?
 
patrick0brien

patrick0brien

macrumors 68040
Oct 24, 2002
3,246
9
The West Loop
Everybody does borrow cues from everybody else, heck you know what they say about flattery...

Some 'copies' are more blatant than others, and I feel the those copies that are so bald-faced that the copy's implementation, or even name difference required so little creativity is what folks really rail at.

If you dig deep enough, copying can be attributed to everything .

Ex. "Hey! You used Iron in that design! Copycat!!!"

Perhaps the line could conceivably be drawn at the point that if, at first glance, the educated can immediately see (feel, use) the resemblance of a preexisting thing.

For the record, Apple's Macintosh (Lisa) GUI was created in-house at Apple after engineers saw Xerox Star at a demo. Star, due to an FTC ruling was not very patentable. Ergo, kind of a muddy area of IP. What then happened was Apple did implement patents on their creation.

It's a fuzzy line, but a simplification could be said that Apple copied Star, and MS ripped off Apple (Apple lost the lawsuit)
 
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