At The Gates Mac OS
At The Gates Mac OS
The Back Page - Yes, Microsoft Did Steal Apple's Interface (Under License)
Wait while your Mac installs the new OS on that volume. Once it’s done it should open up in the volume with the new OS installed. When you are ready to go back to your old version of the OS. This is an edited version of a promotional video produced by Apple Computer in 1984 to launch the Mac. Surprisingly, Steve Jobs does NOT make an appearance. At the Gates is a Swedish death metal band from Gothenburg. The band was a major progenitor of Gothenburg-style melodic death metal. They were initially active from 1990 to 1996, reforming in 2007 for a tour between April and September 2008. In 2011, they reformed again and have since continued to perform. In the letter, Gates argues that Apple should license their hardware and operating system out to other companies, making Macintosh a “standard.” If that pitch sounds familiar, it should: after.
byBryan Chaffin- July 8th, 2004
Because the file system on the WD Passport For Mac external hard drive is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This file system is also called HFS+. A Windows PC can’t see, read, write to HFS+. To share that drive between a Mac and Windows PC you need software. Software that translates HFS+ into something the PC can understand.
You know, there are few things more annoying than someone's attempt to correct a misconception with incorrect facts, especially when it's Apple history. TMO forum member Spider found just such an instance of that, and I thought it would be a good idea to correct the correction.
The Syracuse Post-Standard has someone calling himself 'Dr. Gizmo' writing a technical Q&A column. Better yet, he refers to himself in third person like some sort of 'touched' cousin of Mac the Knife. This week he chose to tackle a question about ancient history where he corrects the urban legend that Microsoft 'stole' the original Mac OS interface. The only problem, of course, is that it isn't an urban legend.
From Dr. Gizmo:
Q. A rumor I heard went something like this: Windows as we know it would not exist if Apple had not 'allowed' Microsoft to use the idea of the Mac operating system. I'm referring to the original Mac OS.
If Apple did allow Microsoft to use the Mac OS (the idea of it) as a base for Windows, wouldn't you think that Apple would be receiving royalties for that? Or what if Microsoft just simply stole the idea? Wouldn't there have been a lawsuit? - E.P. via adelphia.net
A. The doctor has heard the same tale. It's what's called an Urban Legend, a story that is told and retold so often it becomes accepted as true.
Apple Computer Corp. and Microsoft were each working on new operating systems in the early 1980s.
In the mid-'80s, Apple introduced Lisa and Macintosh, two radically different computers that were based on operating systems that used graphical representations of literally everything the computers did.
Shortly afterward, Microsoft introduced Windows. The first two versions of Windows are largely forgotten today (for good reason, the doc thinks, since they were awful), but Windows 3.0 and 3.1 became immensely popular within a few years.
Microsoft borrowed ideas from Apple's Lisa and Mac operating systems - one could hardly make a computer work with a mouse, windows and icons without doing a little borrowing from the brilliant Apple designs - but it's not true that Microsoft signed agreements to pay for the use of any part of Apple's interface.
Anyone who has seen Windows 1.0 and Windows 2.0 will sense immediately that Microsoft had no clue about how a graphical interface should look and behave. Changes in Windows 3.0 and 3.1 came about not because Microsoft was copying Apple but because it saw how Apple did things with the Mac and knew that it had to change Windows to be competitive.
The Doctor is in danger of being slapped with a malpractice suit.
The reality is that Microsoft did steal from the Mac, but that the company had what amounted to a license from Apple to do so. Indeed, as the bad Doctor's questioner alluded to, there was a lawsuit on this, and Apple didn't lose because there was no theft, but because of that license. The lawsuit ended up hinging on the terms of that lawsuit, and not the merits of Mac vs. Windows.
I thought it would be handy to turn to my writing partner for This Week in Apple History, and his marvelous book, Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company. From that book, we learn:
Microsoft shipped Windows on November 20 [1985], and two days later during Fall COMDEX (a huge industry trade show) in Las Vegas, Gates and Sculley signed a confidential, three-page agreement that granted Microsoft a 'non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, nontransferable license to use these derivative works in present and future software programs, and to license them to and through third parties for use in their software programs.' In other words, Apple got Microsoft's commitment to upgrade Word for Macintosh, delay Excel for Windows until October 1, 1986, plus an acknowledgement that 'the visual displays in [Excel, Windows, Word, and Multiplan] are derivative works of the visual displays generated by Apple's Lisa and Macintosh graphic user interface programs.' In other words, Microsoft got Apple's crown jewels, and Apple got shafted. Not since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Adolf Hitler with the Munich Pact of 1938 had the world seen such a fine demonstration of negotiation skills.
Sounds pretty cut and dry, no? Bill Gates signed a document that said that Windows was derivative of the Mac OS, and had a license from none other than Apple that made it AOK. (Also, I always loved the Chamberlain/Hitler metaphor Owen uses.)
So what was this about a lawsuit? Apple thought that the above mentioned license covered Windows 1.0, and Windows 1.0 only, while Microsoft said 'Nuh-uh.' Apple sued Microsoft in 1988 when Windows 2.0.3 included things like icons (something Windows 1.0 lacked), and Microsoft's defense was that license agreement.
Read Owen's outstanding book for full details on how that went down, but the bottom line is that the courts eventually dismissed Apple's lawsuit because the similar features between the Mac OS and Windows 'were either covered by the 1985 license, or could not be protected under copyright law,' to quote Owen.
Also from Apple Confidential 2.0, John Sculley is quoted as having said in 1996: 'We didn't realize we'd signed an agreement that would jeopardize our rights in the future. Our lawyers weren't good enough. We never had any intention of giving Microsoft the rights to anything more than version 1.0.'
This position was backed up by Del Yocam, the Apple VP tasked with overseeing the lawsuit, when I interviewed him at last year's Apple Lore Apple reunion. Everything hinged on that license, and the proper interpretation of that license, but no one disputed at the time whether or not Windows was derivative of the Mac OS. Not even Mr. Gates.
Admittedly, there are at least two sides of every story, and in this case there is the all-important Xerox PARC's side. For instance, Bill Gates was quoted as saying 'Hey, Steve, just because you broke into Xerox's house before I did and took the TV doesn't mean I can't go in later and take the stereo.'
That stance certainly has merit, at least as far as it goes. Apple had borrowed, with a sort of permission, from the work done by the good folks at the PARC. In fact, key people at Apple had once worked at the PARC, and there is no denying at all that it Xerox who had shown how a GUI could work. Dr. Gizmo's effort to debunk this 'urban legend' would have had more legitimacy had it relied on the PARC's influence on both OSes, something that most Microsoft apologists tend to do.
Be that as it may, Bill Gates had Mac prototypes to work from, and he was known to be obsessed with trying to make Windows as good as SAND (Steve's Amazing New Device), as a Microsoft exec named it. It was the Mac that Microsoft took for its blueprint on how to make a GUI.
Then again, it was also Mr. Gates who tried to get Apple to license the Mac OS to other manufacturers. Mr. Gates went so far as to line up (big) companies that were ready to sign a licensing agreement with Apple, but he was ignored by then-CEO John Sculley, whose execs wanted to keep the Mac OS proprietary. Mr. Gates loved the Mac, and wanted his company to make a ton of money making Mac software. So while he may have used brilliant business negotiations to rob Apple of its 'crown jewels,' he first bent over backwards to help Apple do what he thought it would take to make the Mac platform the preeminent platform on the planet.
The rest, as they say, is history. Ancient history, in tech-years, but it's well-known, and well-researched history. My prescription for the bad Dr. Gizmo is to look up some of that history before preaching on about urban legends.
Thanks again for the link, Spider!
Bryan Chaffinbegan using Apple computers in 1983 in a high school BASIC programming class. He started using Macs in 1990 when the Kinko's guy taught him how to use Aldus PageMaker, finally buying a Power Computing Power 100 in 1995. Today, Bryan is the Editor of The Mac Observer, and has contributed to the print versions of MacAddict and MacFormat (UK).
You can send your comments directly to him, or you can also post your comments below.
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The safest place to get apps for your Mac is the App Store. Apple reviews each app in the App Store before it’s accepted and signs it to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with or altered. If there’s ever a problem with an app, Apple can quickly remove it from the store.
If you download and install apps from the internet or directly from a developer, macOS continues to protect your Mac. When you install Mac apps, plug-ins, and installer packages from outside the App Store, macOS checks the Developer ID signature to verify that the software is from an identified developer and that it has not been altered. By default, macOS Catalina and later also requires software to be notarized, so you can be confident that the software you run on your Mac doesn't contain known malware. Before opening downloaded software for the first time, macOS requests your approval to make sure you aren’t misled into running software you didn’t expect.
Running software that hasn’t been signed and notarized may expose your computer and personal information to malware that can harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.
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The warning messages displayed below are examples, and it's possible that you could see a similar message that isn't displayed here. Please use caution if you choose to install any software for which your Mac displays an alert.
View the app security settings on your Mac
By default, the security and privacy preferences of your Mac are set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers. For additional security, you can chose to allow only apps from the App Store.
In System Preferences, click Security & Privacy, then click General. Click the lock and enter your password to make changes. Select App Store under the header “Allow apps downloaded from.”
Open a developer-signed or notarized app
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An app that has been notarized by Apple indicates that Apple checked it for malicious software and none was detected.
If you see a warning message and can’t install an app
If you have set your Mac to allow apps only from the App Store and you try to install an app from elsewhere, your Mac will say that the app can't be opened because it was not downloaded from the App Store.*
If your Mac is set to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers, and you try to install an app that isn’t signed by an identified developer and—in macOS Catalina and later—notarized by Apple, you also see a warning that the app cannot be opened.
If you see this warning, it means that the app was not notarized, and Apple could not scan the app for known malicious software.
You may want to look for an updated version of the app in the App Store or look for an alternative app.
If macOS detects a malicious app
If macOS detects that software has malicious content or its authorization has been revoked for any reason, your Mac will notify you that the app will damage your computer. You should move this app to the Trash and check 'Report malware to Apple to protect other users.'
If you want to open an app that hasn’t been notarized or is from an unidentified developer
Running software that hasn’t been signed and notarized may expose your computer and personal information to malware that can harm your Mac or compromise your privacy. If you’re certain that an app you want to install is from a trustworthy source and hasn’t been tampered with, you can temporarily override your Mac security settings to open it.
If you still want to open an app for which the developer cannot be verified, open System Preferences.*
Go to Security & Privacy. Click the Open Anyway button in the General pane to confirm your intent to open or install the app.
The warning prompt reappears, and if you're absolutely sure you want to open the app anyway, you can click Open.
The app is now saved as an exception to your security settings, and you can open it in the future by double-clicking it, just as you can any authorized app.
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macOS has been designed to keep users and their data safe while respecting their privacy.
Gatekeeper performs online checks to verify if an app contains known malware and whether the developer’s signing certificate is revoked. We have never combined data from these checks with information about Apple users or their devices. We do not use data from these checks to learn what individual users are launching or running on their devices.
Notarization checks if the app contains known malware using an encrypted connection that is resilient to server failures.
These security checks have never included the user’s Apple ID or the identity of their device. To further protect privacy, we have stopped logging IP addresses associated with Developer ID certificate checks, and we will ensure that any collected IP addresses are removed from logs.
In addition, over the the next year we will introduce several changes to our security checks:
At The Gates Mac Os X
- A new encrypted protocol for Developer ID certificate revocation checks
- Strong protections against server failure
- A new preference for users to opt out of these security protections
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* If you're prompted to open the app in Finder and you're sure you want to open it despite the warning, you can control-click the app, choose Open from the menu, and then click Open in the dialog that appears. Enter your admin name and password to open the app.
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