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no one argues that Steve (personally) or Apple invented it

You're kidding, right?

In spite of seeing proof after proof over the years on this forum and elsewhere, the Mac fanboys would not accept that Jobs/Apple did not invent the dock/task-bar. Many still won't accept that fact even after seeing the proof in this article.

Mac fanboy denial is a powerful force. There is someone who just posted a couple of messages on this thread who evidently can't accept that the dock did not originate at Apple. This poster is delving into minute and rather arbitrary behavioral differences between launchers, task-bars and docks, apparently in an effort to show that the Apple dock is distinctly different than the non-Apple versions, and, thereby, bolster the idea that Apple invented the "true" dock.

Even this OSNews dock article anticipates Mac fanboy resistance, taking a roundabout, sort of apologetic path before finally declaring in the sixth paragraph, "... the fact remains that the first public appearance of the dock was the Iconbar in Arthur. Credit where it is due, please."

(However, the first dock/task-bar actually appeared in Windows 1.01, two years before Arthur.)

By the way, do you know "Steve" personally?!!


what they did do well is the popularisation of the said technology.

Once a person has finally accepted that Jobs/Apple did not invent an item, nothing in the Universe can stop that person from saying, "... well, Steve made it popular!"

First of all, just saying that Jobs/Apple "made popular" or "introduced" something doesn't make it a hard fact. Please see this response to someone's claim that Apple "introduced" free-floating, overlapping, application windows: http://osnews.com/permalink.php?news_id=18941&comment_id=285052

Also, making something popular is a dubious achievement. Perhaps we should start a televised awards show for hucksterism -- I wonder who will win this year's "Huckie" for "largest reality distortion field."

The inventor is the one who should get the credit and accolades.


LCD's for example, was an American invention, it was the fact that it took until the 1980s when american companies finally realised the link between R&D, competitive advantage and producing products - where they finally protected the technology they developed.

Not sure what you mean here, but I think that it was long before the 1980s when American companies realized the importance of R&D, "competitive advantage" and production.



Nothing today is original; the vast majority of it has already been conceptualized years ago

An optimistic view.

A famous myth has Charles H. Duell, the U.S. Commissioner of Patents in 1899, saying, "Everything that can be invented has been invented." Although he did not really make the statement, surely, a lot of people have held that sentiment before and after that fictional moment. It is a good thing that the sentiment also has never proved to be true.


Lets not try to start a turf war over who invested who - the question should be who implemented the best

Okay. If who "best implemented" or "popularized" an invention is more important to you than who invented an item, then you won't mind if I reiterate three facts proven earlier in this article and thread:
- Jobs/Apple did not invent the dock;
- Jobs/Apple did not invent free-floating, overlapping application windows;
- and, Jobs/Apple did not invent the scrollbar.

Edited 2007-11-19 21:48

Before we start, your post score was at 0 - I 've added a point onto it by virtue of the fact that I don't like seeing discussion and debate killed because of the 'tyranny of the masses'. I would sooner see your unpopular post and allow me to dissect it than have it buried by those who take a militant attitude to their platform.

1) Don't confuse the ranting of a few fanboys for the vast majority of Mac people who know their computer history. To claim that 'Steve invented the GUI' is as stupid as claiming that 'without Microsoft, there would be no PC revolution".

No one owes Steve Jobs or Bill Gates (or their companies) anything; they aren't prophets, they aren't special beings or organisations whom, if they suddenly went, all innovation would cease to exist. They're merely companies filled with humans using their knowledge to create things; if those specific companies didn't exist, others would pop up.

2) Learn English, I put personally in the bracket as to infer that he personally didn't sit in a lab and create it. English isn't a difficult language, please spend time learning it before butchering it or worse, asking stupid questions.

3) There are loads of things which have been invented and never attributed to the original person; take Kellogg's cereal for example - no one ever demands that John Harvey Kellogg should be venerated - its always his brother which has the kudos for creating the Kellogg's we know today.

There is no use pointing out who created it if you don't acknowledge who put the money, marketing and 'soft capital' behind it to turn it from an idea on the drawing board into a usable and marketable product.

4) I don't know where you history come from but the Europeans have a had a heck of alot greater success internationally when it comes to commercialising consumer products. Most things in the US which people rant on about never make it outside the boarders.

Heck, there have been studies after studies regarding Europe vs. America in regards to consumer products - ignore them if you want and keep living in the deluded idea of the 'star spangled banner'.

5) Name one product out there that is completely and new an innovative - that is, created in a clean room without the input of any existing ideas or technology?

Everything today is built off the ideas of years ago; its the old story of 'on the shoulders of giants we stand'.

6) You have major English issues; learn the difference between implementation and popularisation - the two are very different. Creation, implementation and popularisation can occur completely separate from each other.