“Windows 8 changes a lot of things about how the operating system works, but one of the features Windows traditionalists will find jarring is the lack of a Start button. Although the button’s functions are still present in various places, users may miss its easy click-and-start-typing familiarity. Well, Samsung’s bringing it back. The all-in-one PCs Samsung unveiled this morning are the first Windows machines to sport the S Launcher, a simple widget that acts just like the old start button.” This is not from The Onion. I repeat, this is not from The Onion.
http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/28/samsung-windows-8-dock-apple/
http://forums.wincustomize.com/318845
The dock comes in many shapes and sizes, but Samsung picked the OS X one as inspiration.
A dock is literally a row of icons. That’s it. It was in Windows 1.0. It was in the first Acorn machines. It. Is. A. Row. Of. Icons.
If you ever needed even more proof this industry is completely and utterly ruined, this is it.
Yes, that is true, but who owns the patent to it?
Not according to the dictionary, but as usually you have your own set of definitions. :-p
Let’s leave it at that, because it so meaningless that Apple probably won’t put any time in it.
Right, because the more relevant definition here would obviously be “a usually wooden pier used as a landing place or moorage for boats” or “the part of an animal’s tail left after it has been shortened”.
Ahahahaha, when has that ever stopped them before?
I just don’t think “a row of icons” defines what people refer to as the/a dock.
If that was the case you’d have a lot of docks and a useless dock process running.
NeXT had a dock. OS/2 had a dock. The Win 95 task bar was (debatably) an ugly version of a dock (ignoring the launching aspect). Nobody is saying that implementing a dock is novel.
There are flat docks, disjointed docks, tile docks, any number of ways to make it look, yet Samsung ends up copying Apple again with a shelf under the icons, including icon reflections on it. Seriously?
Whether it’s legal for Samsung to do it, and whether the legal system is screwed up is another issue,… But. It. Is. Just. A. Copy. Again.
Apparently that’s what Samsung does. Hopefully you never come up with any product idea that Samsung takes interest in.
Don’t forget the Microsoft Office 97 “Shortcut Bar” that you could add icons to…
so apple sect members thinks that what apple have been using can’t be used by samsung
Yeah, we better stop this whole “being inspired” thing. Surely that can’t be good for innovation
Samsung – Being Inspired
Hum, this does have marketing potential.
Project Looking Glass, an ugly java based desktop by Sun Microsystems, had a dock that looked just like that. It was demoed for the first time in 2003 ie. 4 years before Apple created a similar dock. Contrary to what some people (and apple) think, not every UI feature implemented by Apple is invented by them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Looking_Glass
Interestingly, Apple claimed that PLG infringed on their IP and threatened to sue Sun.
And here I thought the OS X Dock was inspired by (and in early versions, even had legacy code from) the NeXTSTEP Dock as it existed in the late 80s through the mid-late 90s.
But hey, don’t let facts get in the way right?
Acorn Computers had a dock before Nextstep
And here I thought I was replying to a post that claimed that Samsung copied the visual style of the OSX dock when in fact another desktop environment used the same visual style way before Apple.
But hey, don’t let your lack of actually having read the thread get in the way when you want to reply right?
My point was that the concept of a dock goes much further back than Samsung/Apple. Apple inherited the dock concept and code when they absorbed NeXT, and as Mellin pointed out, it existed before NeXT too.
To put it another way, electric guitars have had magnetic coil pickups since the 1930s, but you don’t see Yamaha suing Fender because they both use them. That’s because the concept has been around longer than either company has been making them.
And the reason I replied to you in that tone was because you are incorrect in the first place; Apple had a dock in the very first version of OS X, which was a few years before Project Glass.
Edited 2012-08-29 19:14 UTC
Docks there are many, shapes and sizes, but the Samsung one looks like the Apple one, not like the Acorn one.
And? How is that remotely significant? A dock is a dock is a dock, and no matter how it’s dressed up, the functionality is the same. You could put an image of a cat chasing a mouse down the surface of it and it would still be a freaking dock. As others have said, the design is the same since at least the 80s; just because Apple, Sun and Samsung all put a 3D effect on it doesn’t make it patentable or worth suing over.
But who am I kidding, Apple will soon be suing us for humming or singing along to the songs we download from iTunes, if they can patent a way to monitor it. I’m so sick to death of that fucking company.
If it doesn’t matter why chose to make it look like the dock from the company people accuse you of copying? It will just add fuel to the fire. I’ve already spotted a number of articles on several sites noticing the resemblance.
No need to get ill, Apple isn’t suing Samsung over it and I don’t expect they will.
all are appletroll websites where all itards spreads their hate against samsung
Where did I hate Samsung?
You’re right, Apple isn’t suing Samsung for this particular issue (yet) but my contempt for the company goes back much further. Sorry if my venting seemed like a personal attack, I assure you it wasn’t. I hold you in particular in high regard here and I wouldn’t do that, especially over a minor disagreement.
It just frustrates me to no end that people are so quick to jump on Samsung and accuse them of copying design when Jobs has bragged throughout the years about how great an artist he was because he stole designs from other companies. I’m sure everyone here knows the quote, but if not it is “Good artists copy, great artists steal”.
It doesn’t matter anyway, in the long run. I just found it particularly frustrating to see so many people here defending Apple’s lawsuit-happy tendencies when any other time they would be lambasting the company as usual. I don’t particularly love or hate Samsung either, but even if I did it wouldn’t change the fact that Apple are being dicks about their own stolen designs.
Apple is on top of the world, but they won’t stay there forever. One day they’ll rejoin then pack and we’ll have another king of the hill.
Regarding Steve’s quote: none of Apple’s products have been original. They have always “stolen”, but never “copied” (well, not counting iOS notifications) ideas. However they always improved them, executed using their own views, paying attention to not only the product, but also the details and stuff surrounding it (packaging, marketing, support).
Samsung didn’t steal, they copied. I can understand Apple getting upset and I don’t understand why people consider two almost identical phones to be providing choice.
I’m sure there are enough valid reasons not to like Apple, but lucky there are plenty alternatives. Windows 7 is good, Linux is capable in the right hands, WP/RIM, all kinds of tablets, various music services, etc…
Apple doesn’t own the dock
Well, it’s hard to tell who owns what these days.
For company image I don’t think it’s wise after getting countless accusations of copying Apple and loosing a court case about it to come up with a Windows launcher that looks like the OS X dock.
They’re are creating an image that they copy Apple which will cause people to point to Apple on any new Samsung product even when the resemblance is so remote that it should requires a lot if imagination.
http://t.co/8vwbEycd
so it’s the apple have used it now no one else can use it!
Edited 2012-08-29 08:40 UTC
Anyone can use it as far as I am concerned. It may not be very original, but people are used to it.
But if you are called Samsung it may be wiser to be a little more creative or base the look on another dock/launcher and not the OS X one.
People with half a brain cell will start making links with Apple product even when there are no (intentional) ones and Samsung’s brand name will start to feel like a cheap Asian copy of premium western products.
That is ludicrous. You do realize that Samsung had this in development prior to the verdict? Why would they not continue through on that development choice? Apple did not create the ‘dock’.
It may not seem like it but there is a growing backlash coming for Apple in this Pyrrhic victory. I am seeing article after editorial after commentary discussing how this is going to cost both businesses & consumers, stifle global trade, close international markets to Apple, and at least in the short term hamper innovation.
I have used Apple products (and Microsoft & Unix/Linux too) for over 30 years. I won’t buy another. I don’t even own a current ‘smartphone’ but if I must get one in the near future it definitely won’t be an iPhone. I am not alone.
And I am not just an IT ‘fanboy’ picking a favorite team. I am a professional in different fields who can and does influence choices of the platforms that we do our work on. Apple’s corporate hubris is not good for the market. To trusts such an entity as it is becoming is just asking for trouble in the long-term even if the short-term popularity and ‘gee-whiz’ seems so tempting and appealing. There are very good reasons why NASA recently chose an Android based Samsung phone for a satellite project and not an iPhone. The hardware & the software are both open.
I (IMHO) just don’t think it’s wise if you want to make the world know you are not a copycat to introduce yet another piece of ‘evidence’ proving the opposite.
Most people don’t know about other docks, glassy projects or what they used on Star Trek in the 60’s, but they will recognize the OS X dock.
Personally I don’t mind Samsung doing this and I don’t claim Apple “invented” the dock.
so you mean that if apple made something no one else can do it ever even if others have made a dock before Steve Jobs even thought about it
No, I mean if Samsung doesn’t want to get stuck with a copycat image they shouldn’t provide any reasons for people to do so.
apple is the copycat
I’m starting to suspect you are some kind of bot, because your replies don’t really connect to what I write and they almost seem random.
and i suspect that you are a apple troll
Why?
they could have looked at project looking glass (predates the dock)
Well, probably not, but let’s say they have. Nobody will believe them after a whole streak of Apple inspired things and a conviction.
A lot of geeks will have problems remembering Project Glass, let alone the consuming masses.
http://www.dailytech.com/Analysis+Samsung+Copies+Apples+Launcher+A+…
So, Samsung is adding their own dock with a start button analog, but putting the button somewhat in the middle more or less, depending on how many other things are in the dock, rather than putting it in a fixed location you can access by muscle memory. It’s not even in the corner. I don’t mind Samsung copying Apple, but why do they tend to copy Apple’s mistakes?
One can only assume they like the look of the court room
it’s not clear from the screenshots but it looks like the dock is not on top of other windows, so if you want to access it you have to show the desktop first, kinda pointless imho if it’s not something that you can access fast enough since that’s the main problem with using metro instead of the the windows 7 start menu for launching programs or search for files
We had HotLauncher for BeOS.
http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013465/HotLauncher/HotLauncher_e.h…
Thom, you slay me. Congrats, you know America.
About the Ewoks is disturbing. Just like people who can’t cope with a Start screen. I can even CTRL+TAB to get to the list of installed Applications. I don’t remember that working with the Old Start menu.
Edited 2012-08-28 19:31 UTC
I try windows 8 every few days and no matter what, it still stinks!
The option to put it back to windows 7 is the only good choice.
Windows 8 doesn’t seem to be any faster or better or offer any other feature I might wish. It is almost impossible to turn off. Too complicated to use anything. Idiots at MS must be trying to lose money.
Ballmer has gone mad over the iPhone and has doubled down on an idiot named Sinofsky. I have no doubt that the majority of MS employees would be against Windows 8 in its current state.
But I’m sure a Windows 8 defender will at any moment tell us that we’re afraid of change.
That leads to another question: Why are wheels round? We need change and progress. If you are against modern octagon shaped wheel design then you are afraid of change and stuck in the past. Octagon wheels are new and new is evolution. Efficiency is just an excuse used by change haters. I can’t wait to drive on modernist octagon wheels and use an ad screen with a horizontal scroll bar to find my applications. I am an awesome tech embracing dude and I don’t fear change. My ego depends on embracing this type of idiocy without question.
Edited 2012-08-28 20:41 UTC
Almost impossible to turn off? How about you press CTRL+Alt+Del for once and see what happens
Are you and Nelson going to hang around Best Buy to help people navigate the invisible buttons?
I can see it now:
NO WAIT DONT LEAVE, WINDOWS 8 IS NOT A POS LIKE EVERYONE SAYS. JUST GIMME ANOTHER 10 MINUTES.
Good software doesn’t need forum defenders. When Firefox 1.0 came out I didn’t see continual explanations of why it doesn’t actually suck. It took off with a wide variety of users because it was a clear improvement over IE6. I had non-technical people asking me if I had used it. My annoying clueless neighbor even came over to tell me about how great it was.
Wake the f*** up already. Windows 8 is shitty software. The fact that Samsung is doing this speaks volumes.
And here… we… go!
This free open source app does one better. It not only puts the start button back in Windows 8 but has the ability to let users choose which style start menu they prefer. Best of all, this app has the ability to bypass Windows 8’s stupid formerly-known-as-Metro thingy altogether. Now that’s what I’m talking about!!
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/index.html
http://www.webpronews.com/windows-8-gets-the-start-button-back-with…
Edited 2012-08-28 21:08 UTC
I just tried this application on Windows 8 and it really is fantastic, thanks for the tip!
Actually, it’s really good for Windows 7 too. Maybe I am morphing into a luddite, but the classic Start Menu really is much nicer (and intuitive) for me to use.
*shrugs*
Tip: Now add “7+ Taskbar Tweaker” to really make it feel like home.
http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker
Vendors will see removing the Start button as too big of a risk. Microsoft have really jumped the shark this time.
Just like they layer their crap on top of Android, they are now layering crap on top of Windows. They should stick to making hardware. Their software is just atrociously bad.
And there is Samsung again, spoiling it. Just stop it Samsung and release the OS as it is. Or develop your own.
If you move your mouse tot he bottom right corner where you would expect the start menu to be, a preview of the start page appears..all you need to do is left click and it opens the start screen.
Look… I added the start menu back by just thinking about it for a second.
apple trolls have been down voting my comments and up voting apple troll comments