| Tristan Lall |
31-10-2003 12:23 |
Quote:
Originally posted by codeoftherobot
Well old Billie in order for him to be able use the code he copied from a basically open-source environment had to make MS-DOS in order to get around the legal disputes. Also if you look at the original Lotus 123 then you will notice, "hey that looks a lot like microsoft word/office/etc. "It's actually the other way around since microsoft basically copied the Lotus program and changed it into Microsoft word. There are some other basic word processing programs and spreadsheet programs that Gates and MS copied but changed the code around in order to make it look like he legitimately came up with the program.
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That's a clear misrepresentation of the facts.
Lotus 1-2-3 for MS-DOS looks very little like Word (even the DOS versions), with the exception of the menu commands. 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet, like Excel, and consequently functions quite differently. You say that MS copied Lotus 1-2-3. While both Excel and 1-2-3 share many common interface conventions, those same conventions are common to other, older spreadsheets (seen here*)--so MS wasn't copying Lotus, they were using a style of interface that had been familiar to spreadsheet users for a decade already (or 4 years, if you count MS's first spreadsheet, called Multiplan). 1-2-3 is commercial software--absolutely not open-source. They would not have had access to the code which you contend that they changed.
As for the suggestion that MS copied code for word processors, think about it--does it really make any sense? Word 5.0 for DOS is an ugly and counterintuitive program. Who in their right mind would copy that from anywhere?
*Despite being an abandonware-related site, it doesn't offer downloads, and therefore can't be considered "warez". |
