"Hey, Steve [Jobs], just because you broke into Xerox’s store before I did and took the TV doesn’t mean I can’t go in later and steal the stereo."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft

Mac-oriented Web sites seem to be complaining about Microsoft at the moment. The company from Redmond is once again imitating things from Apple.

Microsoft should just stop going to toe to toe with Apple. Each time they go and “copy” a Cupertino idea it fails miserably. Microsoft can’t compete on the commercial front, even though the Mac vs PC ads are starting to get stale. Now Microsoft is looking to combat the Apple Genius’ with some Microsoft Gurus. This sounds like a good idea, but then you have to consider that there are no Microsoft stores.

Examples of technical imitations exist as well, so it's hardly surprising that in 2006 Steve Jobs said: "our friends up north spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple."

The problem is not necessarily imitation, which some might consider to be "sharing" (of ideas). The problem is that Microsoft soon claims ownership of ideas it 'stole' from other people. It then tried to lock them out of use of their own inventions.

Moreover, Microsoft appears to be breaking the law in India, just as it does in South Africa. According to the news, Microsoft is pursuing patents on software in India where this is not permitted [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11].

World's largest software firm Microsoft Corp is seeking an exclusive patent in India for an electronic data snapshot generator, which has been co-invented by an Indian associated with the company.

[...]

However, the static snapshot is generated by saving only static data associated with the file, Microsoft added.

Microsoft should not be permitted to circumvent the law and then justify new laws based on law-breaking precedence. This is not the first example of Microsoft's software patents in India. ⬆

Photo from the public domain