Expos


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Apple actually got the idea of Expose from a leaked Microsoft feature they were wanting to include in Longhorn. I doubt Apple will want to sue anyone unless they are using a copyrighted name.

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I know when I get off my powerbook and go to my PC desktop, I REALLY MISS expos?...

this sounds like the perfect program... anyone bought it yet? does it work ?

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I got it... it works, pretty much does the exact same thing as the Mac version. I'm not especially thrilled with it though, you need a pretty powerful PC for it to work smoothly, and it is a bit buggy... ALT+TAB is just easier and simpler, in my opinion.

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it was called WinExpose, I guess they just changed the name of it as www.winexpose.com redirects to www.winplosion.com. Yah I read somewhere else that this is crap also. As for copycat, no big deal, just look at all the docks that emulated the OSX Dock.

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Apple actually got the idea of Expose from a leaked Microsoft feature they were wanting to include in Longhorn.

really?

source?

no offense, i've just never heard that before

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I dont think apple can do anything. But I bet apple sent them a letter to them about the name of the product.

Apple has Expose copyrighted by it's name AND functionality. If it were a free product Apple probably couldn't do anything, but since it is a retail product, they can likely sue and win.

btw, it's a really shoddy program. slow as hell, buggy, doesn't work with all apps, lacks dual display support.

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in some Microsoft research article i read, ms was adding something *like* expose in windows 2k...the article was i think dated bak to 98... but i guess ms never got around to doing it

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Apple actually got the idea of Expose from a leaked Microsoft feature they were wanting to include in Longhorn.

Source please.

EDIT:

Also, the first longhorn demonstrations that anyone outside of the microsoft campus saw were days before the first versions of Panther went public. Are you proposing that Apple's programs managed to managed to sneak over to redmond, steal code, run back to 1 infinite loop, code up expos?, stamp out thousands of CDs, and ship them across the country to be ready for WWDC?

Edited by the evn show
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It's been sourced in this forum before. There's even an animated gif. However, the functionality is a lot differrent (cycling through windows vs. displaying all), and it didn't have the crazy layout algorithm that Apple has (has anyone figured out how it works? it's baffled me forever!).

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Apple actually got the idea of Expose from a leaked Microsoft feature they were wanting to include in Longhorn. I doubt Apple will want to sue anyone unless they are using a copyrighted name.

that's interesting. any source?

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It's been sourced in this forum before. There's even an animated gif. However, the functionality is a lot differrent (cycling through windows vs. displaying all)

I assume you're talking about this monstrosity:

http://www.infovis.net/images/TaskGallery.jpg

This was more of a flashy "alt tab" replacement, though at some places a still screenshot might look like expos?

While the original Microsoft research pages have gone missing (urls much appreciated though). the functionality was vastly different. It's not fair to say "X ripped off Y" because you found two similar looking screens, especially when they're providing vastly different functionality.

http://www.infovis.net/E-zine/2002/num_75.htm

has a shot of data mountain - nothing ever came of it - but again it's nothing like expos?. All of your IE windows are arranged on a hill which apparently makes it easier to find the window you're looking for. I imagine this is about as useful as that Doom front-end for kill (which is why nobody ever put it into a shipping system).

Unless someone can find a Microsoft implementation of: "Push a button/hit a mouse corner - all windows resize to fit on screen, click on a window: the clicked window goes to foreground, all previous windows head back where they came from (order preserved, location preserved, size preserved)" then I'm just going to let this accusation slide into the trash along with "Microsoft ripped off the entire GUI concept from apple" and "64-bit processors are automagically faster than 32 bit equivalents"

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Here's what I was talking about:

window_ops.gif

rent. It's not fair to say "X ripped off Y" because you found two similar looking screens, especially when they're providing vastly different functionality.

Yeah, I said that....

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Thanks Tim for sourcing my post. I thought everyone in this forum had read the previous thread with the sources. My intent was not to prove that Apple ripped anything off, just that the idea behind expose and other task functions might not be such an "Apple original idea" that everyone thinks it is.

The link here posted is an obvious rip off of expose and an attempt at the same featureset and functionality, however, do you think Apple would have a case in court if they were to sue the makers of "winplosion" for breaking a copyright in software. To me, it would seem like any defense attorney could show the judge the animated GIF that Tim posted or any other number or sources and the case would be blown apart. To us, we can obviously see the differences and know they are two separate things and Apple's manifestation of the solution is primarily original. However, I am not sure a judge, or any other non-"computer geek," if I may use that term, could make the distinction wide enough for a favorable rule in Apple's case.

This all assuming a couple things of course that I am too lazy to look up like, 1, does Apple even have a patent or copyright on the technology?

I do think however that Apple could have a case against their name and may have already contacted them. The call the program "winplosion" but it seems that all their support email addresses go to namehere@winexpose.com. They might want to change that soon.

It is also interesting to note that the author of a popular windows freeware application known as "Y'z Dock" received an official cease and desist letter from Apple to halt the development of his software for copyright infringement. So Apple does take an active interest in seeing that their software is not duplicated for the windows platform.

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I'm not an IP lawyer by any stretch but this is my understanding.

You can copyright things like songs, performances, written works, etc. In the case of expos? Apple's code is copyrighted.

You can patent implementations or ideas. Apple has a patent for (among other things) putting the three close, minimize, and maximize buttons on the top left the genie effect, dialog sheets, and the trash can icon (source: http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/03/04.2.shtml with links to the patent office for each).

Patents are like an "feature" that you control (with respect to software anyway). Here's nice description: http://aulos.calarts.edu/pipermail/music-d...May/004349.html

If apple has a patent on Expos? (it's hard to believe they don't, but I didn't look) then they could have a good shot at shutting down winexpose or whatever they want to call it.

"Macintosh" is a trade mark. Trademarks are like owning a word. There are a lot of picky rules you have to play by in order to maintain your trademark, if you don't then you lose it and it becomes everyone's word. EDIT:

I thought expos? was an apple trademark, but I can't find it at the patent office, nor does the apple site have any "TM" or ® after the word so I'm guessing it's not an apple trademark right now.

Summary: Apple owns the word "Expos?" with respect to this piece of software, and would have an easy time challenging software with a similar name.

Apple has a copyright on the actual code they used to implement expos? (but you could re-write that algorithm in another language)

And they probably have a patent on the feature so they could send out some C&D letters if they wanted to (like they did with that dock clone).

Edited by the evn show
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