That's true, because clearly Apple has never copied an idea before either. You make it sound like Apple invented the retail store idea.

Who woulda' thunk that you could open a physical retail store and sell stuff to real live people? What a novel idea...sure glad Apple thought of that one too.

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@ xxdesmusxx:

Ah, the classic "Well, Apple didn't invent it either!" response. Doesn't matter. The bottom line is Microsoft is always following Apple's trail. You probably can't name a single Microsoft product that wasn't a knockoff of someone else's, and the Microsoft Store (with Wizard Desk!) is no exception to the rule.

"If you can't innovate, replicate!" (Copyright 1981, Microsoft)

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@xxdesmusxx To complete your failure at logical fallacy, you must include more irrelevant examples.

"Me too!" Yet, worse.

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Can you name an Apple product that isn't a knock off of another companies product? Everything I can think of that they make is an Apple version of a product that already existed.

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@Jordan.

Most Mac users do not have this delusion that Apple invents everything like you think they do. They are however usually the first one to get it RIGHT and THAT's what everyone copies. Trust me Windows would look nothing like it does now (it wouldnt even be called Windows) if it weren't for MacOS. Look how many phones now look like and try to emulate the behavior of the iPhone.

So you can stop trying to convince us Apple doesn't invent everything, we know.

And I bet 100 bucks that Microsoft stores will take design hints from Apple stores when the truth is if Apple had no stores, then Microsoft stores would probably look more like Radio Shack than what an Apple store looks like.

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@ Jordan:

Are you serious? OK, I'll take your troll bait.

Hmm, let's see - there was nothing on the market like Mac before Mac came out. There were DAPs that predated the iPod, yet nothing truly like it. The iMac was groundbreaking. The iTunes Music Store was groundbreaking. The iPhone was groundbreaking. The iPhone App Store was groundbreaking.

Microsoft, hmm - DOS was an acquisition. Windows was a ripoff of Mac. Word was a ripoff of WordPerfect. Excel aped Lotus 1-2-3 and VisiCalc in a GUI format for Mac. PowerPoint was an acquisition. MSN Music (now dead) aped iTunes. Zune apes iPod. Zune Marketplace apes iTunes. WinMo 7 will almost certainly ape iPhone, and I would be shocked if we don't see a ZunePhone that, yep, will also ape iPhone. Vista aped OS X, and Windows 7 tries even harder to do so. Don't forget IE (Netscape), MyPhone (Microsoft's version of Mobile Me), Soapbox (YouTube), Live Search/Bing (Google), Xbox (Playstation), Xbox 360 (white Dell Optiplex), Xbox Live (Coverflow, which, BTW, Apple purchased and didn't steal, unlike Microsoft) and now Microsoft retail stores.

Whew. I could probably go on but my fingers are cramped.

They should just rename Microsoft "Me Too, Inc." and be done with it.

The amount of money they've made despite no original ideas of their own is staggering.

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Yup. They sure got MobileMe and push on the iPhone right...are those working yet?

Quix: "there was nothing on the market like Mac before Mac came out"

You're kidding, right? "Mac" is nothing but another word for computer, or pc. It's just Apple gave their version a special name.

Like I stated - Apple did not INVENT any of the products or the basis around what the product does that they create. You gave some legit examples yourself. iPod - There were DAPs before it. iPhone - There were cell phones before it, heck even smartphones. App store - Those existed before it. iTunes store - Something similar existed before it. AppleTV - Streaming media players existed before it. Time Capsule - Back up devices existed before it. Video Recording - Existed before the iPhone had it. And on and on and on and on. I never said no other company takes a product and refines it their way, I just said Apple has never come up with anything that nobody has ever seen before in any way.

All companies do it, and it's not copying. It's evolution. Phone manufacturers are copying the iPhone you say? Well yeah, wouldn't you? If you owned Motorola, would sit around and make crappy looking phones and try to sell them next to the iPhone or would you compete head on with them? It's business. Other companies have come out with excellent products without the help of Apple, Apple's products just get a lot of press time. I'm not saying that's bad or they're bad, I'm saying lose the grand illusion that everything all other companies do is to copy Apple or play catch-up. Believe it or not, Apple sat around while other companies came out with products first and then found ways to make it "better" and that's why people think Apple products are so great. Anything Apple has tried to do first without seeing how other companies did it first has not turned out so great. Can anyone say MobileMe, push notification, newton, and remember that puck mouse for the imac?

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"You're kidding, right? "Mac" is nothing but another word for computer, or pc. It's just Apple gave their version a special name." - Jordan

WTF? Wow, epic cluelessness there.

Troll Different.

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I'm not trolling and I won't respond anymore to your crap. I'm writing this on my MacPro right now...honestly, Mac is just a name. I really don't know what you are talking about...the dock?

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@ Jordan:

MacPro - congratulations, have a cookie.

Your consistent anti-Apple diatribes (here, Engadget, etc.) speak for themselves.

Perhaps you should look for a place that shares your ignorant perspective? Maybe Xbox Live?

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What's that, Paul Chapel?

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@Jordan - There were other DAPs when the iPod was released. But there were no other clickwheels.

At the time of the iPhone's release, there were no other full-touchscreen smartphones available. Time magazine named the iPhone as the *Invention* of the Year. Not copycat of the year. Invention of the year.

Apple's 68k emulator in the OS for PowerPC computers was (according to Wikipedia) "the first time that such a dual hardware architecture operating system had ever been successfully implemented." If you can find any verifiable sources claiming a previously successful implementation of a dual hardware architecture operating system, then I will concede this point.

QuickDraw GX ... was a copy of what? AppleTalk ... was a copy of which pre-existing *self-configuring* networking protocol? The G4 Cube ... was a copy of which other compact fanless personal computer? I could easily go on.

Your claim that Apple has never invented anything is completely false. Just because some people credit Apple with too much invention does not justify you countering with your own misinformation. If you'd just said "Apple has invented things, but not as many as they are credited for" then you'd be a) right and b) enjoying the scenery along the high road.

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Oops, I forgot one of the most blatant sins of all:

Microsoft Arial = Helvetica ripoff. :)

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You guys still don't get it.

Adding a click wheel is not inventing personal media players. Adding a touch screen is not inventing cell phons. Creating a fanless computer is not inventing a computer. It's just different ways of doing things. Apple still did not invent the basic product that their spinoffs are based upon.

Here's an example with some Microsoft bashing since that seems to be all you'll respond to. Microsoft did not invent video game consoles, yet they were the first to have a hard drive and mainstream online gaming done right, now by your standards that means they invented video games, by mine it means they evolved them.

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Thanks Jordan, for explaining what "inventing" means. We appreciate that.

And I'm happy that you're happy that your benevolent tech dictator (Microsoft) simply does "what everyone else is doing" by coming up with absolutely nothing original on their own.

Someone has to provide a market for mediocrity. Might as well be you.

P.S. I've had a hard drive in my video game console for 20 years now - and online gaming for 15. It's called a "computer." Wow, Microsoft "innovates" again!!!

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@jordan

"Like I stated - Apple did not INVENT any of the products or the basis around what the product does that they create."

Right, and WHO was the first to put a man into space again? The Russian.

First Woman? Russian. First Satalite? Russian.

Now, WHO made space travel relevant? The Americans.

Apple makes their technologies RELEVANT. If you can't see that, then you're blinded by ignorance.

" Time Capsule - Back up devices existed before it."

Wireless back-up devices? That's what it was. When you converge two things together to make something new, that is an invention too. Case in point. internal combustion engines, propellers and FABRIC existed before the Wright flyer. putting those together made the first functional Airplane, an Invention.

Seriously

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention

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Quix you are so lame. You're attacking Microsoft on video games because your computer has a hard drive. You then need to Attack Atari, Sega, Sony, Nintendo, etc...give up on your Microsoft hatred because that's apparently what it comes down to with you.

Liquidmark, I agree with you quite a bit. Your airplane example is very good. But what I'm saying is that people act like Apple invented the cell phone, and every other product they produce. As long as you agree with me that they didn't, that's all I really care about. You want to argue that Apple invented wireless backup? Ok, I have no idea if other wireless backup devices existed before it, but doesn't that seem more again like an evolution of a product (backup devices) than it does an invention? Airplanes were never seen before at that time, backup devices had been when Time Capsule came out. I really don't care who invented backup devices, honeslty who would care, but it's the people that think Apple invents all the stuff they create that drives me insane.

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