The Bill Gates Steve Jobs rivalry intensified after Microsoft announced Windows. Steve Jobs believed Microsoft had copied ideas developed for Apple’s Macintosh.
Former Apple software designer Andy Hertzfeld described the dispute in his account of the Macintosh’s history. He said Jobs became furious after Microsoft unveiled its mouse-based system at Comdex.
Jobs then confronted Gates over the similarities between Windows and the Macintosh. Gates rejected the accusation.
He argued that neither Apple nor Microsoft had created the basic idea. Both companies had seen graphical computer systems developed at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Centre, or PARC.
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Xerox PARC had already developed key ideas for mouse-driven computer interfaces. Its Xerox Star system had a significant influence on later personal computers.
Microsoft released Windows after the dispute. Apple later sued Microsoft over copyright claims related to Windows but failed to prevail, according to the supplied account.
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