In article , Snit
wrote:

Nah, they both copied Xerox. And it was the GUI they copied, not the OS.

Nope. Apple did copy Xerox some but they PAID to do so. And they then
made a LOT of modifications to the GUI. Here are just some:

* Double clicking
* Trash can (or the like)
* Graying out inactive items
* Full file system in GUI (as icons)
* GUI based hierarchical folder structure
* Drag and drop
* meta-data associations with icons
* self-redrawing windows (and double buffering)
* Checkmarks next to menu items
* Keyboard shortcuts
* X to close a window (NeXT, really)

that's a good list, however, there was no 'x' to close a window in
macos. that came later with nextstep, which microsoft also copied.

Sure... and on the list I note that came from NeXT. But the point is
many of these things we take for granted on pretty much any desktop GUI
are things that Apple introduced.

yep

one key difference not listed was arbitrary regions, allowing for
overlapping windows. xerox thought it was too difficult to do. bill
atkinson thought xerox actually had done it, so he went off and did it,
not realizing it hadn't been done. xerox was stunned when they saw mac
os with regions. he tells the story better than i do.

I have read it... and I allude to it briefly with the "self-redrawing
windows (and double buffering)" item... but I admit that could be more
clear.

i have heard it firsthand, and what you're calling self-redrawing
windows is not the same as arbitrary regions.