[citation][nom]Antilycus[/nom]Sorry, but MS has ALWAYS copied Apple...and they always will. They dont innovate, they duplicate. Though both are becoming completely unstable[/citation]
Spare us your self-righteous indignation. Apple has been accusing Microsoft of copying them for a long time. They even tried to sue Microsoft after they released their first version of Windows claiming it was a blatant rip-off of the "look and feel" of the Mac. However, the case was tossed when the judge saw evidence indicating that both Gates and Jobs borrowed heavily from technology developed by Xerox's PARC labs.
There is a well-known argument between Jobs and Gates that was witnessed by numerous Apple employees where Gates told Jobs:
"Its like we both have this rich neighbor named Xerox, and you broke in to steal the TV set and found I'd been there first, and you said, 'Hey, that's not fair! I wanted to steal the TV set,'"
In their more recent offerings, I agree with gbismark, I think they both influence each other.