DavidPhillipOster's Profile

In the real world, innovation doesn't spring fully formed from a single inventor's head. Workers in an area learn from each other, in a rapid process of refinement
Edison knew of an earlier, electric arc light, when he invented his own electric lightbulb.
Apple may have learned from Xerox, but Xerox in turn learned from Augment , Doug Engelbart's system. Engelbart invented the mouse, after all. , and Augment in turn improved on borrowed ideas from Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad (1963)
American Heritage Magazine Of Invention And Technology had a similar story to your ranch dressing one, in their fall 2005 issue (not yet online) on how Post introduced a product called "Country Squares", but lost out to Kellog's more refined and more skillfully marketed copy: "Pop Tarts". Similarly, iTunes started as the Cassidy&Green SoundJam. Apple bought it, and drastically changed it, streamlining the user interface, hiding techy details, and adding iTunes Music Store.
So, are you drawing an implicit paralllel between Apple and Microsoft, saying that the both just copied?