Point / Counterpoint
with Migellito and Kenray

Applesauce...
on the recent development regarding the "Aqua" interface

Wet Work...by Migellito

A year ago Apple contacted a skinning software company, a skin site, and others,
and demanded that Aqua rips be removed. The skinning software company took them down,
the skin site took down ones with logos.
In a matter of months, they were up again - not the ones with logos,
but tons of skins duplicating, or nearly duplicating, the aqua look. More
and more showed up, and now after another year, Apple has asked again that
they be taken down, this time getting more specific about exactly what they
don't want to see.

OS-X with the Aqua interface will be out in about 1 month, in it's release
version. Is it an attempt to draw attention? Probably not. There are also
tons of Whistler rips, yet Microsoft has (to my knowledge) said nothing,
even though many of the 'authors' say right in the description that they
copy/pasted the graphics right from original whistler material (as a
'selling point' - 'it's authentic') The skinning software company has taken the clear position
of supporting Apple¹s right to defend their designs, and has asked skinners
to no longer upload Aqua-esque skins.

The thing I find interesting is this: the majority of people think it's
just awful that Apple is being such a downer.. they can't copyright the
name of a color (aqua).. they should leave the poor skinners alone.. But:
what happens when some guy makes a skin that looks similar to one they
created from scratch? Holy hell breaks loose, and everybody at Skinz,
Deskmod, and DevArt hunts them down. For good reason - their creation,
their intellectual property, has been stolen. So are the Aqua and Whistler
skins rips? I think people are just kidding themselves to think they're not
- they satisfy all the requirements, they're just rips of designs made by a
person at a company instead of an independent.

Is it interesting that all this is happening at the same time Napster is
getting reined in? Possibly, but the situations are staggeringly different.
No-one on Napster is saying they wrote or even performed "For Whom The Bell
Tolls" or "My Way" or "Stairway to Heaven." On the contrary, the name of
the original author is right there for everyone to see. The only issue is
money. Not so with GUI designs. Take a look through the Aqua-esque skins
on your hard drive (oh, you have them, you know you do,) or better yet, look
them up on a website that¹s still hosting them. Who¹s the author listed?
Apple Inc.? Some Apple graphic designer who works every day on new
interface designs? No.. it¹s one of several skinners who we've all talked
to online, perhaps even consider a friend. Maybe even someone we look up
to. A skinner who has put his or her name on something that they didn¹t
think of.

Think how that designer at Apple must feel. Yes, realistically it¹s
probably a team of designers, but still, think how they feel. Would we like
to have a job skinning an operating system for a major company? How would
you feel if you got that job and someone ripped your designs before they
were even officially released? What if, because of company etiquette, you
couldn¹t just flame the ripper on a message board somewhere and try to get
his designs pulled, but rather had to let your company lawyers be polite
about it?

Alot to think about. Please do. Then hit the mail button.

-Migellito

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Eye Smack...by kenray

Since the dawn of the computing age, two Titans have been locked in eternal struggle.
You know them by name, reputation, and image...

Microsoft and Apple.

So far, the numbers say that this war is being won by MS...a recent webtrends report claimed that over 90 percent of the worlds desktops are running windoze...leaving macintosh/apple/osx a distant second.

But, on the fringes of this mighty conflagration, a small battle has been won by the Apple.
That battle? The GUI.

Behold all the Aqua ports/rips/imitations. People running windows want their computer to look like Apple's "Aqua" interface, and more than one interface designer has stepped up to provide these folks with the raw materials and tools to do so...

So, ask yourself, "Why?"

What would motivate someone to go through the hardship necessary to make their windoze system look like Apple's "Aqua"?

The short, simple answer: Quality.

You don't have too look at Aqua too much or too long to see why it is so popular. It is beautiful, sleek, colorful...truly a wonderful thing to behold.

Now, ask yourself this: "If this interface is so great, wouldn't you want to run the operating system it was designed for?"....

Whether your answer is "yes" or "no", the fact that the question is out there is the truly important fact we are dealing with. The numerous ports of the Aqua interface are a vital, living advertisement for Apple and it's products. And in a world where one minute of television advertising can cost more than most people's yearly salary, this kind of "brainshare" advertising is more valuable than any dollar mountyou could imagine.

SO, in light of the incredible marketing value of all those "Aqua" themes, why on earth would Apple try to squelch it?

My answer? Short sightedness.

Apple, it's founders, and representatives have always suffered from an overwhelming lack of "the vision thing". It was just this inability to see more than "one quarterly stock report" into the future that put Apple squarely in the "Second Best" seat wherein it now resides.

And does Apple see the enormous value of all the Aqua skins out there?
Does Apple recognize "brainshare" when it is right there on the desktop?

My answer? Nope, and double nope.

Instead of sending "thank you" letters to all the folks who have posted Apple advertisements...uh...i mean, ...Aqua skins, all over the net, Apple chooses to "lock it down", "squander it away", and generally attempt to "deny" on all fronts.

Will this keep the Aqua interface from spreading, or even from being available?
Again, ...nope, and double nope...

FYI, there is a well known plug-in for photoshop called "Eyecandy".
This plug-in was recently updated under the title "Eyecandy 4000."
(click here to download the demo version)
If you look into the program, you'll see a feature called "Glass",
and one of the settings in the Glass plug-in is "Aqua".
It does a marvelous job, y'know.

The interface designers at Apple have done a spectacular job in the past few years. Their work has become part of the World Mindscape, a part which can not be erased, held-back, retracted or snuffed-out.

No matter how many lawyers try to do so....

Alot to think about. Please do. Then hit the mail button.

mail your response to this article.....