Nealry two years ago, we and others reported on Apple’s patented “Piles” (Apple’s patent was filed in 1994), and the rumors that Apple would bring “Piles” to Mac OS X, which didn’t happen with “Panther.” Some MDN readers also suggested at the time that “Stacks” would probably be a better and more-palatable name for the feature than “Piles.”
We provided a link to a flash demo from Piles Preview creator Richard Das who showed his impression of how the rumored feature ‘Piles’ would work here.
Now, we see from Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows that Longhorn will feature, “Stacks” (screenshot) which “will help aggregate content by such things as authors, keywords, type, and so on. You can then group Stacks by various properties, such as name, size, modified date, type, or authors, in order to provide multiple relevant views on the same data.”
Is this “business as usual” for Microsoft or are Longhorn’s “Stacks” an original idea?
Full SuperSite for Windows’ article here.
[Thanks to MDN reader “Tom V” for alerting us to the Longhorn “Stacks” information.]
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther ‘Piles’ screenshots posted online – April 26, 2003
The Register goes deep inside Apple’s Piles – April 23, 2003
Mac OS X Panther ‘Piles Preview’ author comments on rumored ‘Piles’ implementation; can’t do this on Windows – April 17, 2003
Readers not happy with ‘Piles’ name suggest Panther ‘Stacks’ instead; link to preview ‘Piles’ here – April 16, 2003
Preview shows the promise of rumored Mac OS X Panther ‘Piles’ – April 15, 2003
Microsoft copying/stealing from Apple. Some people never change. Maybe old dogs can’t learn new tricks and it’s time for the Microsoft dog to be euthanized.
Same as usual. Always imitating, never innovating.
Keyword: Want, as in MS wanting to do something big, very soon to show that they can compete which they cannot.
hell I wish Apple would use them =p
Copy cat fsckers!!! They’re also copying iSync. Someone alert Apple to this site, QUICK!!! Let Apple’s lawyers feast on this.
Didn’t Steve put up a poster that said “Redmond…start your copiers”.
Hhmm…seems they took him at his word. Give an inch, they’ll take a mile.
Well, it seems to be the commonly held belief that Apple is Microsofts true R&D department. Appears that that it just might be the case here as well.
Dumb idea anyway. We just patented it to see if Microsoft would bite.
And when they do…
…WHAM! Lawyers all over ’em.
is it me or is that ui ugly ?
I think it’s funny that “Steve” is highlighted in the image above.
it’s more than just ugly. it’s FUGLY!!!
FUGLY: short for fsck ugly.
Hey, watch the language there guys.
Imitation is the highest form of flattery so be proud. We’ve got the best OS around so just be happy and let Apple’s lawyers take the matter into their own hands. Just hope they don’t screw it up…gotta bleed Redmond really dry this time when that litigation comes around.
You know what a doctor prescribes for ‘piles’ – well I think Microsoft needs the cream because for the last 2o years all that has come out of Redmond is crap.
Bill gates probably also suffers from extreme smelly wind – caused by eating too many Apples!
Magic word: FEAR – As in you can smell it a mile away from Microsoft’s HQ!
it was “Redmond, start your photocopiers.” Yeah, but can we really be surprised? We’ll possibly have the NEXT kitty to play with by the time it ships, and knowing apple, it will be able to do things too late for MS to copy into the big cow.
Anyone visiting the Longhorn site see: iSync, Spotlight, user/password intervention …..
just smile and move on…
Copying Apple? Give us all a break people. The’re isn’t any resemblence to Apple’s Piles. In Longhorn, the deeper the “stack”, the more documents are associated with that name. If you look in the bottom of the screen shot, it shows 62 docs for steve. It isnt expanding and contracting as the flash demo suggest’s. Give it a rest.
FUGLY… It’s in my dictionary now. Thanks.
Take a breath, fellas. iSync came *after* MS ActiveSync. I don’t think either is a “copycat” – it’s a pretty basic function. But MS didn’t steal the idea for a sync tool in the OS — they did it before Apple.
Kernelpanic:
DO your research – there is a well known and documented history of what Microsoft has ripped off from Apple and other companies.
Microsoft cannot innovate – period.
They use their cash to buy/bully other companies ideas and technology.
This is common practice for Microsoft.
Believe me – If you ever deal with them ‘businesswise’ be on your guard and don’t show them anything! They will take the idea and use it and then use the legal system to delay procedings, fines etc for as long as possible.
Did you know they have one of their ‘lawyers’ on the on the board for competition?
Talk about illegal or what!
The company has got that big because it is ruthless in the way it does business and not because they are the grand innovators in the IT business.
They are the IT version of the Russian Mafia – who are involved in all the business and politics in Russia.
I wonder how many millions Bill Gates give to Bush to ‘support’ his campaign??
Damn longhorn’s UI is nice…especially that glass effect. Straight butta. Is longhorn going to end Apple? Im sure Microsoft will make a commercial touting longhorns UI and it will sell like crazy.
Ignore the troll
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” /> Nothing you might say is anything short of obvious so don’t give him the attention he craves.
How does this differ from having a directory with an active search function? I’m figuring you’ll be able to do the same thing with Spotlight. Maybe not with the fancy graphic, but then again Apple has been a leader in user interface design.
kernel panic,
it depends how MS uses the feature. I wasn’t able to tell from the screenshot whether it expands or contracts. Whether it does or does not, it is still based on Apple’s idea.
It doesn’t necessarily have to act the same way as the Fash demo, it could be nothing more than a replacement for the typical folder icon – an icon that has subtle changes based on the contents of the folder. This would be neat, but nothing too special.
However, I tend to believe that it is going to be a way to rearrange all the documents in a single folder by type, not a way to navigate through a bunch of folder structures. If so, what good would it do to just show how many documents there are of a specific type? It would have to let you view and select a specific document without taking you to a different screen. The easiest way to do that would be like in the Flash demo.
Either way, MS has copied Apple’s idea, even if it isn’t developed as fully.
I can see it being like what Edgeknight suggested. Either way, whether it’s copying Piles or Spotlight, it’s still copying Apple
DO your research – there is a well known and documented history of what Microsoft has ripped off from Apple and other companies.
Maybe, SolarFlare- The last time I checked almost every company out there will do whatever it takes to get an edge on the competition, whether its legal or not, really doesnt matter at this point. Apple isnt exactly a legal angel. And most of us arent still pissed about the mouse pointer thingy and the UI copy BullSh!t. Nothing in either of the OS’s look, feel, or remotely resemble one another. (Except of course apple’s OS X ripping off several clues from MS like Fast user switching and system restore, but winblows people dont BITCH now do we) Alot of this shit is just basic functionality stuff, found in all os’s. But NOOOOOO, ITS APPLE WHO INNOVATED everything in the f’ing world because your head is stuffed so far up apple’s asses. I’ll bet the marketing guru’s at apple are laughing, with your money, all the way to the bank. Talk about hook, line and sinker.
“The company has got that big because it is ruthless in the way it does business and not because they are the grand innovators in the IT business” – Flare – you need to read more history of the human race.
As usual Microsoft is behind licking at Apple’s piles.
Is it just me or are windows and OS X closer than ever…is there really even a difference anymore? Mac ripped the left pane idea from Win and Win is taking about everything else from Mac. The Mac vs PC war is almost over with no winner.
cowpiles?