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Get Lickable, Get Sued (2/2/01)
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Apple's lawyers are back on the prowl, and these days the targets are all things Aqua. Clearly (that's a joke, son) His Steveness is even more torqued up about Mac OS X's next-generation graphical user interface than he was about the iMac's distinctive look and feel, because the Aqua Police are suited up and busting heads. The latest to feel the cold, wet slap of an Aqua-flavored cease-and-desist demand is none other than the first known group to "borrow" Aqua for its own uses: a company called Stardock, who appears to specialize in user interface overhauls for existing third-party products.
If the name "Stardock" rings a bell, it's because you're a long-time AtAT viewer and you recall a certain plot thread involving a Stardock product and a very familiar-looking user interface that surfaced literally on the same day as Aqua's public debut in January of last year. Well, here we are a year later, and as faithful viewer Mark Sutton notes, The Register is reporting that Apple has finally swooped down on Stardock and demanded that the company immediately remove, the words of Stardock's president Brad Wardell, "anything that even remotely looks like Aqua." To comply, Stardock operatives are reportedly combing their corporate offices and bathrooms and flushing all Jelly Belly jellybeans and tubes of Aquafresh toothpaste, just to be sure.
Given the current climate of legal doubt surrounding all things Aqua, we're unsure whether Apple Legal's current beatdown mode extends to web sites and soap operas-- so you can understand AtAT's continuing reluctance to spruce up the show with a more lickable look and feel. Hopefully once Mac OS X is officially out the door, Steve might rein in the hounds a little, but we really have to adopt a "wait and see" approach on this one. If March 24th comes and goes and representations of Apple's new interface continue to draw fire from the company's legal eagles, we'll officially be "retro" for some time to come. Just consider us the "Nick At Nite" of Apple-themed dramas.
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SceneLink (2839)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/2/01 episode: February 2, 2001: Apple decides to cut beta testers a $30 break on the price of Mac OS X 1.0. Meanwhile, Apple's lawyers continue to hunt down misappropriation of the Aqua look and feel, even as minkaAire ships ceiling fans in Indigo, Ruby, Sage, Graphite, and Snow...
Other scenes from that episode: 2838: Paid For Services Rendered (2/2/01) Remember how much fun we had, revelling in the sheer injustice of being charged $30 for the privilege of working as Apple's operating system guinea pigs? Yes, the Microsoftesque practice of charging for beta software had finally spread from Redmond to Cupertino last September with the release of the Mac OS X Public Beta, and we, for one, were thrilled to have something new to whine about... 2840: "Mr. Jobs? We're Big Fans." (2/2/01) So you bought one of those spiffy new iMacs when they came out last summer, and up until now you've been really happy with its nearly-silent operation, thanks to its innovative convection-cooled fanless design...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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