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Comment by nirvana | Hacker News Reader

I think a lot of people miss the point of this statement. He's saying, good artists are inspired by the idea and want to copy it, while great artists understand the underlying concept and produce something genuinely original by stealing that concept.

For example, that HP Envy copies Apple's design, while the Macbook Pro, steals the underlying concept of the Macbook Air and reforms it in the context of a professional laptop. (Unibody was an innovation created for the Air.) Android is a copy, while Windows Phone 7 is an attempt to come up with something new by stealing the concept.

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Could you provide an example outside of apple products, to make your distinction clearer? With the examples given, the difference is colored by my feelings about the companies involved.

It is best to understand the quote in the context of what Picasso meant. This article explains it well: http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/picasso-good-artists-c...

In programming terms:it's the difference between copy-pasting some code vs. extracting the core design pattern and using that.

An important part of a design is the tradeoffs/decisions that went into it, and how it adapts in the face of new circumstances. Copying the final result is a shadow of copying the thinking process.

The example that sticks out in my mind are the Sony NEX-series cameras. These are cameras with sensors far larger than most point and shoots, but also do not have the bulk of SLRs - high performance at a pocketable size. Sony's entry into this market came after the extremely innovative and disruptive launch of the Micro-Four Thirds format by Panasonic, Olympus, et al, which were the first products in the category.

But far from being a "me too" or a ripoff, Sony took the core concept and advanced it further. They put an even larger sensor into the machine without increasing the bulk, engineered a ground-breaking new viewfinder (generations ahead of anything Panasonic and Olympus had), and put focus into the camera's software that is unprecedented - focus peaking, touch-to-focus, etc.

Sony looked at a disruptive entry in the market, distilled it down to its core, and took it further than the incumbents. That is IMHO the difference between "copying" and "stealing".

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