Comment by sophacles | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sophacles | Hacker News Reader

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> What is going on now that it seems like the rest of the world suddenly discovered a feature of the previous generation VR goggles?

> Is it just "because Apple"?

To some extent yes - Jobs built a company that was less about innovation and more about polishing and packaging existing tech for the masses. This isn't bad - Apple has made some great stuff, and they have innovated some, but a lot of the innovation is in UX not tech.

Things apple "invented" that had been around for a while:

* the mouse

* the GUI

* MP3 players

* the smart phone

* the tablet

* virtual desktops

* video calls

And plenty more I've since forgotten. We used to joke about Steve Jobs' Reality Distortion Field in reference to this phenomenon.

Hard disagree with mouse, GUI, virtual desktops and video calls.

The mouse hasn't changed in 40 years.

Windows 3.1's GUI beat the pants off Apple's.

Virtual desktops - maybe, but I still don't know anyone who uses this and not really sure most people know it exists.

Video calls - No idea what Apple has to do with this space at all unless you mean FaceTime? I don't think that was really a game changer.

Hence me saying: apple "invented" (rather than saying apple invented). People credit apple with inventing all those things. They invented none of them.

Also worth noting - the mouse was invented over 50 years ago and has basically been the same since, the biggest change was consumer devices moving from a ball to a laser. 41 years ago was when apple first released a product with a mouse. From the wikipedia page on the mouse:

> However, the mouse remained relatively obscure until the appearance of the Macintosh 128K (which included an updated version of the single-button[54] Lisa Mouse) in 1984

> Windows 3.1's GUI beat the pants off Apple's.

It's been a really long time since I used Windows 3.1 or System 7, but I'm not seeing it; in what way was Windows better?

I dunno, the Mac Plus was there several years before windows 3.1, and lot more consistent. You must be confused...

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