

Jean-Louis Gassée: The Apple Tax, Part II - shawndumas
http://www.mondaynote.com/2012/08/26/the-apple-tax-part-ii/#

======
shawndumas
"The Samsung trial recalls the interesting peace agreement that Apple and
Microsoft forged in 1997, when Microsoft “invested” $150M in Apple as a fig-
leaf for an IP settlement (see the end of the Quora article). The interesting
part of the accord is the provision in which the companies agree that they
won’t “clone” each other’s products. If Microsoft could arrange a cross-
license agreement with Apple that includes an anti-cloning provision and
eventually come up with its own original work (everyone agrees that
Microsoft’s Modern UI is elegant, interesting, not just a knock-off), how come
Samsung didn’t reach a similar arrangement and produce its own distinctive
look and feel?"

