Bill Gates settled a debate online about which company inspired himself and Steve Jobs.
Axios reported that during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, Gates was asked to comment on “whether Microsoft copied Apple”, and answered that both companies had been inspired by and copied Xerox. Answering the question on Reddit, Gates stated: “The main ‘copying’ that went on relative to Steve and me is that we both benefited from the work that Xerox Parc did in creating (the) graphical interface – it wasn’t just them but they did the best work.
“We didn’t violate any IP rights Xerox had but their work showed the way that led to the Mac and Windows.” According to the article, Jobs managed to wangle his way on to a tour of Xerox’s research laboratories, PARC, where he observed the work “on the mouse and graphical user interface”.