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 REPLY: 1:379/45 5bb7db13
 TZUTC: -0500
 CHARSET: PC-8
From: Gary Britt 

What's the status of the law on "look and feel" type lawsuits?? 
If Microsoft
tries to sue for someone not licensing from them and putting out their own
ribbon interface do they have a legal leg to stand on??  Anyone know?

What's so great about the ribbon?  It just looks like it takes up a whole lot
of screen real estate with a bunch of icons in rows?  Am I wrong?  What does
the big round application button do?

Gary

John Beamish wrote:
> I wonder what MS thinks of this:
> http://www.devexpress.com/Products/NET/WinForms/XtraBars/Features_Ribbon.xml
>
>
> On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:48:56 -0500, Rich Gauszka
>  wrote:
>> http://www.infoq.com/news/2006/11/Office-UI-License
>
> [snip]
>
>>
>> When asked if developers can implement ribbon-like interfaces that
>> work differently but have the same underlying concept, Microsoft has
>> said no. Microsoft has never before been this serious about enforcing
>> this level of consistency before. Unlike past guidelines, mandatory
>> requirements are legally mandatory according to the license agreement.
>> While they are there specifically to ensure a minimum level of user
>> experience, some developers are certain to dislike the idea of being
>> forced to abide by the guidelines.
>>
>

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