Comments on: Relative Evaluation Report on S1, iPhone http://mjtsai.com/blog/2012/08/08/relative-evaluation-report-on-s1-iphone/ Thu, 16 May 2013 08:22:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: LKM http://mjtsai.com/blog/2012/08/08/relative-evaluation-report-on-s1-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-676214 LKM Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:04:17 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=5639#comment-676214 This doesn't seem unsettling to me. In fact, if you were Nokia or Palm or Microsoft or RIM, and you *didn't* do exactly that in 2007, you were doing something seriously wrong. Somebody else just entered your market, and their product was better than yours in pretty much every conceivable way. Better figure out *exactly* what you're doing wrong, and fix these things. Sure, emotionally, this might feel wrong, since you're profiting from your competitor's work. But it shouldn't be illegal, because that's how every new thing ever in the whole history of mankind has always worked. The stuff you do is always based on what others did before you. To me, the problem occurs when you're not just fixing the parts where your product is worse than your competition, but imitating another product so closely that people get confused about what they're buying when they're in a store. It seems like Samsung might actually be guilty of trying to make their products look like Apple's in order to confuse customers. *That* would be a problem. This doesn't seem unsettling to me. In fact, if you were Nokia or Palm or Microsoft or RIM, and you *didn't* do exactly that in 2007, you were doing something seriously wrong. Somebody else just entered your market, and their product was better than yours in pretty much every conceivable way. Better figure out *exactly* what you're doing wrong, and fix these things.

Sure, emotionally, this might feel wrong, since you're profiting from your competitor's work. But it shouldn't be illegal, because that's how every new thing ever in the whole history of mankind has always worked. The stuff you do is always based on what others did before you.

To me, the problem occurs when you're not just fixing the parts where your product is worse than your competition, but imitating another product so closely that people get confused about what they're buying when they're in a store. It seems like Samsung might actually be guilty of trying to make their products look like Apple's in order to confuse customers. *That* would be a problem.

]]> By: Michael Tsai http://mjtsai.com/blog/2012/08/08/relative-evaluation-report-on-s1-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-675414 Michael Tsai Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:09:28 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=5639#comment-675414 @Jesper Agreed. They should be able to make their product better. It’s hard to know where to draw the line here, though. @Jesper Agreed. They should be able to make their product better. It’s hard to know where to draw the line here, though.

]]> By: Jesper http://mjtsai.com/blog/2012/08/08/relative-evaluation-report-on-s1-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-675275 Jesper Thu, 09 Aug 2012 05:56:12 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=5639#comment-675275 I think the coverage of this has been more than a little myopic. I have seen this sort of report, where you "bench" against another product or a competitor and try to find glaring flaws, in other fields and it's usually just a sign that development doesn't sit on their hands all day. (It's also just one of many components to quality work.) Maybe it's not common that they got a beating nearly everywhere, but I don't see it as unequivocally proposing "doing it like Apple" more than they just say "we're getting whipped and we shouldn't". Or rather, they're not copying Apple because they patch places where they didn't previously copy them correctly. This is just QA on their previous copying, in that case. I think the coverage of this has been more than a little myopic. I have seen this sort of report, where you "bench" against another product or a competitor and try to find glaring flaws, in other fields and it's usually just a sign that development doesn't sit on their hands all day. (It's also just one of many components to quality work.) Maybe it's not common that they got a beating nearly everywhere, but I don't see it as unequivocally proposing "doing it like Apple" more than they just say "we're getting whipped and we shouldn't". Or rather, they're not copying Apple because they patch places where they didn't previously copy them correctly. This is just QA on their previous copying, in that case.

]]> By: charles http://mjtsai.com/blog/2012/08/08/relative-evaluation-report-on-s1-iphone/comment-page-1/#comment-675216 charles Wed, 08 Aug 2012 22:43:33 +0000 http://mjtsai.com/blog/?p=5639#comment-675216 There was this interesting comment on the subtleties of the use of patents in this lawsuit. I don't know if this is a correct explanation (and it certainly does not make the use of patent more justifiable). But it help clear one confusion I had in understanding the role of patents on something that seems more like a 'look and feel' issue (and thus maybe would be falling more under a copyright issue). http://allthingsd.com/20120806/iphone-caused-crisis-of-design-at-samsung-memo/#comment-612364394 There was this interesting comment on the subtleties of the use of patents in this lawsuit. I don't know if this is a correct explanation (and it certainly does not make the use of patent more justifiable). But it help clear one confusion I had in understanding the role of patents on something that seems more like a 'look and feel' issue (and thus maybe would be falling more under a copyright issue).

http://allthingsd.com/20120806/iphone-caused-crisis-of-design-at-samsung-memo/#comment-612364394

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