Tue, 2007-01-23 12:27.
A recurring theme in the short history of modern computing is the response to innovation. Innovators get the shaft.
Alexey Pajitnov, the inventor of Tetris, didn't receive any royalties for his game until 1996. Because VisiCalc wasn't patented, its developers earned a pittance compared to the copycat 1-2-3. The operating system that formed the basis for MS-DOS was purchased for far less than it was worth. Microsoft turned around, with very little work, and licensed it for millions. IBM's open architecture was copied and capitalized upon by enterprising clone makers, soon pushing IBM from the market.
