People like to debate about changes in current User Interfaces
   (UI).* Apple copies Google, Microsoft copies Linux... etc - but
   the thing is... really not much has changed in a VERY VERY long
   time. UI has more or less stagnated for a very long time now;
   there is a little tweaking here and there; but a basic set of
   core expectations is pretty well fixed in the minds of users.
   Microsoft failed bigtime with Win8 because they ignored the fact
   that people have a different set of expectations for touch
   screen and for desktop/laptop UI.* Merging them seemed like a
   fine idea; but really all lthey did is perform a shell game,
   moving everything around and declaring it "new". UI hasn't
   changed a whole lot in a very long time.* You have two modes: a
   windowed mode for larger screens, and a full screen mode for
   smaller screens. Icons are ubiquitous; can't escape them; been
   around since Mac 128;* Apple wasn't the first to use Icons but
   they had the greatest impact. Since then, it's been a game of
   cat and mouse; the cat becomes the mouse, the mouse becomes the
   cat. The results of a Human Usability study that was funded by
   DARPA came up with the "Mother of all presentations" in 1968;
   outlying most of the features we take for granted today. From
   NLS to Xerox to Apple to (Amiga, Tandy (Deskmate) and other
   forgotten systems) to Microsoft to X-Window to Palm Pilot to ...
   and then you get to the "chicken and egg" of who came first of
   today. :D