backtop

Print 26 comment(s) - last by fteoath64.. on Jun 6 at 3:20 AM
Company says it's unafraid of a lawsuit

It's hard to deny the similarities between the metal unibody Envy Spectre XT ultrathin from Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) and the Apple, Inc. (AAPL) MacBook Air.

The Spectre XT is the flagship model of HP's just-announced Envy ultrathin collection, whose roots trace back to acquired VoodooPC's Envy laptops, which first launched June 2008.  The VoodooPC envy was one of the first non-Apple ultrathins to hit the market, coming just months after Apple's Jan. 2008 MacBook Air launch.

The Voodoo Envy didn't look much like the MacBook Air, but it's hard to deny that HP's line has trended towards Apple's with each release since.  With the latest release the similarities were enough for HP's VP of industrial design Stacy Wolff to go on the defensive.  He told Engadget, "[The Spectre XT's looks are] not due to Apple but due to the way technologies developed.  It is not because those guys did it first.  It's just that's where the form factor is leading it."

He points to his design's rubber imbued bottom, slightly different keyboard, and brushed metal (as opposed to the MacBook Air's shiny metal) body as key differentiators.  He calls the ultrabook "Genuine HP".

Stacy Wolff
Stacy Wolff, HP [Image Source: Engadget]

The defensive commentary is a bit odd, but with Apple suing numerous companies [1][2] over alleged design violations, perhaps it's a legal-minded measure.  Mr. Wolff indicated the design received his lawyers' stamp of approval.

Source: Engadget


Comments     Threshold


This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Who cares
By Targon on 5/9/2012 8:04:54 PM , Rating: 4
MacOS X has been out since 2001, and is overdue for a bit of an update, isn't it? Windows XP was around for too long, and you STILL see people who are afraid to upgrade as a result. When people get too used to something, change scares them, and that means that innovation goes down.

Now, I am not saying that change just for the sake of change is a good thing, but when things don't change for too long, stagnation starts to set in. Apple itself is starting to show signs of this, where UI changes are so few and far between, Microsoft COULD potentially beat it in the future(I'm not a fan of Metro, so I don't expect Windows 8 to do the job). Those who don't evolve will eventually die out, and Apple is showing signs that it will NEVER do an update until they start getting beaten at their own game.


RE: Who cares
By tayb on 5/10/2012 5:17:29 AM , Rating: 1
OS X has been updated with 8 major releases since 2001 so I'm not sure what you're getting at with that statement. New versions are released far more often than Microsoft releases new versions of Windows. iOS is just a few years old but is heading toward a 5th major update, or 6th version, this fall. They don't update all their hardware designs as often but most companies don't do change laptop lineups on an annual basis anyway. Overal I don't quite understand the stagnation claims as Apple is fairly nimble.


RE: Who cares
By Reclaimer77 on 5/10/2012 3:06:44 PM , Rating: 2
What's in those "major" updates exactly? Bullshit, that's what. iOS hasn't majorly changed in years.

Apple I have a suggestion. Add a damn page file to iOS so that your idea of "managing" memory isn't to just crash whatever programs are open when the memory runs out. THAT would be a major update. How about some real multitasking while you're at it? I know you're very busy suing the world though...


RE: Who cares
By tayb on 5/10/12, Rating: 0
RE: Who cares
By Reclaimer77 on 5/10/2012 3:44:22 PM , Rating: 2
Wow they added something that should have been standard since day one. Amazing! Thank you Apple.

Anyway I said "years", not "since day one".


“Then they pop up and say ‘Hello, surprise! Give us your money or we will shut you down!' Screw them. Seriously, screw them. You can quote me on that.” -- Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng referencing patent trolls











botimage
Copyright 2013 DailyTech LLC. - RSS Feed | Advertise | About Us | Ethics | FAQ | Terms, Conditions & Privacy Information | Kristopher Kubicki