I agree with Richard. Many times I've had a client come to me and say they want to build an application which does such and such like this app, but in addition other stuff like this other app. If one couldn't look at competitors products, then we would have exactly one word processor, one spreadsheet, one browser, one email client...you get the idea.
IMO, as long as the look and feel and workflow is substantially different, you can create competitive products without issue. The problem can come (and not necessarily WILL COME) when you copy verbatim another products features in such a way it's a clear clone of the first product. Though, Open Office sure gets away with it. I'm not a lawyer either, but I have paid lots of $$$ to many lawyers who will always CYA by telling you not to do this or that. It's not nearly as clear cut. Frankly, if you hire the right software designer, they should be able to work with you to come up with a superior product than your competition. And my opinion of this notion of 'create something original' is just BS. First of all, it's difficult if not impossible to create an idea which has not manifested itself in some form in the past. Second, it takes a tremendous amount of money to create a new and novel market and explain your product to its customers. Google products aren't original, neither are Apple's or Microsoft's. iTunes isn't original, nor are any of Apple's apps. All of them had been done before. And if you think Apple didn't look at other video editors when it created it's own, then you're smoking more than just one of Jerry's cigars! Everytime, EVERYTIME I design a product, whether software or hardware, we always go through a competitive audit with our client. It's mandatory and it happens in every Fortune 500 and smaller companies I've ever done business with-- and it's a lot of them. best, Chipp _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list [email protected] Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution
