183
votes
Did Bill Gates steal the GUI concept from Steve Jobs?
Microsoft "stole" the GUI in roughly the same way that every scriptwriter has "stolen" their movies from Shakespeare. Ideas are important, but implementation is everything.
I'll start by saying I ...
- 121k
110
votes
Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
The Enigma was portable. You could carry one on a small submarine, or in an armoured battalion headquarters, and they weren't a problem when an airfield had to be moved in a hurry. They didn't require ...
- 31.9k
103
votes
Accepted
What fueled the street lights in 13th-century Cordoba?
I have traced back this claim to its original source. Come along with me on this journey! Let's start with a source which used to be linked on Wikipedia and is commonly cited online:
For ten miles in ...
- 2,399
71
votes
How has hearing loss been avoided in war?
Until the 1940s, it was believed that the cure to loud noises was developing a tolerance to them:
The pervasive attitude of the early 1900s was that hearing loss could be prevented by developing a ...
- 4,062
62
votes
Did Bill Gates steal the GUI concept from Steve Jobs?
That characterization is not legally accurate. Yes, Apple believed that Microsoft infringed on its GUI ideas, and filed a lawsuit in 1988. They lost. Jobs himself obtained the idea from ...
- 621
62
votes
Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
At least four examples spring to mind: Damascus steel, which might have been rediscovered last century, Greek fire, whose composition ...
- 22.9k
61
votes
Accepted
What do the phone number suffixes J, M, R, W in 1940 New York phone book mean?
You are correct that these are party lines. The letters represent an additional digit dialed after the others in cases where automatic operations was implemented. This article goes into great depth ...
- 22k
59
votes
Accepted
Where did the archived discussions in Google Groups come from?
The old discussions were messages on USENET, which still exists. rec.games.chess is a newsgroup in USENET it is not firstly a part of google groups. Messages can be sent and read in the newsgroup ...
- 993
50
votes
Are the pyramids too old?
Robert Temple has zero credibility in archaeology. He's written multiple ancient-astronaut books, one of the quotes on his web page about his books is from an author of The Holy Blood and the Holy ...
- 31.9k
48
votes
How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
There is a difference between abstract knowledge and "inventions". In the 17th century it was still widely believed that the ancient Greeks had discovered and formulated pretty much the sum total of ...
- 9,700
47
votes
Accepted
Did the Finns have aluminum screw caps in 1939?
Or is this photo from a modern re-enactment of some sort? The archive this is from is supposed to be photos from that war. Are there other things in this photo (button? carabiner?) that mark it as ...
- 55.5k
46
votes
Why did quill pens persist until the early 19th century despite the capacity to make metal dip pens?
The metal dip pens existed since the times when Britain was a Roman province. Also, they are known to be used in the Middle ages and Renaissance times. That is, they were used alongside the quill pens....
- 668
44
votes
Why did the grip-centered viking shield fall out of use relative to the kite shields?
It's important to note that concrete information on how shields were used is scant, so a large part of any discussion on this subject is speculation and logic.
That said, kite shields had an obvious ...
- 97.5k
43
votes
Accepted
Why did Persia adopt the movable-type printing so late?
Much like Arabic, Persian script (الفبای فارسی) is difficult to write, with characters 'changing' depending on context. Think of a text consisting of many, many ligatures. And like in China and Japan ...
- 80.7k
41
votes
Accepted
Did this "sledge rigged like a sloop" vehicle ever exist, or was it an invention of Jules Verne?
Yes, and this wikipedia article and this other one describe it. The first article talks about ice boats in America (invented in Poughkeepsie, etc), but the second makes it clear that the Dutch had ...
- 6,307
40
votes
Why did the Germans use the Enigma machine rather than the far superior "Lorenz" cipher machine?
I would add two more factors: cost and being invented too late.
Enigma was available commercially in 1923. The Reichsmarine (the navy of the German Republic) put it into service in 1926 and the ...
- 55.5k
38
votes
How has hearing loss been avoided in war?
In Germany Maximilian Negwer founded the company "Fabrik pharmazeutischer und kosmetischer Spezialitäten Max Negwer" in 1907. The first package of Ohropax noise protectors was sold in autumn 1908 for ...
- 80.7k
37
votes
How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
There is nothing to "spoof".
Note that a telegram did not have a "sender" field to begin with. There was the office of origin, the address of the recipient, and the message. That ...
- 14k
35
votes
Accepted
What evidence is there of the vision aids people used before the invention of eyeglasses in about 1286?
Cursory netsearch brings up very common blips of history relating to the past evolution of reading aids or eyeglasses. There are some early Greek objects that have magnifying properties, although it ...
- 80.7k
35
votes
Accepted
How to explain the apparent discrepancy in the use of papyrus vs. clay tablets between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Most certainly we see mainly survivorship bias. Other factors play a certain minor role, but the durability of clay tablets, especially when fired, are most important.
Cuneiform was developed on clay, ...
- 80.7k
33
votes
How did muzzle-loaded rifled artillery solve the problems of the hand-held rifle?
The answer lies in the age-old conundrum: how to muzzle-load a firearm whose bullet is supposed to tightly engage with the barrel. I'll rewind back to the 1700s and work up how rifles worked to get ...
- 2,091
32
votes
Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
Perhaps one of the most famous examples is the Antikythera mechanism. Discovered in 1901, it is believed to date between 205 BC and 60 BC. This ancient analog computer contains
traces of technology ...
- 108k
31
votes
Accepted
Before television sets became commonplace, did people generally watch movies only once?
Short Answer
Although opportunities certainly existed for repeat viewing of movies before the advent of television, this was not 'generally' the case. Reasons for this included limited long-term ...
- 108k
30
votes
Accepted
Why did the Mongols destroy the library during the siege of Baghdad in 1258?
Short Answer
An important reason was to destroy those Muslims who opposed the Mongols. This meant that their mosques and Islamic texts were also targeted, especially those of the Isma‘ilis, a Shi‘ite ...
- 108k
30
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the Black Death result in favorable results for surviving peasants in China?
Firstly, there's no reason to think it didn't. In fact, it's fairly routine for afflicted regions to receive government subsidies in Imperial China. As early as AD 218, the Book of the Later Han ...
- 97.5k
30
votes
Accepted
When did horseback riding start? Are Doosheh cave petroglyphs authentic and correctly dated?
There seems to be something going on of the quite unreliable kind. The generally accepted 'history' and dates of horse domestication and riding practices are quite at odds with the dates for cave ...
- 80.7k
29
votes
Did Bill Gates steal the GUI concept from Steve Jobs?
"You're ripping us off!", Steve shouted, raising his voice even higher. "I trusted you, and now you're stealing from us!"
But Bill Gates just stood there coolly, looking Steve directly in the eye,...
26
votes
Why was the Aeolipile not put to practical use in classical antiquity?
From the standpoint of the ancient Greeks, the aeolipile is a technological dead end. As an engine in its own right, it's useless for more than toys/temple wonders: it produces negligible torque, and ...
- 8,688
25
votes
Accepted
When was the first electrical intra-battlefield communication?
Chapter 16 - TELEGRAPH AT WAR 1854 - 1868 of Distant Writing by Steven Roberts outlines several battlefield usages of the telegraph prior to the American Civil War.
The British, French and Spanish all ...
- 72.4k
25
votes
Where did the archived discussions in Google Groups come from?
A point that the other answers so far perhaps don't make clear enough is the decentralised nature of the Internet back then.
We've got used to the idea that every type of content is accessible at some ...
- 361
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