IBM To Linux Desktop Developers: 'Stop Copying Windows' (InformationWeek)

Windows 95 copied many ideas from OS/2. (yes, that is the vintage).

The shell had an object model whose biggest problem wasn't the idea, but the
implementation. The development process was quasi impossible and the
interfaces were undocumented. The object model was separated from the
underlying file system, which created problems with synchronisation.

There were some very neat ideas I've yet to see implemented elsewhere. But
the object model idea has been copied almost everywhere.

Derek