Sorry there is some very bad logic being thrown around here. The best example is the following quote:
"Try writing an operating system copied exactly after Microsoft Windows, but change some of the colors and buttons, and add a few different functions. Then list it for sale on eBay under a new name. "
Bill Gates is nothing more than a successful theif! He stole the ideas from many little guys and ground them into the dust. He has had better legal council, more business acuem, and a more ruthless personality than those whose shoulders he climbed up the ladder on. Oh and by the way, this is not from conjecture. Microsoft has had sanctions imposed upon it here, not very successfully due to corrupt courts. But very successfully in Europe.
I've had several very good ideas stolen from me personally, and marketed by others. I can think up more. But now I am more unwilling to show certain people things. I won't cast my pearls before swine. And say I do stumble across another acorn, I will market it and not let others do it first. I just won't worry about people ripping off the idea, people will period. I will make a superior product, people recognize quality. I'm not pointing a finger at anyone in this post.