What I'm saying is that while it may be fun to trot out things like the "640K should be enough for everyone" to bust on Bill Gates that is an urban myth and he never said it. Instead, bust on him for things that he *did* do (like hire someone else to pirate CPM). Same for Apple and Jobs (I just have a somewhat better memory for the Microsoft end of things, hence using MS-centric example).
The thing that is funny about the old days of Apple, is that people misrepresent what happened back then too. Everyone claims that Apple ripped off Xerox when they started working on GUI with Lisa / Mac, when one of the alumni of Xerox PARC (and a member of the original Macintosh team) says otherwise. Oh, and Lisa and Mac were already specified to be graphical bitmapped systems before Xerox allowed the Apple team to come in not once, but twice, mostly allowed because Xerox had given Apple VC money.
Never mind that there is a massive gulf between research, and product development. Best example from this particular topic: the original Apple mouse. It went from being a tricky, finicky, expensive piece of lab equipment into a cheap, mass produced, reliable, and easy to use piece of equipment that everyone just accepts as always being there under Apple's development. More info including interviews, design sketches, and documentation here.
For some reason, everyone likes to put research of an idea without actually turning it into something useful on a mile-high pedestal, but turning that idea into something that people can actually use to accomplish things doesn't mean shit. Research is important, but so is development of that research into a useful thing.