"There is nothing new in the world. Most everything is a copy of something. Some things may reference more directly than others, but there are few originals. However, some disciplines have come to understand that originality isn't as important as the march toward general progress. Science and literature often borrow from others, but they credit/source/footnote/etc. This allows them to, as it were, stand on the shoulders of giants.Sadly, in design, supposed originality is considered a prime virtue. This means that rather than standing on the shoulders of the giants of design, it usually stands on the shoulders of the midgets that were too insignificant to be noticed, so nobody cares when those are referenced. We like to call it 'public domain' but it's a bad habit and design needs to get over it.  Imagine if, rather than throwing out all the best design and leaning so heavily on the public domain, we as an industry started both crediting history and standing on those shoulders. If each design added 1% to the conversation, we would be miles ahead in a short time. The lone (tortured) genius/artist is an arcane notion. Let's move on, shall we."

"Designers really need to stop worrying about 'piracy' and start designing more progressively. This is similar to when desktop publishing made every person with a pc and a printer a 'graphic designer'. The graphics world had to step up and do better. Those who typeset flyers were out of luck. If product designers can ascend, the profession will simply die. Alternately, we could embrace the idea of building on the shoulders of giants, taking great ideas and bringing them up another notch. Put a note on the back/bottom of the piece openly crediting those who came before us, and move forward. I get that there are people whose livelihoods are affected. Conversely, the UO piece is also manufactured by someone. When the UO mirror is discontinued and those people are displaced, will we also see articles about them?"