Plagiarism in Computer Programming

In the syllabus for the CS112 programming class (found at san-marcos in the /home/cs111 directory), we find the clause "Any copying of programs and their parts will be penalized as plagiarism according to the university policy.  You may not submit identical or nearly identical programs or answers.  All parties involved will receive a zero score."  The problem is, in the case of computer programming, that the enormous variations of programming techniques and algorithms can represent essentially the same result.  For example, we see here the two interfaces of the major operating systems from Macintosh and Microsoft.  The Mac is on top (www.apple.com), and Microsoft is on the bottom (www.microsoft.com).

On the Mac, it's a trash bin. For Microsoft, it's a recycle bin. For the Mac, it's a menu bar on top. For Microsoft, it's a taskbar on the bottom. Both have windows, and views. Both have desktops and icons. Who is plagiarizing?  Or is it even plagiarism?  If it is, how can it be proven? When the actual code in the two operating systems are compared, chances are there exists no resemblance whatsoever. This all raises a strange question. What would these two systems look like if neither company had any contact or knowledge of the other up to know? Technology advancements play only so much of a role. We must consider that the programmers individually see how their own work can be improved by basing it on the results of "the other guy's" work; this kind of copying cannot be tracked. So we raise one more question: is the world fundamentally better because of this parallel progress? Just a thought…