Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!umich!umeecs!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thornley
From: thornley@cs.umn.edu (David H. Thornley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Reserve engineering stuff,.....
Message-ID: <1990Jun15.205708.6062@cs.umn.edu>
Date: 15 Jun 90 20:57:08 GMT
References: <1990Jun7.190751.10452@cs.utk.edu> <1990Jun7.202044.7800@eng.umd.edu> <41723@apple.Apple.COM> <30664@cup.portal.com> <1990Jun13.065704.26063@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us>
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - CSCI Dept.
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Can the Mac be cloned?  It won't be nearly as easy as the IBM was.

First, it is necessary to clone the ROMs.  These are rather large (up to 256K)
and contain *lots* of stuff.  Then it is necessary to clone the OS.  (Yes, I
know, people buy ROMs and get the OS for clones right now.  However, any large-
scale operation is going to have to be legal.  Apple will *not* allow machines
to be sold that require either Apple ROMS or Apple OSs to run.)

Finally, it is necessary to weather the user-interface legal storm.  I would
really like to see some good legal results on the look-and-feel issues.  In
the meantime, all that is sure is that Apple will sue any Mac clone
manufacturer.

Assuming this is all done, how much of an improvement will we have?  Forcing
compatibility will cost money and probably performance.  I think any really
cheap Mac will have to come from Apple.

Too bad Apple never realized that market share is so important in the long
run.  They have consistently priced their computers high and tried to
justify the prices on the grounds of quality.  Unfortunately, one aspect of
quality is third-party support, which is much more available with more
popular machines, and machines with lower cost tend to be more popular.

DHT