Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!maverick.ksu.ksu.edu!unmvax!uokmax!d.cs.okstate.edu!minich
From: minich@d.cs.okstate.edu (Robert Minich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Apple = avarice ??
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.084343.12275@d.cs.okstate.edu>
Date: 28 Sep 90 08:43:43 GMT
References: <1026@mdavcr.UUCP>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Oklahoma State University
Lines: 49

by ewm@mdavcr.UUCP (Eric W. Mitchell):
> Don't tell me that Steve didn't do any R&D to produce this machine.
> He may be using more off the shelf components than Apple (I'm not sure
> whether that is true), but if he is, it is obviously a working formula.

Do you recall this little thing abou heavy investment from Jobs,
himself, Canon, and one Mr. Perot?
 
> The point here is not whether or not the NeXT will sell and be a
> successful machine.  [...]

  Maybe not to you, but I think the price of the slab is squarely aimed
at getting some marketshare and an installed base to build on. Until
that happens, software is lacking and expensive and businesses lokk
elsewhere. Add up the cost of just some of the major parts of the system
and take a guess at the margin they are cutting. I am a die hard Mac
person but I'm thinking real hard about this new toy. (I'm a CompSci
major and it would be nice to have a UNIX machine to work on. Not to
mention a big monitor, premptive multitasking OS, some nice bundled
software, etc. all for less than an SE/30 with A/UX in a minimal 
configuration. Lots of CPU horsepower doesn't hurt either!)

| If Apple doesn't get their buts in gear and get realistic about licensing
| Mac Clones, they could be in serious do-do.  No doubt they will sue
| these guys, but:
[...] 
| b)  The look-and-feel argument only applies to the SYSTEM SOFTWARE, not
|     the ROMS.  The ROMs only provide the hooks to generate a
|     given look-and-feel; they do not enforce a particular user
|     interface.  Clone makers could thus either write their own System
|     Software, or, more likely, sell the hardware without System Software
|     and allow the customer to buy his own Mac OS.  Even if Apple then
|     restricts system software sales to registered hardware owners,
|     it is awfully easy to copy a System Disk...

  However, if there is no legit use for such a clone sans System
software from Apple, I think the courts would see the clone as 
requiring a violation of Apple's software license agreements (the one
you agreed to when you broke that little seal on the package...) to
carry out its intended use. Nasty nasty nasty.
  I will be curious as to wether the low cost Macs will be such price
perfomers as the NeXTs are. The comparison of pricing for the slab +
NeXT laser printer vs LaserWriter IIntx is very revealing. Like I said,
I'm thinking real hard on this...
-- 
|_    /| | Robert Minich            |
|\'o.O'  | Oklahoma State University| A fanatic is one who sticks to 
|=(___)= | minich@d.cs.okstate.edu  | his guns -- whether they are 
|   U    | - Ackphtth               | loaded or not.