Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!linac!midway!midway.uchicago.edu!francis From: francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: Apple Computer wins ruling against 'Windows' Message-ID: Date: 17 Mar 91 04:42:34 GMT References: <46873@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <1991Mar15.101202.1@csc.anu.edu.au> <1468@vtserf.cc.vt.edu> <1991Mar15.185425.23156@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) Distribution: usa Organization: Mathematics Department, University of Chicago Lines: 58 In-Reply-To: brett@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu's message of 15 Mar 91 18:54:25 GMT In article <1991Mar15.185425.23156@uokmax.ecn.uoknor.edu> brett@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu (Brett Morrow) writes: [comment from nwc1@midway.uchicago.edu about how Mac apps are less likely to break] In the Mac world there really are just as many problems as the PC world. If you look for instance at the readme file for MWORD 4.0D. All the fixes are for new hardware. Yes, and there's a good reason for this, too: MICROSOFT BREAKS THE RULES. It always has. You have to kind of wonder about whether Windows developers are going to be able to count on any kind of reliability with future Windows releases. (Saw a comment the other day that the only way to get a TSR (INIT) to work under Mess-Dos is to use some undocumented DOS calls. MS knows this, and has said so in one publication (MS-DOS Encyclopedia, I believe), but hasn't moved those calls into the permissible set.) Besides, citing MS Word is kind of silly. "Yes, we're developing software to run on our competitor's machine. Do we want to make users temporarily upset when it breaks, or permanently happy with their machine?" "Gee, I dunno, Boss..." "You're fired." Also, If they are the same and no developers have to worry, why does apple have to keep making versions of the operating systems to only work on the new machines. Because Apple breaks the rules. They can get away with it, because they know what they can do. They know that, when a new Mac comes out, the System will be updated to work with it. (After all, if somebody buys the machine, he'll get the latest System, and everything will be hunky-dory. :-) Most developers would rather not have to do that, so they toe the line. Also, I am running a Mac IIsi and there sure are a lot of programs that have problems with the hardware and configuration of this machine. True. I don't know why; the same thing happened with the IIci. In that case it was primarily the on-board video, I think. My guess would be that most of the breakage is due to the new Sound Manager (sound is really a sore point--it's broken many times) and developer carelessness. as developers for DOS. And if you had good software that used the advanced features fo the 68030 they you would have to worry about that too. In the DOS world they try to push for good fast software, not slower, safer software of the MAC World. I think I'd rather be a bit than take a chance on losing my work to something so stupid as a compatibility problem, thank you very much. -- /============================================================================\ | Francis Stracke | My opinions are my own. I don't steal them.| | Department of Mathematics |=============================================| | University of Chicago | Until you stalk and overrun, | | francis@zaphod.uchicago.edu | you can't devour anyone. -- Hobbes | \============================================================================/