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From: jwp@utah-cs.UUCP (John W Peterson)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: mac compatibles ?
Message-ID: <3120@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 25-Nov-84 21:44:47 EST
Article-I.D.: utah-cs.3120
Posted: Sun Nov 25 21:44:47 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Nov-84 03:00:15 EST
References: <91@vectron.UUCP>
Organization: Univ of Utah CS Dept
Lines: 11

I think the reason there are no "Mac compatibles" is because of the
copyright on the ROMs.  Machines like the IBM PC require no more than
a bright high-school kid and a license from MicroSoft to (re)write the
necessary ROM software.  This isn't true with the Mac; it takes a pretty high
degree of sophistication to come up with things like a window manager
and an extensive bitmap graphics package in assembly language.  Some of
QuickDraw's basic algorithm's (i.e, the "region clipper") aren't even
published.  

There are companies producing retro-fitted Macs, though.  There's a company
now selling a mac re-fitted into a very rugged Osborn style case.