Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!lll-crg!lll-lcc!qantel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!cadovax!keithd
From: keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle)
Newsgroups: net.legal,net.micro.atari16,net.micro.amiga
Subject: Re: Using Apple Macintosh roms on non-Apple machines
Message-ID: <1040@cadovax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 30-Apr-86 14:15:42 EDT
Article-I.D.: cadovax.1040
Posted: Wed Apr 30 14:15:42 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 4-May-86 23:59:30 EDT
References: <959@well.UUCP> <794@ccird2.UUCP> <162@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>
Reply-To: keithd@cadovax.UUCP (Keith Doyle)
Organization: CONTEL CADO Systems, Torrance, CA
Lines: 43
Keywords: Infringing ROM Copyrights
Xref: watmath net.legal:3380 net.micro.atari16:620 net.micro.amiga:2965

In article <162@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
>In article <794@ccird2.UUCP> rb@ccird2.UUCP (Rex Ballard) writes:
>>with translaters to go Atari-> Mac, and Atari -> Amiga.  Another possibility
>>is that a third party such as DRI, MicroWare, Metacomco or ??? could come up
>>with operating systems which would provide the best functionality of all 
>>these machines and still be tranparent to application software.  Possible
>>candidates include Concurrent GEMDOS (is it coming?), OS-9 68K,  Tripos, 
>>GNU with VDI, Windows, UNIX, or ???.  At this point, it looks like OS-9 
>>will be the first contender.

I'm not at all convinced that OS-9 has much chance here.  And, I don't think
it has anything to do with how good of an OS it is (unfortunately).  I would
expect that GEM may have the best chance.  Why?  You can get off the
shelf applications for GEM of the sort that most people are interested in.  
Languages are not applications.  Spreadsheets, Word processors, painting
packages, DBMS programs, games, THOSE are applications.  People want to buy
PeeCee DOS emulators for their machine, NOT OS-9, and certainly NOT because
PeeCee DOS is a better OS.  GEM is not owned by one of the hardware
manufacturers, who would probably want to keep you locked in to their
hardware and not let their OS run on other machines.  This is what will rule
the MAC OS out.  TRIPOS would only have a chance if Amiga would consider
selling Intuition (their graphics/windowing software) to go with TRIPOS.
This would actually be in Amiga's best interest, TRIPOS and INTUITION running
on a ST would sell a lot of Amigas, both by expanding the attractiveness to
developers of developing Amiga compatible packages, and by magnifying the
performance and feature differences of Amigas vs STs.  Otherwise, TRIPOS
has the same problems as OS-9.  GNU might have a chance, because it's free.
There is no way I am going to BUY an OS for my machine even if it is a great
OS, if there are no (or almost no) applications that run under it.  If it's
a FREE OS, (public domain or similar) THEN I might be inspired to run it on
my machine.  If Atari, Amiga, Apple or some Alternate manufacturer produces
a machine that comes with OS-9 plain vanilla, and developers decide to get
behind it, then OS-9 has a chance.  Until then, OS-9 is at the level of the
8-bit CP/M systems, because there will be no applications that will use any
graphics, windows, or other neat stuff that you need to sell applications
these days.  I don't need OS-9 to run 'C', assemblers, Modula, Pascal, Lisp,
Basic, Forth, etc. on my Amiga, or to be able to print stuff while I'm
editing or compiling now do I?

Keith Doyle
#  {ucbvax,ihnp4,decvax}!trwrb!cadovax!keithd
#  cadovax!keithd@ucla-locus.arpa