Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!seismo!elsie!imsvax!ted From: ted@imsvax.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac Subject: Apple Payoff Blacklist Requested/Look and Feel of the 8010 Message-ID: <673@imsvax.UUCP> Date: Sun, 25-Jan-87 15:59:26 EST Article-I.D.: imsvax.673 Posted: Sun Jan 25 15:59:26 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 26-Jan-87 02:14:59 EST Organization: IMS Inc, Rockville MD Lines: 75 Xref: watmath comp.sys.ibm.pc:1147 comp.sys.mac:931 America is becoming a lawless land, both in the streets and in the boardrooms and courtrooms. Our legal systems were never designed to handle the sheer volumn of bullshit which they are having to deal with now and are simply no longer working. On the streets, it has reached the point at which, in order to actually get put in prison, one must be a mother-raper AND a father stabber and then be on a waiting list for six or seven years, the decision the judge has to make being: "Is this dude bad enough for me to want to throw someone I KNOW is bad OUT of prison in order to make room for HIM?" rather than simply: "Is this dude bad enough for me to want to throw him in prison?" as it used to be. On the other side of the tracks, we are seeing companies which obviously and pitifully lack the brains or talent to make it in the open market trying to make their living in the courtroom, and the worst offender is Apple Corp., the erstwhile hippie commune which supposedly had made it to the big-time. Those people obviously see the law as a tool for the rich, whereby, like the trolls of legend which infested bridges, they can earn their living by laying claim to such things as techniques for walking and breathing, driving automobiles, programming visual effects similar to those of the Xerox 8010 Star ( which Xerox, an honest company, has never fought over the "look and feel" of) etc., and charging the general public, or at least all such as use small computers, thereby. It is easy to see how Apple has come to such a pass. When IBM went the wrong way (with Intel rather than Motorola microchips), Apple was the one company in a position to challenge them by actually doing something with the 68000. What they did was to produce two machines which were so pitiful that they convinced much of the world that the 68000 itself was a bad idea: a $10,000 machine which looked like a 1946 TV set with a 5" screen (Lisa) and a $3000 machine which resembles a toaster (Mac). Both of those machines are totally closed architecturally, both are black and white only, both use up most of the 68000's compute power dealing with screen graphics, both have toy rather than real keyboards, both come with one (slow) floppy disk, neither has any capabilities for expansion vis-a-vis color monitors, fpu's etc. Were it not for the 8010 Star interface, which Apple flagrantly pirated from Xerox Parc, the Mac probably could not be sold even to the most primitive and backwards peoples on earth. I personally am bothered by the DRI affair, which I regard as totally lawless behavior on Apple's part, as well as by articles I have been reading in Info-World lately. Apple is now claiming rights to any enhancements to the basic "look and feel" of the Mac interface created by third party software developers as well as launching new campaigns to prevent the "look and feel" of the mac being ported to other architectures. I am particularly bothered by the idea that any money which I might spend on software might end up in the coffers of these desperados. I intend, therefore, to avoid purchasing software for which any kind of tribute has been paid to Apple by the developers or marketers. I would appreciate it if someone could compile and publish a list of software for which any form of compensation has been paid to Apple. The latest report I've seen is that something like 150 companies are involved in developing 8010 Star-like software and it figures to be a little bit hard to keep track of. Ted Holden, IMS