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From: robertj@yale.UUCP (Rob Jellinghaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Mac II compatibility
Message-ID: <2972@yale-celed.yale.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jun-87 19:40:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: yale-cel.2972
Posted: Mon Jun 22 19:40:53 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Jun-87 06:35:34 EDT
Reply-To: robertj@yale.UUCP
Distribution: world
Organization: Yale University Computer Science Dept, New Haven CT
Lines: 43
Keywords: Mac II, compatibility
Summary: What is compatible, and to what degree?

Apple's recent introduction of the Mac II, with all its new capabilities,
seems to resemble its introduction of the Plus in one important regard:
it opens up a whole new area of compatibility issues.

With the Plus, it was simple: does the product support HFS and SCSI?
And does it support System 3.2?

Now, with the Mac II, it's considerably more complicated:
Does the product support color?  To what degree?  Can you specify the
colors of menus and windows within the program?  Does the program support
System 4.1?  If it's a word processor or page-layout program, does it
support the Script Manager?  If it's a music program, does it support the
new Apple Sound Chip?  If it's a game, does it work correctly with the new
clock speed and without the alternate screen buffer?  (The Mac II doesn't
have an alternate screen buffer, does it?  I may be wrong...)  Can you cut
and paste color graphics to and from the program?  Or is that included
under "color support"?  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

You get my drift.  My question is this:
Is there a central source that contains answers to these questions about
today's major software packages?  I'm thinking of something like MacUser's
"Updates" section in the *New on the Menu* section of the magazine.  Of
course, this list would have to contain much more information, since the
number of possible levels of support is much greater now.

Some of this list would apply to the SE and Plus, too: does the program
in question support the Script Manager, etc., which is part of System 4.1?
Does this color-supporting program run reliably on non-II Macs?  (There's
a difference between backward compatibility and real, live, reliability.)

Thanks for your help.  Is anyone interested in starting something like
this?  As soon as I get my Mac II, I may consider it myself...

(P.S.  Any idea when my Mac II with AppleColor monitor will arrive?
Just asking...  :-)  )

-- 
Robert Jellinghaus                | "Once again our hero is about to
				  |  teach vicious alien scum that vir-
You wouldn't flame po' little me?!|  tue is its own reward!!" -- Calvin
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