Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!earleh
From: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Nifty, legal, product idea.
Message-ID: <10405@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 13 Oct 88 16:03:28 GMT
References: <26379@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <10050027@eecs.nwu.edu>
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Earle R. Horton)
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 40

In article <10050027@eecs.nwu.edu> bob@eecs.nwu.edu (Bob Hablutzel) writes:
>
>> When you turn the machine on, it checks over appletalk to see if there
>> are any machines running a special INIT. If it finds one, it asks that
>> INIT to send it a copy of the MAC ROMs and system software. From then
>> on, it behaves like a Mac.
>
>The only problems I see with this are:
>
>1) Appletalk would have to be built into this machine. Would this be legal?

     There are IBM PC boards which speak AppleTalk, as well as several
packages for UNIX.  I assume one could write an AppleTalk driver for
a non-Apple machine without violating any laws, since it appears to have
already been done.

>2) If you just copy the ROM of a machine, you would have to also _exactly_
>   duplicate the hardware of the machine you are copying from. (I personally
>   assume that the ROM does all kinds of ugly things, since it _knows_
>   what hardware it will run with. By duplicate exactly, I mean logical
>   appearance, not physical.

     Judging from the large number of IBM PC clones that exist, this process
is doable.

>3) This scheme would only be practical for large network installations, and
>   would therefore not benefit those who have the most problem affording
>   a Macintosh in the first place.

But it would so!  Assume one could get this AppleTalk ROM-grabber which
then becomes a Mac.  Assume then that large network installations start
buying these machines in large numbers.  Apple sales then drop off, and
they detect that *competition* now exists.  Maybe, just maybe, Apple would
be forced to lower its prices, benefiting the little guy.



Earle R. Horton. 23 Fletcher Circle, Hanover, NH 03755
(603) 643-4109
Sorry, no fancy stuff, since this program limits my .signature to three