Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ncar!tank!nucsrl!bob
From: bob@eecs.nwu.edu (Bob Hablutzel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Nifty, legal, product idea.
Message-ID: <10050027@eecs.nwu.edu>
Date: 13 Oct 88 13:31:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: eecs.10050027
References: <26379@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Northwestern U, Evanston IL, USA
Lines: 31

> Imagine a machine with a tiny rom, lots of ram, maybe a local disk.
> a decent keyboard mouse and screen. It is delivered with some dumb
> operating system, (say, for example, CP-M68k, just to name a name,
> please do not assume that this is my actual opinion of that operating
> system.) This operating system exists in part so the manufacturer can
> claim the product has a legitimate use, and is not solely a law-breaking
> device. (As the manufacterers of radar detectors claim that there device
> does not exist solely to aid lawbreakers.)

> 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. If you don't have a multi-machine license from
> Apple, then you are possibly breaking the law to use that function.
> If you can successfully argue that the computer is the network, then you
> are not breaking the law. Most users of such a machine would just leave
> it on all the time, since booting would be a little slow.

The only problems I see with this are:

1) Appletalk would have to be built into this machine. Would this be legal?
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.
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.

Bob Hablutzel		BOB@NUACC.ACNS.NWU.EDU