Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple code broken - pisses me off!
Message-ID: <46100309@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 10 Jun 89 20:02:00 GMT
References: <4588@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
Lines: 53
Nf-ID: #R:ucdavis.ucdavis.edu:4588:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:46100309:000:2371
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Jun 10 15:02:00 1989



>I have seen people in net-land mentioning the broken Apple code; now
>Associated Press has picked up the story.  I too would like to see a
>cheaper Macintosh, but...

>Whoever did this really PISSES ME OFF!!  I think an organization
>should benefit from their own R&D.  I fear if after a company puts
>many man hours and lots of money into an R&D effort only to have other
>companies copy it, fewer and fewer companies will invest into new
>research.


Actually this is probably wrong. If someone comes up with a new product,
and make a success of it, they will make money. They have the benefit of
having it first, having all the know-how to make it better because 
of the head start, etc. All other things being equal, cloners will
make a poorer product, and the original will get all the sales.

But seldom are all other things equal. Sometimes the original is
a small company, and a larger company will make something similar
and fight it out in the courts for years, or just buy up th esmall
company. IF it weren't for antitrust law, IBM would have bought up
Apple long ago.

Sometimes the original is a big company, or soon gets that way 
(examples: Apple, Xerox). They then have a monopoly. There IS
no direct competition. They make the worst product they can possibly
sell for the highest possible price. Xerox did this, Apple still
does, Polaroid tries. While IBM lets cloners make far better
boxes then they do, and the users win. Eventually the patents run
out, the ROMs are cloned (legally), the people get mad at "look and
feel" lawsuits and boycott the perpretators (or make such suits
illegal), and someone else , usually Japanese, takes over.

The best way, for everyone except a very few very rich people, 
is to simply allow clones for a reasonable royalty, and have
cooperation. This is the Japanese way, and it works very well
indeed.

By not allowing a whole industry to spring up around them,
Apple is going to end up like Xerox and Polaroid: devoid of
the lead in the fields they created. One no longer sees real
Xerox copiers anymore. They lost the lead. One no longer sees
Polaroid Instant Cameras - Who cares when there is a one hour
developing place on every other corner, and the 35 mm auto-everything
cameras are smaller and better?


The best method of making money is to earn it by making the best
product in a big market.

Doug McDonald