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Re: Possibility of open-sourcing GS/OS
Roger Johnstone wrote:
In <a1Kbf.11817$q%.4548@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com> Steven Lichter
wrote:
Apple is really funny about its code. Look at what happened to the
companies that were making Mac clones. I know that for a while Apple
allowed companies to make clones of the Apple // and //c's,
I think Apple would be surprised to hear that! There were clones, going
at least as far back as the Apple II+, but most of them were illegal in
the sense that they either directly copied the Apple II ROMs (the early
Taiwanese clones) or part of the ROMs (Franklin Ace series). Apple sued
Franklin in court over this and won. The Video Tech Laser computers were
safe though because they had a ROM with no Apple code in it.
Actually, the first Franklin ROMs were _exactly_ the Apple ROMS
with only the typical "clone" change--the sign-on name was changed
from "APPLE ][". Altogether, a pretty blatant rip-off.
The only licensed Apple II computers I know of are the ITT 2020 (an
early European II+ clone, made before Apple really had a presence in
Europe) and the Tiger Learning Computer (a children's computer made
after Apple stopped selling the II series).
There was also the Basis 108, which was a licensed Apple ][+,
enhanced with CP/M capability and a parallel and serial port,
etc.
and then the Macs.
Those they did license from about 1995 to 1997, at which time Steve Jobs
returned to Apple, took one look at the books ("We're making $50 in
license fees for each $1000 computer sale they take off us?!?!") and
axed the clone licenses.
Thus sealing Apple's fate to be a hardware manufacturer rather than
a software manufacturer. Even though Apple has always managed to
command huge margins within its hardware niche, it doesn't begin to
compare to the margins that a truly large software company can
attain on its products.
What Jobs should have considered is that he was getting $50 for
every clone sold *without having to design, build, stock, ship,
and warranty* every one of them! His bet was that Macs and their
clones would never be more than a niche player in the computer
market, and he couldn't have clone manufacturers stealing his
niche sales. He won.
If Apple had ever conceived of itself as a software company, they
might today be the company everyone loves to hate. ;-)
-michael
Music synthesis for 8-bit Apple II's!
Home page: http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/
"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it is seriously underused."