🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3564@infmx.UUCP> cortesi@infmx.UUCP (David Cortesi) writes:
> Are you serious, that System 7 will break Macintalk?  It isn't used
> just by the Moose, you know -- to start with there are quite a number
> of hypercard stacks that use it, and there must be plenty of "real"
> applications besides that do.  Say it ain't so...?

I could say it ain't so, but I'm not Joe Isuzu, and my nose is already
quite long enough ;-}

I'm afraid that it _is_ so.  See Tech Note #268, dated February 1990.

It turns out that even Apple doesn't have the source code to the
Macintalk driver!  It was developed by a third party under contract...
the primary purpose was to enable the Macintosh to "introduce itself" at
the product rollout in 1984.  The contract did not include the rights
to the source code... and so Apple cannot now update the driver.

Apple has been warning developers for quite some time (years) that
Macintalk is utterly unsupported and might not work with future
Macintosh hardware or software.  The time is upon us, it seems!

On the bright side:  "Apple is committed to providing the developer
community with an array of speech technologies integrated wih the Sound
Manager." (Tech Note 268)  This suggests that it might be possible
for someone to write a speech driver which would [a] use the new
Sound Manager speech hooks, whatever they are, and [b] would provide
a Macintalk-compatible driver interface.

The person who does so, and distributes such a driver for a fair price,
will earn many kudos and much good karma!

-- 
Dave Platt                                             VOICE: (415) 493-8805
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