🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <13397@claris.com>, Mike_Steiner@claris.com (Mike Steiner) writes...
>In article <95qs85w164w@mantis.co.uk>, mathew@mantis.co.uk (five minutes) writes:
> 
>> [ An aspiring Mac owner who refuses to buy one because of Apple's monopolistic
>>   practices. ]
> 
>Would you care to define "monopolstic," please?  What would you suggest Apple do
>to change those practices?  Please keep your suggestions realistic--i.e., so that
>Apple can continue to remain profitable and remain in business.

This is pure flame bait, but it deserves more of a response than three 
lines without carriage returns or newlines.

If the xref to "gnu.misc" doesn't ring a bell for you, do some checking
up on Richard Stallman, the Free Software Foundation, and the League for
Programming Freedom which is currently organizing a boycott of Apple and
Claris products because of Apple's involvement in User Interface lawsuits.

They have a specific and realistic suggestion regarding Apple practices.  

I'll leave it for someone else to describe why LPF/FSF believe that
UI lawsuits are harmful to the rest of the computing world (personally
I think it's a tempest in a teapot) but I do want to make a few comments 
from the perspective of a Mac sympathizer.  This is directed mainly at
Apple.  I think that the UI lawsuits are a waste of time and money.
They unnecessarily harm Apple's reputation among computer professionals.

My $0.02:

Disclaimer:  I've owned a Macs (and a PC) for 6 years;  I'm a registered 
licensee of MacWrite II, MacDraw Pro, Resolve, and HyperCard 2.1.  

I didn't buy that stuff so that I could have tools that would be
inaccessable to people with "other" computers -- only a snob would
do that.  I paid good money for the stuff because I wanted "the best",
and as an engineer I was more than happy to support the efforts of
creative people who have spent the past five years defining the 
state of the art in personal computing.  I don't work for free, 
and I don't expect others to do so for me.

I do not believe that the next great computer operating system will
be developed by volunteers.  It will take alot of work, work that
is being done at Microsoft (Windows NT), IBM (OS/2 v.2.0), AT&T
(Un*x v.9?), Sun (will begin selling SUN OS to run on 'other' 
platforms), and yes, even Apple (with the "Pink" project).  The 
"for-profit" competition between these companies is a healthy thing,
as is the competition from academic-oriented research groups like
the GNU project.

My guess is that people who use computers on a professional basis will
continue to be willing to pay for quality products.  People who invest
large sums of money in hardware and training will want to pay for the
service, support, and guaranteed results (well, maybe someday) that
one associates with with a for-profit venture.  If my commercial software
fails to perform as advertised, I want a phone number to call, and
someone at the other end whose job it is to see that I am satisfied.

In this regard, I have been a VERY satisfied Apple/Claris customer.  

Nevertheless, I think that Apple/Claris is DEAD WRONG when it
comes to the user interface legal wars.  

I happen to believe that Apple is basically right in its assertion 
that it invented and/or engineered (rendered practical) several radical 
innovations in user interfaces.   However, that doesn't mean that 
it is in anyone's best interest for Apple to sue to maintain exclusive 
rights to these ideas.

Apple has developed and successfully marketed a computer with an 
excellent integrated user-interface and OS since the introduction 
of the Macintosh.  That interface would get better faster if Apple 
spent less time/$$$ in court and more time/$$$ on System 8.  

Apple:

Ask your customers if they support UI lawsuits.  Ask your developers.
Ask your accountants if lawsuits are really improving the bottom line.

People are smart enough to tell the difference between the 
"Real Thing" and a confused imitation.  Perhaps Apple would have
done better to hire the president of Coca-Cola instead of Pepsi?

-- Bill Johnston (johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu)
-- 38 Chambers St.;  Newark, DE  19711;  (302) 368-1949

"Definitely, in order to have a good operating system, we need to 
have a desktop program."  -- Richard Stallman in an NPR interview
(on a talk show underwritten by a grant from Apple Computer).