covertr@force.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) (01/17/90)
You know, what with all the frustration with Atari not releasing the STe to the US, and not releasing the TT to the US, and not having outline GDOS fonts, and all of the other complaints that we have with Atari Corp-USA, I started reading the Mac newsgroups. Well, I am a diehard STer, and the thought of buying a Mac is almost enough to make me sick [ :-) ], but the support from Apple is great (at least there are lots of 3rd party vendors for Macs). Anyway, I am always looking for reasons why not to buy a Mac. My biggest are prices and the poor system design centered about QuickDraw (very slow graphics on all but the MacIIci). Also, Mac SW is VERY expensive. this is all leading to a message that I saw posted in the Mac newsgroup. Someone there wanted to know why GNU/Free Software Foundation hasn't ported their programs to the Macs. And another caller posted a file included with GNU SW which really rips into Apple and explains that FSF will NEVER support ANY Apple product, especially the Mac. I have included the message for those who haven't seen it. So, my point is that as bad as things are with Atari Corp at least ST is is recognized by FSF as a machine worthy of porting their products to. Most FSF programs have been ported to the ST. So there are *SOME* good things about the ST! *********Press N to Skip the MEssage ******************************** From asuvax!noao!ncar!mwunix.mitre.org!rtidd Wed Jan 10 12:39:08 1990 Path: force!gtephx!hrc!mcdphx!asuvax!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!think!snorkelwacker!spdcc!merk!alliant!linus!chance!ccel From: ccel@chance.uucp (CCEL) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: YACC and LEX for Macs Keywords: apple, GNU Message-ID: <88099@linus.UUCP> Date: 10 Jan 90 19:39:08 GMT References: <1990Jan9.021314.5308@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us> <1570019@hp-ptp.HP.COM> Sender: news@linus.UUCP Reply-To: rtidd@mwunix.mitre.org Organization: MITRE-McLean Software Engineering Laboratory Lines: 83 In article <1570019@hp-ptp.HP.COM> steve@hp-ptp.HP.COM (Steve_Witten) writes: >/ hp-ptp:comp.sys.mac / shieber@harvard.harvard.edu / 6:13 pm Jan 8, 1990 / > >I have a Mac II running THINK C and am interested in getting a version >of Yacc and Lex for it. Has anyone written such a thing, or ported a >version? For instance, has anyone ported the GNU Bison and Flex to >Macs? (From the code I ftped, it didn't look like the GNU people >themselves had done the port.) Some time back, GNU got very upset at Apple over a lawsuit Apple tried against GNU for writing "look-and-feel" software; that is, software that "works even vaguely" like a Macintosh. Due to this, GNU doesn't support any Apple machines anywhere (especially the Mac). Pity, because the GNU software is not only excellent but free, and has source code and documentation provided. I'm not much of an Apple fan, and this certainly isn't the place to harp on Macs, so i'll leave it at that. Included is the "APPLE" file distributed with most GNU software: ------------------------------------------------------------------- @unnumbered Special Report: Apple's New Look and Feel You might have read about the new look-and-feel copyright lawsuit, Apple vs. Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. Apple claims the power to stop people from writing any program that works even vaguely like a Macintosh. If they and other look-and-feel plaintiffs triumph, they will use this new power over the public to put an end to free software that could substitute for commercial software. In the weeks after the suit was filed, USENET reverberated with condemnation for Apple. GNU supporters Richard Stallman, John Gilmore, and Paul Rubin decided to take action against Apple's no-longer-deserved reputation as a force for progress. Apple's reputation comes from having made better computers; but now, Apple is working to make all non-Apple computers worse. If this deprives the public of the future work of many companies, the harm done would be many times the good that any one company does. Our hope was that if the user community realizes how destructive Apple's present actions are, Apple would lose customers and have more trouble finding employees. Our method of action was to print 5000 buttons that say ``Keep Your Lawyers Off My Computer'' and hand them out at the West Coast Computer Faire. The center of the button shows the rainbow-apple logo with a Gigeresque mouth full of ferocious teeth. The picture was drawn by Etienne Suvasa, who also drew the cover for the GNU Emacs manual. We call the picture ``Apple's New Look and Feel''. We gave out nearly 4000 buttons at the show (saving the rest for afterwards). The result was a great success: the extent of anger at Apple was apparent to everyone at the show. Many of the invited speakers at the show wore our buttons, spoke about them, or even waved them from the podium. The press noticed this: at least one Macintosh user's magazine carried a photo of the button afterwards. Some of you may be considering using, buying, or recommending Macintoshes; you might even be writing programs for them or thinking about it. Please think twice and look for an alternative. Doing those things means more success for Apple, and this could encourage Apple to persist in its aggression. It also encourages other companies to try similar obstructionism. [It is because of this boycott that we don't include support for Macontosh Unix in GNU software.] You might think that your current project ``needs'' a Macintosh now. If you find yourself thinking this way, consider the far future. You probably plan to be alive a year or two from now, and working on some other project. You will want to get good computers for that, too. But an Apple monopoly could easily make the price of such computers at that time several times what it would otherwise be. Your decision to use some other kind of machine, or to defer your purchases now, might make sure that the machines your next project needs are affordable when you need them. Newspapers report that Macintosh clones will be available soon. If you must buy a Macintosh-like machine, buy a clone. Don't feed the lawyers! ------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers Randy Tidd rtidd@mwunix.mitre.org #define DISCLAIM TRUE -- Richard E. Covert, Lead Engineer of Software Tools Group AG Communications Systems, Phoenix AZ (602) - 581-4652 TCP/IP: covertr@gtephx UUCP: {ncar!noao!asuvax | uunet!zardoz!hrc | att}!gtephx!covertr