barry@ames-lm.UUCP (05/04/84)
[cherish this line - it had to fight to get to you]
I can't resist passing on this short quote I found in the 4/84
BYTE User to User column. It quotes an ad for a piece of copy-protected
software: "Execution of O**ix without an original distribution disk in
drive A or B may damage your computer."
I wonder how many people will use software which (claims it)
can damage their computers?!?
Kenn Barry
NASA-Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA
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Electric Avenue: {dual,hao,menlo70,hplabs}!ames-lm!barrysleat@aat.UUCP (05/09/84)
I think that on some versions of the Commodore PET, you actually COULD
damage the machine via software! As I understood it, by (im)properly
programming the CRT controller chip on the fly, you could turn on the
video monitor's horizontal output transtor in the middle of a retrace.
This is quite likely to cause it to blow up.
Such oddities aside, that kind of hype seems pretty sleazy.
Michael Sleator
Ann Arbor Terminals
{cbosgd, mb2c, psu-cs, uofm-cv, cosivax}!aat!sleat