egapmh@uncecs.edu (Paul M. Hudy) (12/22/89)
I thought I would stir the waters a bit with this...especially given the *boring* vein we have struck with Xerox v. Apple postings. (Hey, doesn't everyone know that no software originated with any of the big PC companies? They all bought it from a little old man working in his basement in Moosejaw, Saskatchawan. :-) ) Has anyone had an *official* word from Apple that System 7.0 will be distributed free-of-charge? This seems to be an unstated assumption among the "wait for system 7" group on the net. Apple, in the past, has a tradition of distributing its OS free w/o docs to the public. It struck me that given System 7.0 is supposed to be a *major* rewrite and the OS development is one of the more expensive elements of a computer system (long development times, relatively labor intensive, etc. all equals large $$$), Apple would be crazy to continue the tradition. On a tangential note, I would like to see some discussions con- cerning the relative merits/drawbacks (for consumers & developers) of Apple's approach where you give away the OS and charge high prices (if you listen to some netlanders) for the hardware versus the MSDOS approach where the OS always cost, but the hardware is relatively cheap. For example, is the reason you are paying high hardware costs in the Apple world, the free OS? Paul M. Hudy <egapmh@ecsvax> UNC-General Administration PS: Hmmm, if Apple has always given away the OS, then as to damages, what is Xerox supposed to receive if it wins the suit? :-)