osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn) (10/09/90)
In NeXTOS 1.0 (Just what DO you call the OS a NeXT runs?) Adobe licensing restrictions forbade using the display postscript mechanism to generate a bitmap for any output device (save the NeXT printer & screen) at resolutions higher than 100dpi, if I remember the numbers correctly. Clearly, this is an astonishingly stupid thing to do, as it makes it illegal to effectively use printers like the HP-DeskJet. (I think the ImageWriter is 72dpi, allowing the use of programs like iwscript.) So, my question is: Has this changed under 2.0? I *really* like the idea of having to spend $500 for a DeskJet rather than $1500 for a NeXT printer. - -John Osborn -osborn@cs.utexas.edu
philip@.Stanford.EDU (Philip Machanick) (10/10/90)
In article <13363@cs.utexas.edu>, osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn) writes: |> In NeXTOS 1.0 (Just what DO you call the OS a NeXT runs?) Adobe licensing |> restrictions forbade using the display postscript mechanism to generate |> a bitmap for any output device (save the NeXT printer & screen) at |> resolutions higher than 100dpi, if I remember the numbers correctly. |> Clearly, this is an astonishingly stupid thing to do, as it makes it |> illegal to effectively use printers like the HP-DeskJet. |> (I think the ImageWriter is 72dpi, allowing the use of programs like |> iwscript.) |> |> So, my question is: Has this changed under 2.0? I *really* like the idea |> of having to spend $500 for a DeskJet rather than $1500 for a NeXT printer. Correction: the Apple ImageWriter is 144dpi. -- Philip Machanick philip@pescadero.stanford.edu
jacob@gore.com (Jacob Gore) (10/10/90)
/ comp.sys.next / osborn@cs.utexas.edu (John Howard Osborn) / Oct 8, 1990 / > In NeXTOS 1.0 [...] Adobe licensing [...] makes it > illegal to effectively use printers like the HP-DeskJet. > [...] > So, my question is: Has this changed under 2.0? I *really* like the idea > of having to spend $500 for a DeskJet rather than $1500 for a NeXT printer. We should also note that Sun has just announced SPARCprinter, which is a dumb Xerox-12ppm-engine-based laser printer for which NeWS does the imaging. The difference between their arrangement and the one on the NeXT is that with NeWS, you CAN load drivers for other printers, high and low resolution. Drivers for many printers have already been done, and driver writing kits will be provided. If NeXT doesn't renegotiate this arrangement with Adobe, it loses an important advantage. (As I understand, NeWS was developed at Sun, in parallel with Adobe's development of Display Postscript, so Sun does not depend on a license from Adobe for this.) Jacob -- Jacob Gore Jacob@Gore.Com boulder!gore!jacob
louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos) (10/10/90)
Since there is support for "printing" via external FAX modems in the 2.0 release of the systems software, I suspect that something in the licensing agreement has changed.
mdixon@parc.xerox.com (Mike Dixon) (10/10/90)
Adobe makes a lot of money licensing controllers to people who
sell postscript printers; i believe they charge quite a lot (e.g.
more than the price of a NeXT machine) when the controllers are
going into expensive printers (e.g. typesetters). given that,
the 1.0 licensing agreement made a lot of sense from their point
of view (if not from NeXT's); why put their precious rendering
technology in a box that anyone can buy and use to drive any
printer?
of course Sun doesn't sell printers, so they have no such conflict
of interest. given that, plus the fact that the postscript clone
market is getting much more competitive, plus the fax software
(which by itself would violate the 1.0 licensing agreement), i'd
expect to see some changes in the 2.0 agreement.
--
.mike.