es1o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Eric Mitchell Snider) (04/19/91)
I just heard a rumor that there is a company (Nutek) that is going to be releasing a Mac compatible soon. I'm interested in any info about this... If it's true, what is Apple's view on the whole thing? Eric Snider es1o@andrew.cmu.edu
krona@nada.kth.se (Kjell Krona) (04/21/91)
There was a long article in MacWorld April. What NuTek claims to have done is to create a chip set which could be used to build a computer that could run Macintosh programs. By licensing and using the Motif user interface for their system, they claim to have sidestepped any copyright claims from Apple. For example, in the Motif interface menus are displayed below the window title bar instead of on top of the screen. Possibly, a prototype computer has been built and is running, since the article contained screen shots showing HyperCard 2, Word, and, I think, Wings running simultaneously. Since the company were planning to offer the Motif interface as a seperate product for existing Macs sometime this summer, it may have been this system that was shown. What NuTek wants to do is to sell the chip set to possible clone makers just like Phoenix has done in the PC world. This would mean that several clones with different price and performance trade-offs might come into existence. Apples position is the ususal one: we are going to fight any intrusion into our intellectual property rights. One possibility is to claim that the operating system and Toolbox interface, as documented in Inside Mac, is proprietary and cannot legally be used without Apples consent. This would effectively seal off all further attempts to clone the Mac, if it is recognized by a court. Se MacWorld April for further information - kjell krona krona@nada.kth.se Dept of Architecure/Dept of Numerical Analysis and Computer Science Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, S-100 44 Sweden