laird@chinet.chi.il.us (Laird J. Heal) (01/13/91)
In article <1991Jan11.025856.10786@eng.umd.edu> russotto@eng.umd.edu (Matthew T. Russotto) writes: >In article <5152@idunno.Princeton.EDU> bskendig@dry.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) writes: >> >>Now, hang on a minute, here. >> >>Here's the story, as I know it. Way back when, when the original Macs >>came out, Apple hired an independent firm to make a speech synthesizer >>for them. This synthesis program was Macintalk, and Apple didn't get >>the source code for it. (Wasn't in the deal.) >> >> [...] Remember, it was made back when the Mac >>Plus was the top-of-the-line machine, I believe, and how much software >>like that will still run and behave itself on a IIfx? >Mac Plus? Mac Plus? Sorry... it was in the original software supplement, >which puts it at LEAST as far back as the original Mac 128.... Yes, it has been made clear both here and in print (and perhaps in a recent Tech Note) that Macintalk was the original hack used at the January 1984 stockholders' meeting rolling out the Macintosh and Lisa 2/10. Steve Jobs, it is said, wanted to be able to synthesize speech on the computer and send it out for all the owners to hear. I have not read here that the original licensing agreement allowed Apple to distribute Macintalk, but, being in possession of the binaries they did so, and at least one developer has commented here that when Apple asked for a source license they basically demanded more than Apple would pay, possibly at least partly because Apple had distributed Macintalk so widely. Apple probably lost money on every copy they ever shipped, due to the low cost of their Software Supplements and a very low cost for software licenses. In the early days of the Macintosh, the cheapest way to get diskettes was to order the Software Supplement, as long as you were willing to wait a fairly long time for delivery...let's see, $100 or $150 and I must have received 50 diskettes at a time when they were _four_dollars_each_ retail. (striking head with fist) of course I only ordered one set and copied them like a good user should, but I should just have ordered a second set since I paid more for the backups than the originals! There used to be a certain idolatry about the "100-days Macintoshes" which were the first 128K Macs shipped. This is not the vogue any more since all of the new models have far outstripped the originals. I remember one client of mine had a pre-release 128K Macintosh (still with the released 64K "V7"(?) ROMs) which featured a mouse whose cable had no thumbscrews, just a couple of clips like the Lisa 2 friction-fit mouses but with an L-shaped end so the cable could come to no harm if the computer were set with its back flush against a wall. -- Laird J. Heal The Usenet is dead! Here: laird@chinet.chi.il.us Long Live the Usenet!