All,

I probably ought to keep my promise to keep my mouth shut, but... 

It's a shame that Phoenix taught us all how the game was played.  You
remember Phoenix, the little David that broke mighty Goliath IBM's
hold on the PC BIOS.

Cast your mind back to the days of yore, when IBM bestrode the heavens
and earth as a giant sloth.  No one could touch them. ATT&T, GM, GE,
Pratt-Whitney placed great green offerings at IBM's altar.  It was
declared by one and all that there was but one Source, and that was
IBM.  Today's Micro$oft is but a pale imitation.

Also, IBM had all the lawyers.  They were definitely not afraid to use
them.

But you're Phoenix, and you want to write, and sell your own BIOS
firmware.  What do you do?

You could, perfectly legally, study the source code, copy down the
entry points, and write up your own BIOS program.

And spend the next 25 years in court.  Bad scene.  Miss the whole
clone revolution. You'd win, sooner rather than later, if you had the
lawyers, and all the money in the world.  But I just told you, IBM has
all the money and all the lawyers.  They were the Nazgul.

And you wouldn't sell any BIOSes.

So what did Phoenix do?

They went to ridiculous lengths to show the world that, not only did
they not copy IBM's BIOS, but that it was impossible for them to do
so.  They set up teams of specifiers, documenters, coders, etc, etc,
and separated them all with Chinese walls.  Made them talk through
snail mail.  And other stuff.  Whatever.

When Phoenix were done, they laid out their records for all to see,
and all that did look were agreed that any similarities between their
code and IBM's was chance.  Phoenix trumpeted their triumph to the
four corners of the Earth.  And, I believe I might not be making this
part up, they put Lloyd's of London's money where their mouth was.

So endeth the brief tale, for it worked, and for IBM, the rest was
history.

But not for us.  Phoenix is our history.  Because 99 and 44/100'ths
percent of all human beings now alive on this earth now believe, in
your heart of hearts, that the way Phoenix replicated the BIOS, is
"right," implying doing anything short of this lofty standard is
"wrong."  And that just isn't true.

Tim, you've done great work, and I expect to see more of it.  I don't
see any sign of rancor or selfishness in it, as exemplified by Great
Media who would have our freedom, and our talent for free, so that
they monopolize it, and sell it, for mere shekels.  I don't expect
that those who would hold technology in a lock-up will prevail
forever, or for even very much longer.  So I urge you to avail
yourself of any advantage or opportunity to learn Apple or anyone else
would throw your way.  They aren't the Nazgul.

For it says, right there in the U.S. of A. Constitution, "in order to
promote Science and the Useful Arts."  It does not say "in order to
provide for the privileged well-being of Authors and Inventors, and
Great Corporations who Would Have Their Way with Them."

Just my $.02.  Apologies to all for swinging so loose.

-Mike