Robert Hagopian <rhagopia@terminator.rs.itd.umich.edu> wrote:
>
> ...  As such, we can only be helping 
>Apple, as third party products do, by providing services that Apple 
>doesn't. And being a for-profit company this can only help :-)...
>

Try telling that to DEC, just to name another example.  Their PDP-11 and
MicroVAX machines were very open, and third-party enhancements made them
very popular.  In later machines, they became closed-lipped and sued
anybody who dared reverse-engineer their products to build enhancements.
And now look at them -- struggling to survive, they are literally depending
on Alpha to bail out the company.  It is only when the products become
obsolete that DEC gives out any information any more.

This is the same path that Apple has taken.  The Apple II was an open
machine, immensely popular.  With the Mac, especially the newer models,
information is increasingly difficult to come by.  They will probably
take the info to their collective company grave.

~Steve


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