Why Microsoft Should Fear Intel Macs" 559

John Slade

That much is true.

snip

No, the IBM PC was made from off-the-shelf parts they couldn't patent. The only thing it had to protect its design was its BIOS. IBM published the full specs of the BIOS, and Compaq used those specs to create a legal, compatible version of the IBM BIOS. The court cases against IBM PC cloning failed because there was nothing in the current laws that could prevent it. There were no software patents at the time, only copyrights, and the Compaq BIOS was not a direct copy of the IBM BIOS.

Yes.

Yes.

No. They had to use bootleg copies of Apple's firmware and ASICs.

Not entirely true. I have run Mac OS 9 on Mac clones.

Mac OS X won't run on clones, however, not even with PPC upgrades.

Yes and yes.

After Windows 95 came out, this became increasingly true.

True.