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Competition for ARDI???
Looks like ARDI has some competition... Maybe ARDI could team up with them?
See story below.
Report: Little-known Quix puts Apple software on IBM computer
(c) 1995 Copyright the News & Observer Publishing Co.
(c) 1995 Associated Press
NEW YORK (Aug 7, 1995 - 08:24 EDT) -- A small Swiss company has modified
the software that runs Apple's Macintosh so it can be used on an IBM
personal computer ahead of the plans of either company, according to the
trade magazine MacWorld.
The development places pressure on the companies to decide whether to
modify their plans, which currently call for the Macintosh software to be on
an IBM PC late next year or early 1997.
But it may just be a lost opportunity since it would take several months
for the companies to make the legal and manufacturing steps to bring an IBM
Mac clone to market.
The issue is rooted in the tense cooperation since October 1991 of
International Business Machines Corp. and Apple Computer Inc., which have
promoted competing PC designs for 15 years.
The two companies and Motorola Inc. co-developed a microprocessor called
PowerPC to run a new generation of personal computers. Apple began using the
chip in its Macintosh line last year.
IBM just started selling a PC that uses the chip but the machine's design
was thought to be unacceptable for Macintosh software. It instead uses IBM's
AIX and OS-2 (though still in a test version) and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
NT operating programs.
However, a company called Quix Computerware, based near Zurich, recently
transferred the Macintosh software to the IBM design, MacWorld said in its
October issue. Copies of the story were provided to news organizations in
advance of distribution on the magazine's on-line services Monday.
The magazine tested Quix's adaptation and found "near flawless
compatibility." However, Quix cannot develop or market computers based on
the modified software without permission from Apple.
Apple had not supported Quix's work, but IBM is interested in it, the
MacWorld article said. IBM more than a year ago asked Apple to work on such
a transfer but Apple declined.
Apple spokeswoman Laurence Clavere said Friday that Quix had demonstrated
its innovation to Apple and the two companies are talking further. She
declined to discuss specifics of the relationship or the MacWorld account.
The magazine's story quotes Gary Griffiths, an IBM business development
director, as saying the development "demands further evaluation." Griffiths
could not be reached Friday and other IBM representatives were unaware of Quix.
The company, which employs just six people, worked with Apple several
years ago to transfer the Macintosh operating system to workstations
developed by Next Corp., a company started by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
IBM and Apple in November agreed on a common hardware design for future
versions of PowerPC-based computers. IBM machines based on that design,
expected in late 1996 or early 1997, have been expected to be the first to
use Macintosh software.
--Dennis
dennis_edgecombe@wsu.edu
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