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RE: Next Release of Executor 1.99p





On Mon, 31 Jul 1995, Clifford Thomas Matthews wrote:

>     Chad> 	Any chance of releasing new BleedingEdge releases?  I
>     Chad> liked having those for 1.99n(x)...
> 
> Yes.  It looks like 1.99o2 (there is no 1.99o1) will be cut within the
> next couple of days.  Of course I've been wrong almost every time I've
> made a prediction in the past.  O2 will have our new mods, but won't
	
	Sounds great!

> do much towards solving the DOS bugs that we introduced with 1.99n.
> However, that's going to be my top priority now (Mat's top priority
> will be the NEXTSTEP port, Cotton's will be to write the remaining
> pieces of missing functionality).
> 
	Sounds like the works getting divided up pretty well - I'd like 
to also see the SVGAlib port out (soon after NEXTSTEP?)	to see what 
Executor/Linux can *really* do graphics-wise!

> We now have much more information about System 7 requiring apps than
> we did before the beginning of the hackathon.  The good news is that
> we were able to code up a lot more of System 7 during the hackathon.

	Good to hear... I know System 7 is like a brand new OS, for 
better or worse (a lot of it is for the worse in terms of memory and 
speed, although I hear 7.5 does something about that.)

> The bad news is there are some areas that are going to be hard to code
> up or spoof in time for 2.0 and these areas are indeed *required* by
> some of the biggest apps.  

	Lemme guess - the OLE 2 modules used by Word for Macindows 6 need 
a *lot* of System 7 features to support Word...  OLE 2 code bloat is 
pretty bad under Windows, and when it's spooged into the Mac, it seems to 
have gotten worse.

> Anyway, with this new information, we'll be
> solidifying just what we need to have in 2.0 before we go beta.  I'm
> hoping we'll have an internal list in the next couple of days.  We'll
> then discuss it amongst ourselves for a while, then ask for your (the
> members of this list) opinions.
> 
	That sounds like a good plan - I'm looking forward to seeing it.

> Hmmm... to have less money than ARDI means to owe more than $600k.  I
> knew college tuition had gotten steep, but that's ridiculous!

	Well, I wasn't considering loans! :)  Seriously, if I had the 
spare 10-20 million lying around, I'd look into buying up ARDI, and 
getting more engineers - in hardware and software.  I think having $500 
'030 Mac clones, without ties to Apple, would be great.  Basically, I'd 
try to turn Executor into the Phoenix BIOS of Mac-dom, while evolving it 
as an emulator for IBMs at the same time.	

	(The Phoenix BIOS was the first IBM clone BIOS widely available 
to other companies - Compaq's was first, but Phoenix had the first widely 
available clean-room approach for other companies, and would even pay legal 
fees... having a Phoenix BIOS was kinda a stamp of compatibility.)

> In all seriousness, the question of student pricing has more to do
> with what sort of distribution we use.  One possibility would be to
> have student pricing, but *only* when done through student bookstores.

	That sounds good.  One of the best reasons to go to college it 
seems is to get great prices on software (Office 4.2 for < US$180 for 
instance :) ... that would make it much easier to afford.

	- Chad



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