CompuServe Messages

Dr Vic, While I am not in favour of Do-it-Yourself Surgery I will attempt to deal with your point. I don't think I used the word "enforce" when talking about legal/illegal software. My message dealt more with `encouraging' programmers to do their `duty'. Apple didn't `enforce' their developers to stick with their look and feel (at least not initially) when they were developing the MAC. What they *did* do was to provide as much help and encouragment to developers and programmers alike. I have heard *many* programmers declare that, in the early days, Commodore were not exactly the excited evangelists that Jobs and Co. showed themselves to be. The Amiga was a financial life-saver, it wasn't a way of life. They didn't, in effect, care *that* much. I can bet that: Yes, Commodore are very explicit about the rules re. Amiga software development; True, also, they are under no obligation to encourage people to follow them; Yes, programmers should take their share of the blame on producing illegal software (a fact I mentioned in my original message). BUT Commodore could have done a hell of a lot more to encourage programmers, to remove any reason why they *should* want to produce illegal software, to afford some back-up and support instead of the half-hearted attempts they have provided over the years, etc, etc. Like I say, take Apple as a comparision. Their situation is not a perfect one but they made *that* much more effort and got *that* much more reward from it. Paul