Points well taken. I just want to keep from violating patent laws. If MCHIP is suing these guys for patent infringement I want to be rid of them! Seems the lines on the COURTROOM floor ought to be a little less vague. -----Original Message----- From: Wagner Lipnharski To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU Date: Monday, July 19, 1999 11:41 AM Subject: Re: Illegal???? Micon Knockoff of PICs - >hmmm... did you guys see the "Pirates of Silicon Valley" movie recently >at TNT? it is the "possible" story of Microsoft and Apple companies... >there you can see Steve Jobs receiving "for free" the user graphics >interface (GUI) from Xerox (including the "mouse interface") what made >Bill Gates very nervous (since Bill had only DOS, well, he didn't, but >anyway he sold it to IBM...and then went to find out who had it... >funny) and magically after few business agreements between Microsoft and >Apple, where Microsoft would produce some software to Apple (First >MacIntosh), Microsoft should gain access to Apple "windows" to do the >job, and then again, magically, Japan Nippon Electric Corporation (NEC) >came up with a nice Windows Machine... and it was not Steve who sold to >them...and at the movie Bill made that flat face that means "and so >what?"...... it means what? That we can not purchase Microsoft >Windows anymore because it "could" be pirate too? or even NEC machines? > >Now... I am totally neutral... , but, suppose I take a Atmel 80 Mips >RISC core, costing $1.80 a piece in 100k quantity, build an imbedded >package with a PIC code interpreter, seal it in a DIP28 package and sell >it as a 100% PIC compatible unit for only $2.30, and as a benefit it >still running at 30Mips ... what is it? Piracy? hmmm... > >Second point... If I write a book about poems... ...yeah, well, but >in real I do not copy them from the original authors, but instead I just >point their books and pages... my book would be like an index, without a >single poem word copied from the authors... people could buy my book >because they would have a pointer where to read those poems... is it >piracy? ... because I am doing money with other people's work!!! > >those lines on the floor are not very well traced, isn't?