The PC's Soviet?

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
Date: Wed Apr 22 04:00:42 1998

At 04:41 AM 4/22/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>On Wed, 15 Apr 1998, Joe wrote:
>
>> >Also seem to recall
>> >an article on the soviet Apple ][ clone of the time (CPU on a large
>> >daughterboard, pirated ROM, cost approx US $20,000)
>>
>> I remember that article. The entire motherboard was pirated! Not just
>> the ROM. The tops of the ICs had been ground off to hide the fact that they
>> were US made parts.
>
>How do we know that the $20,000 wasn't the cost of shipping the pirate
>motherboards to the Soviet Union from Canada, via Cuba? ;)
>
>Was it not the same in the States, with regards to Apple clones, as it was
>in Canada in the early 80s?

   Sure it was. The Franklins were probably the best known Apple rip-offs
^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H er ah, clones. At least until Apple sued them and
Franklin had to actually design their own machines.

>So the Soviets pirated the Apple ][, who didn't?

   But you missed the point. No other >COUNTRY< tried to pass off a pirated
machine as their own. In fact, most cloners (pirates?) bragged about their
similarity to the original machine, the Soviets claimed that their machine
was an original design. To top it all off, they didn't even have the good
sense to change the copywrite notice!

>Maybe I should start collecting Apple clones, seeing as I see them more
>frequently than actual Apples (clones were more affordable).

   That would probably be a pretty big collection just by itself!

   Joe
Received on Wed Apr 22 1998 - 04:00:42 BST