"Market" for old macs?

[Jim Leonard]

Fred Cisin wrote:
>>I'm desperately trying to remember some details here..wasn't there a bit of
>>a flap with copy-protected Lotus 123 and one of IBM"s newer machines?
>>Maybe it was the PS/2 introduction, but that seems too late to me--it might
>>have been the PC-AT.  At any rate, IBM found themselves in the position of
>>having to unofficially recommend one of the copy protection defeating
>>products to customers in order to get 123 to run on their new systems.
>>Anyone remember the exact details?  It's too fuzzy in my memory...
> 
> possibly:
> IBM provided a cable to transfer files/programs from 5.25" based PCs over
> to 3.5" PS/2s.  Many copy-protected programs would have to be unprotected
> to be able to get the resulting 3.5" copy to work.

No, I think what Chuck was remembering was how the copy protection library used 
in the 1.0-era early versions of Lotus had code that would not function 
properly on the faster AT (probably due to extremely tight FDC timing 
routines).  As a result, the copy protection check failed every single time :-)

That's only one specific instance -- Lotus was plagued by compatibility 
problems from 1983 until 1987 (when they finally stopped using disk-based 
protection), completely caused by their copy-protection schemes.  I can 
remember other flaps, such as offering the ability to "transfer" the protection 
to the hard disk, only to have it blow away the boot+FAT on certain 
disk/controller arrangements... or fixing the 8088 code to work on 286s, only 
to have it break AGAIN on Compaq's new 386 Deskpro.

I remember that Lotus 1-2-3 was considered by some as a true test of IBM PC 
compatibility:  I knew people who would bring some version of Lotus with them 
to Computerland or Radio Shack or wherever and if the machine they wanted to 
buy didn't boot Lotus 1-2-3 they went elsewhere.
-- 
Jim Leonard (trixter at oldskool.org)                    http://www.oldskool.org/
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