Msg: 6481 *Conference*

05-01-96 21:29:31

From: GARY WEBER

To : RON WIESEN

Subj: REPLY TO MSG #6477 (PLEA FOR SOURCE)


 > Ball's in our court Gary.  Let's see.  Involved companies include:
 > 
 > Tandy               M100, M102, M200
 > Microsoft           M100, M102, M200, KC85 ?, 8201 ?, 8300 ?
 > Kyotronic ?         KC85 ?
 > NEC                 8201, 8300
 > 
 > Some models listed for Microsoft (e.g., 8201) have question marks 
 > that show I'm not certain that they own copyright to the operating 
 > system. Perhaps some other companies own the copyrights.

Your summary looks mostly accurate, although the KC85 was a Kyocera unit that
they "called" the Kyotronic 85 (I believe).  Of course, Kyocera had its hand in
all of these computers.  The system ROMs must have originated from a contract
that Kyocera had with Microsoft.  Microsoft's name appears on the main menu of
EVERY one of the above laptops as far as I know, so I believe the copyright's
were shared by Microsoft and the appropriate company that was selling the
specific machine.  

 > I have no legal department addresses for any of these companies - 
 > have you?

Unfortunately not...  What do you think would be the best way to get in touch
with the appropriate departments of these companies?  I believe NEC is going to
be the toughest to deal with.  It's difficult to find ANYONE in NEC Home
Electronics, USA who even knew that they *produced* the 8201 & 8300 line of
computers!

I sure do hope that Microsoft keeps archives of EVERYTHING......

Gary.