Re: Newton 2

<<crossed to cypherpunks>>

>At 8:56 AM 8/21/95, Robert Patoine wrote:
>
>>Metroworks do Have a C Compiler for the Newton Hardware develloped for
>>Sony-Magic Cap OS
>
>Magic Cap works on Magic Cap PDAs.  The newton is not one of them.
>Motorola uses magic cap for their PDAs, and I think AT&T does as well, but
>that's an uncertainty.
>

Considering that AT&T markets PersonaLink as an e-mail service for
MagicCap users i suspect they do support MagicCap in at least one of
their PDAs.  PersonaLink is, i believe, related to Telescript, which is
the scripting language for MagicCap (OK, it's a bit more than a scripting
language, but i'm not that into it).

I've heard a few times that not having a C compiler prevents the implementation
of PGP.  Why?  Do the RSA people refuse to license a non-C implementation.
If so, can they still enforce their patent against someone who implemented
it on a
platform that didn't have a C compiler?

But then i hear that the Newton will have some support for C development
sometime
this year.

        allen

> I've heard a few times that not having a C compiler prevents the
> implementation of PGP.  Why?  Do the RSA people refuse to license a
> non-C implementation.  If so, can they still enforce their patent
> against someone who implemented it on a platform that didn't have a C
> compiler?

The problem is that PGP needs to be compiled from its C sources into a
binary.  The problem is not RSA not licensing; the problem is that PGP
(and all the support routines, including RSA) is implemented in C.
Therefore, if you do not have a C compiler, you cannot turn the
sources into a binary.

If you don't have a c compiler, you could re-implement PGP, but it
would be a lot of work, and you would still have the RSA patent
issues.  Also, it is against the RSAREF license to convert RSAREF into
another language, so you can't take that route, either.

The easiest way to port PGP to a new platform is to get a C compiler
for that platform.

-derek