In a move some are calling "too little, too late," Apple Computer will be licensing the Macintosh operating system--but only in some non-English versions for selected international markets. Apple will also license hardware designs and subsystems to offshore companies. Reportedly, Italy's Olivetti, Germany's Vobis, and Japan's Fujitsu are Apple licensees. Look for Mac clones in the second half of 1995.
Infuriating RSA Data Security, an unknown programmer has reverse engineered the proprietary RC4 algorithm--the heart and soul of RSA encryption--and posted it on the Internet. Lotus, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun are all among RSA licensees. Tests indicate that the reverse-engineered version is compatible with the RC4 object module that comes in the RSA toolkits. RSA has vowed to prosecute on the basis of trade-secret violations. Interestingly, it is the RC4 algorithm that the SPA and NSA agreed could be allowed to be exportable with 40-bit keys.