Tim May says:

Yep, I was just making this point, that Apple is _already_ releasing hardware with OS incompatibilities. (By the way, many/all? of the newer Macs need a "system enabler" patch to run System 7.1, that is, the standard System (OS) no longer runs on all machines.

Actually, this has always been true. It's just that it was done in the form of patch resources internal to the System file prior to the release of System 7.1. It used to be that, in order to save disk space, one could go into the System file with ResEdit and remove the various 'PTCH' resources that didn't apply to the particular machine you happened to be using. The System Enabler scheme is simply a somewhat cleaner method of accomplishing the same thing: you now have a "generic" System file, with the various hacks segregated in the Enabler. -- Lefty (lefty@apple.com) C:.M:.C:., D:.O:.D:.