Bruce Murphy  <pack-news@rattus.net> wrote:
>> I should think Firewire would be standard on Macs since they developed it,
>> the biggest problem tho is Apple is charging a higher royalty for Firewire
>> than Intel charges for USB which is why these days you see more USB.
>
>And not becuase the PC industry inevitably picks the crappy product
>because it's a few cents cheaper?

USB1 solved a different problem than firewire.  Serial was becoming a PITA,
with the need for 16550 UARTS and resource requirements.  You'll keep in 
mind that macs use both usb and firewire.  

With the interface already in place, it was a natural and quick progression
to putting these storage devices on it, and later the need for much more
performance.  You can install firewire cards for less than $30 and it comes
standard on a few motherboards, but unless you have a DV setup, you don't
have a need.  Unlike most Macs, PCs have bays for additional hard drives
and so the need for high speed external storage is greatly reduced.

-- 
Jason O'Rourke www.jor.com