> Remember back when your adlib sound card couldn't play the sounds of your game? No, I don't remember that. If anything, I remember most games supporting noth

> Remember back when your adlib sound card couldn't play the sounds of your game? No, I don't remember that. If anything, I remember most games supporting nothing but adlib and practically every other device having either a literal OPL/adlib chip or some other type of hardware/software adlib emulation. There was no impediment whatsoever to creating an adlib-compatible card *, and in fact, many manufacturers did create clones. It perfectly illustrates Doctorow's point. * Patents being the glaring exception, which forced "creative" solutions (e.g. later Creative cards).