I follow your argument, Bunsen. I had hoped to cheat by pointing to a Wikipedia page that listed the differences between 7.0.x and vanilla 7.1, but the Wikipedia page sucks a bit. Here is what I remember was new in System 7.1:
Loads of bug fixes: Apple proprietary.
Fonts folder: all functionality would have been covered by cross-licensing with Adobe and Microsoft.
System Enablers: Apple proprietary.
Better Control Panels for regionalisation: Apple proprietary.
Better QuickTime: QT was not a core component but probably used licensed technology. However, it was delivered on separate installer disks and could easily be removed from any distribution.
New PostScript drivers: Again covered by Adobe cross-licensing.
WorldScript: Apple had problems delivering international language support with System 7.0.x and may well have licensed some technology in order to deliver 7.1. However the same technology appears to have been used in 7.5.x. International language/font support is non-trivial so it would be plain crazy to rewrite third party code. Thus there is the possibility that Apple bought a restricted licence for System 7.1, and then a more liberal one for System 7.5 onwards.
Please note that I am talking about the vanilla 7.1 distribution. System 7.1 Pro and the System 7.1.2 variants included extras such as AppleScript and PC Exchange. PC Exchange was a licensed product (from Insignia Solutions); AppleScript itself was Apple proprietary but they included a few licensed utilities with early distributions.
Loads of bug fixes: Apple proprietary.
Fonts folder: all functionality would have been covered by cross-licensing with Adobe and Microsoft.
System Enablers: Apple proprietary.
Better Control Panels for regionalisation: Apple proprietary.
Better QuickTime: QT was not a core component but probably used licensed technology. However, it was delivered on separate installer disks and could easily be removed from any distribution.
New PostScript drivers: Again covered by Adobe cross-licensing.
WorldScript: Apple had problems delivering international language support with System 7.0.x and may well have licensed some technology in order to deliver 7.1. However the same technology appears to have been used in 7.5.x. International language/font support is non-trivial so it would be plain crazy to rewrite third party code. Thus there is the possibility that Apple bought a restricted licence for System 7.1, and then a more liberal one for System 7.5 onwards.
Please note that I am talking about the vanilla 7.1 distribution. System 7.1 Pro and the System 7.1.2 variants included extras such as AppleScript and PC Exchange. PC Exchange was a licensed product (from Insignia Solutions); AppleScript itself was Apple proprietary but they included a few licensed utilities with early distributions.