Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!bloom-beacon!LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU!mouse
From: mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (der Mouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: The OSF is *what*?
Message-ID: <8909130635.AA29672@Larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU>
Date: 13 Sep 89 06:35:49 GMT
Sender: daemon@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 44

> From: inco!mack@uunet.uu.net  (Dave Mack)

> On to other news.

> I just received a phone call from a very nice gentleman at OSF,
> explaining that the code chunk I posted as an example of the sort of
> thing that was killing mwm is Copyrighted, and that, while OSF is not
> suing me, I will be getting a letter from their lawyers.  He was most
> apologetic about this, but OSF is apparently extremely concerned
> about the possibility of Motif accidentally slipping into the public
> domain.

I knew I wasn't going to actively pursue OSF stuff, but this is
ridiculous!

I just looked up your message.  You quoted:

- a comment of about a dozen lines, describing the wire version of
   something or other,

- a #define derived from the above information,

- the return value and argument pattern to a function (ie, the external
   interface - the part that must be documented elsewhere for the
   function to be useful),

- three variable declarations, two with initializations: one utterly
   trivial, one almost as trivial,

- three lines of code: two simple assignments, one augmented
   assignment.

And this is enough to scare the OSF.

You will never catch me using anything from this so-called "Open"
Software Foundation.  I will go out of my way to avoid doing so.
(If it comes on the X tape - maybe.  But not without a thorough
examination for anything that even looks as though it might be
different from the standard X copyright.)

					der Mouse

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