Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!uunet!mdisea!mitchell From: mitchell@MDI.COM (Bill Mitchell) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Message-ID: <1991May21.143204.590@MDI.COM> Date: 21 May 91 14:32:04 GMT References: <1991May12.143246.18877@MDI.COM> <9105201108@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org> Sender: news@MDI.COM Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA Lines: 62 In article <9105201108@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org> waltje@uwalt.nl.mugnet.org (Fred 'The Rebel' van Kempen) writes: >> If PH doesn't want to deal with the add-ons, perhaps they could distribute >> just the stripped-down (PH Copyright?) material, and other distribution >> channels could be developed for the rest. > >Forget it. Prentice Hall will not ever allow anyone but PH to sell >goodies like these. I know... > >> >> 386 upgrade kit, allowing programs larger than 64+64 >> smart scheduler kit >> multi-threaded FS kit (if one appears and gains acceptance) >> Hard disk boot utilities (shoelace, etc.) >> expanded utilites selections >> kermit, indent, basic, pascal, forth, lisp, pcomm, >> crisp, elvis, eliza, wmail, smail, uucp, rn, >> and whatever else gains general acceptance > >Ahh. And who will get the royalties involved? Bruce Evans deserves >a fair bit off it. That is one of the problems with creating, main- >taining and _selling_ packages like these... > No argument that Bruce _deserves_ royalties for bcc, 386 upgrade, etc; and others _deserve_ royalties for their work writing or porting the other stuff. I was under the impression, however, that they had made the fruits of their labors freely available to the minix community (and any others who got their hands on the source) with no requirement for royalty payments. I'm also under the impression that this is the situation with most or all of the application programs distributed by PH with minix; and all of the applications not included in the PH distribution. Actually, the situation is probably messier than that, with some sources being public domain and some containing a copyright notice allowing limited copying and redistribution with some restrictions (eg. non-commercial usage allowed - whatever that means ... ). My impression is that PH has no claim on this material, and is just bundling it in with the material they do have copyright on for redistribution (and are uncomfortable about this, hence the push to regularize & formalize the copyright status of everything). The point here being that, it seems to me anyway, PH has no standing to _allow_ or to _not_allow_ distribution of the material they don't have copyright on. Other distributors have just as much (or as little ) right to distribute copies of these materials as PH does. Of course, PH has an army of hired guns (corporate attorneys) who, regardless of rights and wrongs, can make life inconvenient and expensive for anyone they choose to harrass thru the legal system. This is a common (though scummy) business tactic. I've seen references to the hard time PH is giving NLMUG, but don't know any details. I'd guess the hired guns (attorneys) are just following standard procedure and trying to eliminate their opposition by whatever means they can bring to bear. The PH management who give the attorneys their marching orders may be willing to allow some alternate distribution channel for non-PH-copyright minix related materials operate unhindered, or they may not - I'd guess Andy's support would be critical in gaining a PH acceptance of this. -- mitchell@mdi.com (Bill Mitchell)