Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!dcdwest!ittvax!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!gwyn@Brl-Vld.ARPA From: Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: AT&T and Unix Message-ID: <7738@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Sun, 27-Jan-85 11:30:36 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.7738 Posted: Sun Jan 27 11:30:36 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Feb-85 12:44:34 EST Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Organization: Ballistic Research Lab Lines: 19 Originally, unversities got UNIX because it was a new research-oriented development, not a product. And AT&T was not allowed by law to market software and other computing services. Part of the reason that there is currently an "educational" license is due to this historical situation. The other reason universities probably get a discount is because AT&T sees that it is in its own long-term interests to do this. Whether this is a purely marketing ploy, a tax break, or a concern for assisting education to improve the overall society is anybody's guess. It really doesn't matter, though -- if AT&T wanted to give away UNIX to people whose names start with "G" and withhold it from everybody else, that too would be their right (and again, it would be folly to make that kind of business policy). One thing I am sure of (and one suspects AT&T would agree) is that making UNIX freely available to "hackers" would be a BAD idea; there is a conscious effort to establish a stable operating system base for applications software, and hackers are unlikely to care enough about such matters to cooperate.