Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:13531 comp.sys.misc:1022 comp.sys.ibm.pc:10979 comp.sys.mac:11498 comp.sys.atari.st:7099 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!epiwrl!parker From: parker@epiwrl.EPI.COM (Alan Parker) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Software (and other kinds of) copying Message-ID: <1950@epiwrl.EPI.COM> Date: 22 Jan 88 21:10:06 GMT References: <8055@g.ms.uky.edu> <174@piring.cwi.nl> <14257@oddjob.UChicago.EDU> <6650@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> Reply-To: parker@epiwrl.EPI.COM (Alan Parker) Organization: Entropic Processing, Inc., Washington, DC Lines: 74 Keywords: technology changes things In article <6650@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.UUCP (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes: >Matt, I don't know what drugs you've been doing, but you should stop. >It's causing you to overlook some important facts. Let's look at the >tools I use, from the ground up: > >OS - it was written by a couple of people working for a company that >was forbidden *by law* from either selling or supporting it. Further >enhancement was done by a seperate group that has been giving it away >for the cost of time & materials, and may be required to do so by law >(4BSD). It was written by a couble of very smart people in a research lab many years ago. It was shared at nearly no cost to Universities for many years. But it was always property of a private company and today is one of their major products. Where in the world did you get the idea that BSD Unix is free? UCB, in effect, gives away their modifications to Unix, but only to those with a source license from AT&T. For other than Universities, that costs big money. If you don't have a source license, you can buy a legal binary of BSD Unix for thousands of dollars. (10 or 12 I think). > >Editors - two of the four I use come gratis with the above OS. The >other two are available to anyone for the asking (ed, ex, GNU Emacs >and microGNUEmacs). Nothing came gratis with the OS. They are simply part of the package. You seem to imply that since they weren't priced individually that they are somehow public domain. GNU emacs and microemacs are public domain (essentially), but not ed and ex (unless you are talking about different ones than I am). > >Languages - one comes gratis with the above OS; one I had to pay for; >two were free for the asking (C on 4BSD & a PC, CScheme & T). Again, nothing comes gratis with the OS, its just part of the package. (Oh, with one exception, I guess the "user contributed" stuff than comes with the BSD tapes could be called gratis, but C certainly isn't part of that.) C in BSD is most certainly not *free*. It is based on AT&T code. If you are running Unix, using the AT&T C compiler and you didn't pay somebody for it, then you've got a bogus system. I grant, that it might look free, if you buy a Unix box that has Unix bundled with it; but its certainly part of the cost and your vendor sends a check to AT&T for each one sold. (Note that some vendors have written their own C compiler for use on their Unix boxes, instead of using the AT&T code, eg. Masscomp did this, but I assure you they don't consider it "shareware".) > >The software that manages the bbs-like system your message & this >reply appear on is free. The software I use to access that is free. >Free software is available to talk on the networks it travels over for >a wide variety of hardware. > >Further, some of the best programmers I know (people who write working >device drivers without having hardware to test them on) don't write >software for a living. They maintain software for some group that >needs it to get their work done - and are allowed to give away their >changes and improvements to that software, and any tools they write to >make their job easier. > >No, copyright law - or lack thereof - isn't why software gets written. >It gets written because people need it, or because they want it. All >the copyright laws really do is restrict the distribution of the >software once it gets written. Most software is written, because its a legitimate way to earn a living and to build a business. Sun didn't write Suntools to be nice guys; they wrote it to make the systems they sell more attractive. Try taking their code, and making minor changes for your AT and see what they do. They don't charge extra for it when you buy a Sun, but they don't call it free, and that doesn't make it up for grabs.