Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!peregrine!elroy!ames!ucsd!rutgers!ucla-cs!minnie.cognet.ucla.edu!kennel
From: kennel@minnie.cognet.ucla.edu (Matthew Kennel)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: x windows on the mac 2
Message-ID: <15465@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 24 Aug 88 19:13:01 GMT
References: <6818@potomac.ads.com> <645@stech.UUCP>
Sender: news@CS.UCLA.EDU
Reply-To: kennel@minnie.cognet.ucla.edu.UUCP (Matthew Kennel)
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Lines: 40

In article <645@stech.UUCP> sysop@stech.UUCP (Jan Harrington) writes:
>in article <6818@potomac.ads.com>, mem@potomac.ads.com (Mark E. Moessinger) says:
>> Does anyone know if x-windows has been ported to the MAC 2. If so how
>> good is performance ???
>The port is apparently in the works (under A/UX) and will be available some
>time this fall. No word yet on how much it will cost...

Cost?  I think I know what the answer should be.

I quote from the X man page on my apollo:

"     Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
     software and its documentation for any purpose and without
     fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
     notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright
     notice and this permission notice appear in supporting docu-
     mentation, and that the name of M.I.T. not be used in
     advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the
     software without specific, written prior permission.  M.I.T.
     makes no representations about the suitability of this
     software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is" without
     express or implied warranty."

I don't know if this _requires_ that all X implementations be free of charge,
but MIT did _not_ put X in the public domain, so quite possibly this was
the intention.

There is a loophole, of course.  "All the X software is _free_, except
for the machine-dependent server program that we wrote that will cost $795."  (sounds
obnoxiously IBMesque)

Digression:
This isn't as explicit as the FSF's rule that all FSF software and derivative
works must be free of charge, in both binary and source.  (That rule, if
strictly enforced, might mean that any program linked with FSF's libraries
must be free software, which would obviously make it unsuitable for any
commercial product.  But this is for another newsgroup, sorry)

Matt Kennel
kennel@cognet.ucla.edu