Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uwmcsd1!uxc!ksuvax1!ncrwic!ncrlnk!uunet!wucs1!jps
From: jps@wucs1.wustl.edu (James Sterbenz)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: block copy & VAX MOVC (was Re:
Message-ID: <359@wucs1.wustl.edu>
Date: 2 Oct 88 19:40:11 GMT
References: <2220003@hpausla.HP.COM> <46500026@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: jps@wucs1.UUCP (James Sterbenz)
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 45

In article <46500026@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:


>>In short, use the system-supplied routines for preference, and if they
>>prove to be slow, replace them yourself AND SEND THE CODE to the company
>>that wrote it.  They'll probably be grateful.
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>They won't be grateful. They (particularly IBM) won't even look at it.
>IF you send code to IBM it gets looked at by a special person whose
>job it is to see if the code is USER WRITTEN APPLICATIONS CODE
>illustrating a bug in THEIR software. If it is that, this person then
>sends a description off to the responsible group. If, on the
>other hand, you send in a proposed improvement in THEIR software,
>two things may happen: one is that the special filter-person shreds
>you suggestions and then goes off to special super-secret room where,
>using the fruits of super-secret research, his brain is wiped of
>all memory of the event. OR, he sends it to their legal department
>for legal action: they sue the sender for having looked inside their
>software to find the bad code. Big companies aren't interested
>in suggestions for improvements direct from customers. They are afraid
>that if they were to even look at it, someone else might have used
>it in the past and could sue them. They want to code THEIR WAY and
>only their way. ...



There are various official mechanisms for suggesting improvements to products
of most companies, IBM included.  For IBM its called (I beleive) a PASR.
Much of IBM source code is liscenced, in which case (assuming you're
liscenced for the code you're using) there's nothing wrong with looking
at, modifying, and making suggestions for improvement of code.

If, on the other hand, you've disassembled an OCO (object code only)
program, that might be another matter.

There are a lot of program IBM liscences that were WRITTEN by users,
These are in a category called program offerings (used to be
installed user programs).  These are normally offered 'as-is', but
if IBM likes them enough, they will take over full support and 
development.-- 
James Sterbenz  Computer and Communications Research Center
                Washington University in St. Louis 314-726-4203
INTERNET:       jps@wucs1.wustl.edu
UUCP:           wucs1!jps@uunet.uu.net