Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!ncsuvx!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!glacier!jbn
From: jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT source code...
Message-ID: <18068@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 31 Jan 89 18:13:01 GMT
References: <7565@potomac.ads.com>
Reply-To: jbn@glacier.UUCP (John B. Nagle)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 12


      Any university buying into the NeXT deal should as an absolute minimum
insist on a software deposit agreement, so that NeXT is required to deposit
all sources with a neutral third party, to be released should NeXT cease
operations or cease supporting the product.  This is a necessity when dealing
with a small company like NeXT.  Ask anyone with an "orphan" machine.

      Visualize your career as an academic administrator if you were
responsible for acquiring, say, a thousand machines that were orphaned when
the maker went under and there was no way to ever support the software.

					John Nagle