Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!blake!mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU
From: mrc@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU (Mark Crispin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Jobs on source code
Message-ID: <881@blake.acs.washington.edu>
Date: 14 Feb 89 02:45:38 GMT
Sender: news@blake.acs.washington.edu
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Organization: Mendou Zaibatsu, Tomobiki-Cho, Butsumetsu-Shi
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Steve Jobs was (again) barraged with comments about the source code
issue at last week's NeXT developer's camp.  As one of the more vocal
barragers, I'll try to summarize what he said.  I will refrain from
any editorial comment, other than noting that he seemed to be speaking
off the cuff and/or thinking out loud as opposed to stating a policy.
I am writing from memory, so there is a non-zero possibility that my
own prejudiced interpretation of what Jobs said may show through:

. NeXT plans to announce a source code policy soon, perhaps this week.

. NeXT does not plan to distribute all source code, but rather some
  subset that seems to encompass what everybody cares about.

. Source code distribution will be limited to small organizations within
  universities that have a demonstrated need for their "research".

. There will be no charge for source code.  Jobs made some comment to the
  effect that if university groups need certain source for their research
  NeXT will give it to them.

. NeXT will *not* distribute source code to a university or company as a
  whole, but rather to the small group inside it that "needs" it.

. That small group may *not* distribute that source OR BINARIES GENERATED
  FROM THAT SOURCE (I initially assumed this was a slip, but Jobs confirmed
  this is what he means) to any other NeXT systems on campus.  The only
  exceptions will be made on a case-by-case, program-by-program basis by
  NeXT.  The stated purpose was to abate a problem in which some individual
  or group changes program X on all NeXT's on campus which breaks vendor
  program Y causing a different individual or group on campus to complain
  to vendor Y bogusly.

I hope I have repeated what Jobs said fairly.