Path: utzoo!telly!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!shebs
From: shebs@Apple.COM (Stan Shebs)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Actual case of hoarding public domain code?
Message-ID: <5779@internal.Apple.COM>
Date: 15 Dec 89 00:46:08 GMT
References: <129245@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 12

As I understand it, one of the origins of GNU was the MIT AI Lab's troubles
with Symbolics over the Lisp Machine software.  I read a copy of a little
flyer that RMS passed around several years ago describing the tug-of-war,
featuring Symbolics people in black hats, and AI Lab/LMI people in white
hats.  Basically Symbolics tried to get exclusive rights to the LM code
by legal harassment of both MIT and LMI, and to a large extent succeeded.
Didn't do them that much good though, since although LMI went bankrupt,
the collapse of the Lisp machine market has thrown Symbolics on the ropes
as well (I cried a few crocodile tears over that).  

							stan shebs
							shebs@apple.com