Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!wintermute.Sun.COM!jthomp
From: jthomp@wintermute.Sun.COM (Jim Thompson)
Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss
Subject: Re: Actual case of hoarding public domain code?
Message-ID: <1936@texsun.Central.Sun.COM>
Date: 18 Dec 89 04:32:34 GMT
References: <129245@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <5779@internal.Apple.COM>
Sender: news@texsun.Central.Sun.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.  Mt. View, Ca.
Lines: 36

In article <5779@internal.Apple.COM> shebs@Apple.COM (Stan Shebs) writes:
>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).  

I don't know if its the work of rms or not, but lisp/term/supdup.el
has the followning code:


;; Attempt to detect slimebollix machine serving as terminal.
(if (let ((termcap (getenv "TERMCAP")))
      (and termcap
	   (string-match ":co#131:li#52:\\|:co#135:li#50:" termcap)))
    (message "In doing business with Symbolics, you are rewarding a wrong."))

Useless-Trivia-Dept: 
	
	I've got the console from an LMI LAMDA lisp machine sitting in my
	living room.  Shift-Control-Meta-Alt-Super-Hyper-Cokebottle!
	There's even an alt-lock (analagous to shift lock) for those
	heavy apl types.  (And the arrow keys are a picture of a fist
	with thumb extended, pointing in the proper direction.
	Definitely hip!  The *only* board to use with emacs.)

	Now if I could only get the rest of the box....

Jim
Jim Thompson - Network Engineering - Sun Microsystems -	jthomp@central.sun.com
Member of the Fatalistic International Society for Hedonistic Youth (FISHY)
"Unemployment is the solution, not the problem."  -- B.I.R.D.