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From: learn@igloo.scum.com (Bill Vajk)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: AT&T Sourcecode: Poison!
Message-ID: <4626@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 1 Mar 90 16:28:57 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 138, Message 1 of 5


In article <4467@accuvax.nwu.edu>, jkrueger@dgis.dtic.dla.mil (Jon) writes:
 
> AT&T certainly has a right to protect its interests.  But the passion
> it's showing in defense of its rights to yesterday's software would be
> better directed toward developing the software that will sell
> tomorrow.  Of course, given the ratio of programmers to lawyers in the
> boardroom, I realize that this will be hard to explain to management.
 
There is never any justification for theft. On the other hand, I know
less than a handful of people who have legally purchased every bit of
software on their computers, and I know a lot of folks with computers.

If a friend comes over one night, has just purchased a great new game,
and you and he plug it into your machine to play it, are you going to
erase it from the harddrive when he goes home taking the floppies with
him? In fact, have you erased it yet?

Generally, the answer is no.

Is it likely that the software house is going to come calling to
investigate your machine? No.

Many of us date back to CPM days, when sharing was the way things were
done in a hobbyist fashion. A 3b2-300 cost what, perhaps 30,000
dollars or some ridiculous amount back then? And out comes Osborne
with bundled software, a great deal for everyone. And precludes the
necessity to purchase any additional essentials in terms of software.
And Saint Ward Christensen gives his code to the world, all except
CBBS which costs $50 to help support the first BBS. Want to copy
software? Just join the usergroup of your choice.  Lots of machines
and software available at the monthly meetings. CFOG used to cost 15
bux a year. Bring your machine, and lots of blank floppies.

The sanctity and priesthood of the mainframe and mini have eroded
away. Today a 3b2-300 is advertised on the net for under $2000. We,
the hobbyists, have invaded the world previously the feudal realm of
big bux, and have brought our hobbyist mentality into the world of
power computing. By today's standards, a 3b2-300 is hardly a
powerhouse. Most 80386 machines will run circles around it. But we're
in the realm of AT&T software, and the feudal mentality.

Given that Unix is now some 21 years old, and most of the source is
pretty much compatable up and down the line over that time period,
there is simply no way for AT&T to track all the source it has
licensed. Indeed, Unix source has become much like the gun issue.
Every gun manufactured, ever, was originally sold legitimately. Yet
how many are illegally posessed today?

Two cases in particular befit this discussion. I don't have the
details, but some company in Wisconsin went bankrupt in the past
couple of years. Among the goods auctioned off by the sheriff was a
computer system WITH a Unix source license. This is was a legal sale,
and no non-disclosure agreement was completed between the purchaser
and AT&T. The source code license, whether AT&T likes it or not, was
listed as an asset by the bankrupt company, and as such, there existed
a legal requirement that the sheriff sell it at auction.

The only protection I see for AT&T was to be present at the auction
and purchase the source license back themselves. And if you have to
buy it back, who really owns it? This case really begs the
intellectual property rights question. When yacc source code was
published on the net a few years back, someone from AT&T made the
suggestion that anyone who saved it should destroy it. When asked
directly if this had indeed been AT&T source code, plaintiff respondeth 
not.

The other case, of which I have some first hand knowledge, is a
company we all know and love, A. B. Dick. They usually stuck to the
business of duplicating machines, but following the miswisdom of
others in the pre-desktop-IBM days made a forray into the world of
computers. They came out with a Unix based machine. Slow and
cumbersome, a terrible thing. Sounded like a jet plane winding up when
you flipped the switch. And in a home, you need no furnace in the
wintertime. When they saturated their little market, they shoved their
machines used for development into the back of their warehouse on
Touhy Avenue in Chicago. Eventually, these refrigerator sized boxes
were disposed of, a few at a time, to hobbyists. No self respecting
business would accept one as a gift. No guessing how many such boxes
were shipped out the back door, nor how many had full source code on
them.

I don't advocate theft. I can't justify posession of software I didn't
pay for. Do I have any, personally? Like most folks I know, I have a
few for my IBM clone. And how about the ones I bought from a
legitimate dealer which are stamped "Demo only -- NOT FOR RESALE."

AT&T has been known, historically, for their strange view of the real
world.  As soon as there is another OS available, with good stability
and multi-user and UUCPish capabilities, I'll switch. I worked for
Western Electric once upon a time. And I have some neat stories about
11 character per inch typewriters.....the standards are 10 and 12.
They sure knew how to live in a protected environment.

The determinations of ownership of source code aren't as nicely
cleancut as prosecuting attorneys would like to have one believe. But
there's something to be said for the clout associated with the driving
force behind these prosecutions, and the expense of defending against
them.


Bill Vajk  |  It is the greatest good to the greatest number
           |  which is the measure of right or wrong. - Jeremy Bentham [Works]