[net.micro.mac] Public domain software---pedigree please?

furuta@uw-june (Richard Furuta) (01/14/85)

People have been posting public domain software, which is great!  However, I
have one request.  When you post something, please include a note not only
saying what it does but also indicating where it came from and whether or
not there are any restrictions on its redistribution.  I collect much of the
stuff that comes over Usenet and over the Arpanet, putting it all onto disks
for local redistribution.  When we can't verify that something is being
posted by its author or that it is actually ok to copy, this collection
process gets more complicated.

For example, the recent posting of the resource editor raised questions here
until we received a very nice note telling us that Dennis Brothers had
posted it to Compuserve with Apple's permission and that it could therefore
be redistributed to Users' groups.  The posting of the memory tester raises
questions in my mind since it looks a lot like parts of the diagnostic
software Apple provides to its service people and I don't know what the
status of this is.

Parenthetically, I could probably make the collection disks more generally
available if there was an interest.  Is there?  All of the stuff has floated
past in the last several months but judging from the large number of
requests for repostings, many people missed it when it went by.

					--Rick
					  ihnp4!uw-beaver!furuta
					  furuta@washington