LES@SU-AI.ARPA.UUCP (05/15/86)
Like Deutsch [WORKS Digest, Vol. 6, #17] I got some lumps from Sun's
buggy software and unreliable hardware awhile back. The surprising
thing to me was the small amount of complaining that came from the
user community, considering the disparity between the public image
and the reality. Fortunately, Sun has generally made the reality
catch up with the image eventually.
Regarding Andy Bechtolsheim's design of the first Sun boards while he
was at Stanford, I am glad that Peter Deutsch did not offer his
"opinion on the ethics of starting a company that asserts proprietary
rights over artifacts developed at a university" because this likely
would have been off-target.
Stanford is purposely rather loose about asserting proprietary
rights, particularly where students are concerned. In the case of
the Sun boards, Andy disclosed his intentions to the Computer Science
Department in advance of undertaking the design project and went
through the Office of Technology Licensing here before Sun was
formed. He was told that he was free to pursue the commercial rights
without payment to Stanford.
Les Earnest
Stanford