ddl@husc6.UUCP (02/11/87)
I perceive that my comments on yacc are being misinterpreted. I had hoped to encourage people to think about the logical problems. I had hoped that someone with legal information might comment on the legal aspects. (I don't think anyone has.) I did not wish to engage in a discussion of the immorality of stealing software. This is a clearly important, but unfortunately separate, problem. I also think that this is a fairly safe specific issue to discuss (as compared to xmail) because of the pre-existing commercial sales of (presumably the same) yacc. Maybe a different example would help to show what I am worried about. A while ago, a supposedly public-domain make was posted to mod.sources. I might want to use this program. It would appear that I should first compare it to AT&T make to avoid legal liability. This can be done since we have UNIX source, but might be hard for someone who doesn't. Now, could someone at Microsoft please check to be sure that the supposedly public-domain make wasn't derived from proprietary Microsoft sources? Could someone at Apollo also check their sources? Could anyone who knows of any other proprietary versions of make please ask the respective owners to compare their sources to the supposedly public-domain ones? Could someone volunteer to collect the responses and provide a definitive answer? Am I being silly? I don't know. There has to be a place to draw the line. Without that line, I don't quite see how anything can be public-domain. Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.*
ddl@husc6.UUCP (02/13/87)
Before someone else jumps on it, I should mention that I have been (incorrectly) using the word proprietary in what I thought was the current context: something protected only by trade secret and non-disclosure agreements. None of the arguments I made apply (or were meant to apply) to patents and copyrights which are still proprietary in the sense of ownership. So please substitute trade-secret for proprietary. Patents can't create the problem I'm worried about because you can send for a copy to verify ownership. Dan Lanciani ddl@harvard.*