sjc@cs.purdue.edu (Steve Chapin) (04/25/91)
I requested infromatino on distributed programming environments last
week. The response was encourageing; so encouraging that I do not
think I should post the 2300+ lines of stuff I got from people.
Rather, I will mail copies to those that request them. If you would
like a copy of the summary, please contact me sjc@cs.purdue.edu. In a
nutshell, there were 2 highly touted systems: Isis and PVM. A few
others were mentioned.
I would like to publicly apologize to the people in the Hermes group
at IBM. I sent them a letter asking for an interpretation of their
User Agreement *after* I posted my message, which was improper of me.
I got a kind letter from Art Goldberg (included below) explaining that
anything I copyright would remain my inetellectual property.
Therefore, my objections to Herems were groundless, and I could have
avoided wrongfully besmirching IBM and its employees by doing a little
research first. Again, I apologize.
Here's Art's letter:
=======================================================================
From: (Arthur P. Goldberg) <artg@watson.ibm.com>
Hi Steve
Im a member of the Hermes group at IBM. You posted a message that
contained:
-- For example, Hermes from IBM is almost ideal. The hangup there is the
-- draconian user agreement that states that any "derivative works"
-- become the property of IBM and that they can do whatever they please
-- with them. I find that odious and would rather implement my own
-- system than use theirs under such restrictions.
We appreciate your high regard. However, I do not understand
the problem you find with our user agreement. Any "derivative works"
you would create would presumably have your copyright. Therefore
IBM could not do "whatever it pleased" with them.
What do you want to do that you feel unable to do under this
agreement?
Arthur
artg@watson.ibm.com
user agreement follows:
-- (C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 23 January
-- 1990. All Rights Reserved.
--
-- See the file USERAGREEMENT distributed with this software for full
-- terms and conditions of use.
1. COPYRIGHT
Program Name: Hermes
(C) Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 23 January 1990.
All Rights Reserved.
2. RESEARCH SOFTWARE DISCLAIMER
As experimental, research software, this program is provided free of
charge on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, either expressed
or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. IBM does not
warrant that the functions contained in this program will meet the user's
requirements or that the operation of this program will be uninterrupted
or error-free. Acceptance and use of this program constitutes the user's
understanding that he will have no recourse to IBM for any actual or
consequential damages, including, but not limited to, lost profits or
savings, arising out of the use or inability to use this program. Even if
the user informs IBM of the possibility of such damages, IBM expects the
user of this program to accept the risk of any harm arising out of the use
of this program, or the user shall not attempt to use this program for any
purpose.
3. USER AGREEMENT
BY ACCEPTANCE AND USE OF THIS EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM THE USER AGREES TO THE
FOLLOWING:
a. This program is provided for the user's personal, non-commercial,
experimental use and the user is granted permission to copy this
program to the extent reasonably required for such use.
b. All title, ownership and rights to this program and any copies remain
with IBM, irrespective of the ownership of the media on which the
program resides.
c. The user is permitted to create derivative works to this program.
However, all copies of the program and its derivative works must
contain the IBM copyright notice, the EXPERIMENTAL SOFTWARE DISCLAIMER
and this USER AGREEMENT.
d. By furnishing this program to the user, IBM does NOT grant either
directly or by implication, estoppel, or otherwise any license under
any patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights or other
rights belonging to IBM or to any third party, except as expressly
provided herein.
e. The user understands and agrees that this program and any derivative
works are to be used solely for experimental uses and are not to be
sold, distributed to a commercial organization, or be commercially
exploited in any manner.
f. IBM requests that the user supply to IBM a copy of any changes,
enhancements, or derivative works which the user may create. The user
grants IBM and its subsidiaries an irrevocable, nonexclusive,
worldwide and royalty-free license to use, execute, reproduce,
display, perform, prepare derivative works based upon, and distribute,
(INTERNALLY AND EXTERNALLY) copies of any and all such materials and
derivative works thereof, and to sublicense others to do any, some, or
all of the foregoing, (including supporting documentation).
Copies of these modifications should be sent to:
SOFTWARE@YKTVMV.BITNET
Hermes@IBM.Com
=======================================================================
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Steve Chapin domain: sjc@cs.purdue.edu UUCP: ...!purdue!sjc
your is possessive, you're == you are, its is possessive, it's == it is
their is possessive, there is a place, they're == they are
ect. is meaningless, etc. == et cetera, let's == let us, lets == allows
loose == set free, lose == misplace, fail to win, gain, or obtain
to == direction or action, two == 2, too == also, excessively
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--
=========================== MODERATOR ==============================
Steve Stevenson {steve,fpst}@hubcap.clemson.edu
Department of Computer Science, comp.parallel
Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-1906 (803)656-5880.mabell