[9fans] Plan9 commercial licenses

[Eric Dorman eld@jewel.ucsd.edu]

> Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 10:14:58 -0500
> From: "G. David Butler" <gdb@dbSystems.com>
> To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu
> 
> I have found out that Lucent will not license Plan9 for
> distribution any longer (Inferno is king).

That is sad.  Would've been nice to see Plan9 exploited
in a field app.  I wish I had money to throw at it but my bosses
are pretty much hung up on junk you can buy off-the-shelf and satisfies
the 80/20 solution (eech).

>  As far as commercial
> use goes, they are thinking of either a subscription charge or the
> same terms as before (25,000 +100 per server) without distribution
> rights.

What exactly is a 'subscription charge'?  I've not heard that
sort of arrangement before.

> With that kind of pricing, I'm going to something else.  Any ideas?
> VsTA? FreeBSD? RTEMS? QNX?

vsta is very raw, and graphics are nothing compared to anything 'modern'

I think my problem with the *BSDs is they're still reinventing the 
wheel.  Again.  I'll probably end up using FreeBSD somewhere in my
work (sort-of like ATM machines for healthcare information and imagery), 
mostly 'cuz it's what my boss knows, but also as Plan9 lacks 16b/32b color.

Actually I have some of the 16b/32b color fixed: a compiling blit that
works for 16b/32b, hooks in devvga, etc.  Have to examine the other
parts of libgnot, cope with the colormap stuff, and steal my Matrox MGA
back :) .. probably integrate the softscreen and hardscreen somehow..

> Thanks
> David Butler
> gdb@dbSystems.com

Regards,

Eric Dorman
University of California at San Diego
School of Medicine
edorman@ucsd.edu