From: Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org>
To: tuhs@tuhs.org
Subject: [TUHS] Re: Unix single-machine licensing (was Re: Re: ACM Software System Award to Andrew S. Tanenbaum for MINIX)
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2024 01:42:01 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <2a929725-9ecf-ab7d-ffb1-bf0da3a2a688@bitsavers.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAC20D2O+M0KmEhE=Yw=B3e5sUXVowiKZ8kKoHTgWY_821wOLAA@mail.gmail.com>
On 6/19/24 9:44 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM Al Kossow <aek@bitsavers.org <mailto:aek@bitsavers.org>> wrote:
>
> On 6/19/24 8:47 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
>
> > That's how I remember Otis Wilson explaining it to us as commercial licensees at a licensing meeting in the early 1980s.
> > We had finally completed the PWB 3.0 license to replace the V7 commercial license (AT&T would rename this System III - but we knew it
> as PWB
> > 3.) during the negociations Summit had already moved on to the next version - PWB 4.0. IMO: Otis was not ready to start that
> process again.
>
> Is the really early history of Unix licensing documented anywhere?
>
> Not to my knowledge -- I probably know much/most of it as I lived it as part of a couple of the negotiation teams.
>
> The work on reviving a Plexus P20 prompted me to put up the history of Onyx and Plexus at
> http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history <http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history> and a long time ago someone who worked at Fortune
> told me we can all thank Onyx in 1980 for working out the single machine licensing withAT&T
>
> Hmm, I'm not sure —but I don't think it is wholly clear—although Onyx was early and certainly would have been a part. They were not the only
> firm that wanted redistribution rights.
>
> Numerous vendors asked for the V7 redistribution license, with HP (Fred Clegg), Microsoft (Bob Greenberg/Bill Gates), and Tektronix (me)
> being three, I am aware. It is quite possible Onyx signed the original V7 license first, but I know there was great unhappiness with the
> terms that AT&T initially set up. When the folks from AT&T Patents and Licensing (Al Arms at that point) talked to us individually, it was
> sort of "this is what we are offering" - mind you, this all started >>pre-Judge Green<< and the concept of negotiation was
> somewhat one-sided as AT&T was not allowed in the computer business.
>
An interview with Bob Marsh where he claims Onyx had the first license in Nov 1979 (pg 40)
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history/Bob_Marsh_Interview_198412.pdf
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2024-06-26 8:42 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2024-06-18 15:41 [TUHS] ACM Software System Award to Andrew S. Tanenbaum for MINIX Nelson H. F. Beebe
2024-06-18 17:21 ` [TUHS] " Clem Cole
2024-06-18 17:38 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-06-18 20:59 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-06-18 21:15 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-06-18 22:00 ` Dave Horsfall
2024-06-19 6:55 ` arnold
2024-06-19 15:47 ` Clem Cole
2024-06-19 16:00 ` [TUHS] Unix single-machine licensing (was Re: Re: ACM Software System Award to Andrew S. Tanenbaum for MINIX) Al Kossow
2024-06-19 16:44 ` [TUHS] " Clem Cole
2024-06-26 8:42 ` Al Kossow [this message]
2024-06-26 20:57 ` Clem Cole
2024-06-27 14:10 ` Jonathan Gray
2024-06-19 19:10 ` segaloco via TUHS
2024-06-19 19:35 ` Jacobson, Doug W [E CPE]
2024-06-20 4:08 ` segaloco via TUHS
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