[Info-vax] [Attn: HP Employees] PDP-11 OS hobbyist licensing

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <524cb7f4$0$33611$c3e8da3$9deca2c3 at news.astraweb.com>,
	JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> writes:
> On 13-10-02 16:27, Rich Alderson wrote:
> 
>> I do believe that one reason for lack of answers from HP may be that they do
>> not have the right to issue licenses, that being one of the things which Mentec
>> acquired from Digital and which XX2247 purchased in turn.  But that is only my
>> own opinion, and should not be taken as any more than that.
> 
> The other question is whether DEC/Compaq/HP retained mere rights to use
> the IP in the PDP 11 operating systems (and self issue licencxes sor
> internal use), or whether they retained ownership over the IP and merely
> grant Mentex/XX2247 the right to sell licenses.
> 
> Did Mentec do any development and issue new version of the PDP11
> operating systems ?  

Yes.  Who do you think Y2Ked them?

>                      If so, this may indicate that DEC/Compaq/HP do not
> have a large amount of control over it, 

No, it does not indicate any such thing.  It indicates that Mentec
continued development and released new or at least modified versions.
Nothing more.  I doubt anyone here has a copy of the agreement between
DEC and Mentec and that wold be the only way to know what it covered.

>                                          especially if the software was
> sufficiently modified by mentec over the years to become original art
> owned by Mentec.

I think that most of the people here who have worked with the PDP-11
and these OSes can safely state that there has not been a "significant"
change in any of them since the days when they were owned solely by DEC.

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>