[Info-vax] An alternative history of computing

[Dave Froble]

On 7/25/2021 8:36 PM, Simon Clubley wrote:
> On 2021-07-25, Scott Dorsey <kludge at panix.com> wrote:
>> Dave Froble  <davef at tsoft-inc.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Regardless, the claim was "(the DECnet specification was freely
>>> available)"  The claim was never "open", and definitely not "open
>>> software".  I don't know how "freely" it was, but I do know there was
>>> DECnet implementations on other than VMS.
>>
>> The Phase IV documentation is enough to build a working decnet client
>> to move packets back and forth.
>>
>> The higher stuff like mail is not as well documented.  It would be hard
>> to do it without the fiche, I think.  But a lot of people did it, including
>> Sun and IBM.  They may have used the fiche.
>>
>
> Exactly. And there are always legal risks with implementing protocols
> that do not have public specifications. For the same reason, those public
> specifications must also have been released _as_ public specifications
> and not just fallen into the public domain.
>
> For example, there's now a copy of the LAT specification on Bitsavers.
> (At least there was when I looked through the documents on there. I don't
> know if it's still there).
>
> This also extends to items under copyright, not patents.
>
> For example, there's a public copy of the Pillar specification, but it
> appears to have fallen into the public domain, instead of being released
> _as_ a public document.
>
> As such, if I were to implement a compiler to the specification in that
> document, could I get into legal trouble for doing so if I released the
> compiler for general use ?
>
> Simon.
>

Who is going to care?

If you name it something else, who is going to know where you got your 
ideas?

In today's "language of the week" environment, how does anyone keep 
track of what's available, and where the ideas come from?

The only "real" question is, are you going to do it?

-- 
David Froble                       Tel: 724-529-0450
Dave Froble Enterprises, Inc.      E-Mail: davef at tsoft-inc.com
DFE Ultralights, Inc.
170 Grimplin Road
Vanderbilt, PA  15486