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| events:free_licenses [2016/01/04 14:43] – [Then: Free Unix Source Licenses] wkt | events:free_licenses [2022/08/15 02:39] – old revision restored (2016/01/04 14:05) 149.57.16.137 |
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| The minutiae of the dialogue on the license terms (before the first draft) between myself and SCO can be found in these e-mails: | The minutiae of the dialogue on the license terms (before the first draft) between myself and SCO can be found in these e-mails: |
| * [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#9708271056.aa18110@tahoe.pdev.sco.com|installation and binary only for non licensees, who does the distribution of code?]] | * Unordered List Item [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#9708271056.aa18110@tahoe.pdev.sco.com|installation and binary only for non licensees, who does the distribution of code?]] |
| * [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708272353.JAA00997@henry.cs.adfa.oz.au|quibbles on wording, authentication license holders]] | * [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708272353.JAA00997@henry.cs.adfa.oz.au|quibbles on wording, authentication license holders]] |
| * [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708310504.WAA01033@moe.2bsd.com|what systems would be licensed?]] and[[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708310412.OAA04965@henry.cs.adfa.oz.au|followup]] | * [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708310504.WAA01033@moe.2bsd.com|what systems would be licensed?]] and[[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#199708310412.OAA04965@henry.cs.adfa.oz.au|followup]] |
| > This license permits hobbyists and enthusiasts to have access to the source code of these historic versions of UNIX, for personal and noncommercial use, and to share experiences and code updates with other licensees. | > This license permits hobbyists and enthusiasts to have access to the source code of these historic versions of UNIX, for personal and noncommercial use, and to share experiences and code updates with other licensees. |
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| > The license text may be found online at [[https://web.archive.org/web/19990428094858/http://www.sco.com/offers/ancient_unix.html|www.sco.com/offers]], and the PUPS website. A $100 fee is charged to offset cost of legal and administrative handling of the license. | > The license text may be found online at www.sco.com/offers, and the PUPS website. A $100 fee is charged to offset cost of legal and administrative handling of the license. |
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| Dion felt that, even though this hadn't been officially blessed by legal, it was time to make it happen: "I suspect the legal/finance folks will holler foul when this hits them but hell that's their job. ;-)" (//ibid.//). By the 20th of March, SCO already had "about a dozen licenses here, all paid up and signed off." ([[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#19980320140932.37135@sco.com|e-mail from Dion]]). | Dion felt that, even though this hadn't been officially blessed by legal, it was time to make it happen: "I suspect the legal/finance folks will holler foul when this hits them but hell that's their job. ;-)" (//ibid.//). By the 20th of March, SCO already had "about a dozen licenses here, all paid up and signed off." ([[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#19980320140932.37135@sco.com|e-mail from Dion]]). |
| On the [[http://minnie.tuhs.org/PUPS/oldnews.html|13th of May, 2000]], SCO changed the price of their early Unix source licenses to $0, i.e. free. I don't seem to have an e-mail trail that describes the motivation behind this; however, by this time Dion had passed the early Unix reins over to David Eyes at SCO ([[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#2.2.32.19981123234323.009a45c0@mammoth.sco.com|e-mail]] dated November 1998). | On the [[http://minnie.tuhs.org/PUPS/oldnews.html|13th of May, 2000]], SCO changed the price of their early Unix source licenses to $0, i.e. free. I don't seem to have an e-mail trail that describes the motivation behind this; however, by this time Dion had passed the early Unix reins over to David Eyes at SCO ([[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Documentation/Emails/dionj_wkt.html#2.2.32.19981123234323.009a45c0@mammoth.sco.com|e-mail]] dated November 1998). |
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| SCO now provided a [[https://web.archive.org/web/20000815225122/http://www.sco.com/offers/ancient.html|click-through page]] on their website where one could obtain the source license, and SCO still notified me of the new license holders. However, the click-through page (once clicked), gave the new license holder [[http://minnie.tuhs.org/PUPS/pupsfaq.html#intro|a link to the Unix Archive]]. | SCO now provided a [[https://web.archive.org/web/20000815225122/http://www.sco.com/offers/ancient.html|click-through page]] on their website where one could obtain the source license, and SCO still notified me of the new license holders. However, the click-through page (once clicked), gave the new license holder [[http://minnie.tuhs.org/PUPS/pupsfaq.html|a link to the Unix Archive]]. |
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| By March 2001, over 1,800 people had either bough the US$100 Unix source license or had obtained the free Unix source license (e-mail to David Eyes). At this stage, SCO were in the process of selling the Unix business over to Caldera. I had asked David: "What's happening with Caldera and the transfer of this IP, and is there anybody there that I can contact yet?" (//ibid.//). David wrote back: "The transaction still hasn't closed. I believe that the public word is that it will likely close in April. There was a last-minute renegotiation regarding the rights to OpenServer, which Caldera will now own completely as well." (//ibid.//) | By March 2001, over 1,800 people had either bough the US$100 Unix source license or had obtained the free Unix source license (e-mail to David Eyes). At this stage, SCO were in the process of selling the Unix business over to Caldera. I had asked David: "What's happening with Caldera and the transfer of this IP, and is there anybody there that I can contact yet?" (//ibid.//). David wrote back: "The transaction still hasn't closed. I believe that the public word is that it will likely close in April. There was a last-minute renegotiation regarding the rights to OpenServer, which Caldera will now own completely as well." (//ibid.//) |
| Wow! We had gone from no licenses to binary-only licenses, to paid then free licenses, and now BSD-style licenses. I could finally make the [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/|Unix Archive]] available by anonymous FTP and through the web. | Wow! We had gone from no licenses to binary-only licenses, to paid then free licenses, and now BSD-style licenses. I could finally make the [[http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/|Unix Archive]] available by anonymous FTP and through the web. |
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| ===== Postscript: Uncertainty ===== | //(incomplete, more to come!)// |
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| The history from this point turns somewhat sour, as Caldera became the SCO Group (TSG, aka "New SCO") and began [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO_Group,_Inc._v._International_Business_Machines_Corp.|litigating against IBM]] over copyright violations. | |
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| Near the end of this saga, Judge Kimball, who presided over the SCO v. Novell case, ruled that Novell, not the SCO Group, is the rightful owner of the copyrights covering the Unix operating system. (//ibid.//) | |
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| As Novell did not issue any of the above licenses, it may mean that they are technically invalid: old SCO, Caldera and new SCO only had the right to sub-license the Unix source code. This leaves the legal status of these licenses in a very grey area. | |
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| However, given that the Unix Archive has now been available anonymously for well over a decade, it would be absolutely impossible to put the early Unix source code back into the genie's bottle. | |
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