24 Nov
2004
24 Nov
'04
10:29 a.m.
All:
Thanks for the comments on this. Dave pointed out that Dynacomp has been
around for a looooong time. His auction listing even indicates something to
the effect of "delivering quality software since 1975" which meshes nicely
with Dave's recollection.
The product is indeed copyrighted, with no GPL. The source files do contain
a copyright notice but not an "All Rights Reserved." legend. However, I
expect people to download it, play with it, make enhancements, and then
contribute back. That's how we were able to move the project to where it is
today.
A couple of days ago somebody on this list mentioned they were having
PCBs made for a DEC KM11 (maintenance board) clone based on my design.
And that they intended to sell said PCBs and/or kits.
Now, for the record, I was never asked if I minded about this. I never
gave permission. To be honest, I _don't_ mind. I prodcued that design
initially to get my own 11/45 running, and shared it with the world in
the hope that it would keep a few more machines going. And if somebody
wants to make PCBs for it, fine, go ahead. I am not going to stop you.
But do you think I should have been asked first?
My view is that once I put something on the web, I've allowed any member
of the public to download it. Whether they do this by downloading it from
the site or by buying a CD-ROM with it on makes no difference to me. I do
(of course) insist that any acknowledgements remain intact (if only so
you know who to moan at when things go wrong ;-)).
Based on the fact that I have no CD burner (only a reader), limited hard
disk space, and a slow dial-up connection, I'd often rather purchase a
CD-ROM than download large files myself. Preventing your work from
appearing on such CD-ROMs seems to be rather selfish to me.
I'm twixt and tween...putting it on a compilation CD at least gets the
product out to a wider audience. However, since I (and a few others) are the
copyright holders to the emulator, and I am the "owner" of the project, I
feel that I should have been at least given the courtesy of being asked.
I would agree with that.
Since this person has sold software as a business in
the past, even in the
"early days" of computing, he should appreicate that.
Thanks for the input on this. I'm going to drop this person a note.
Rich
-tony