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Chyist Dec 7, 1998 P
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========================================================================= Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 17:07:07 -0600
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Matthew Sayler <mpsayler@ZEN.AS.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest "free software"
In-Reply-To: <199812071541.IAA03770@kitsune.swcp.com>; from Kyle Silfer on
Mon, Dec 07, 1998 at 08:57:36AM -0600
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Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
I remember back in '98 when Kyle Silfer wrote:
>The particular irony of the Gates letter is that BASIC was (and is) a public domain language.
By 'public domain' do you mean freely availible specifications or freely availibe reference implementation?
>Microsoft's proprietary version of something
>that was already free does indeed indicate a major demarcation between the hacker ethic and the copyright crackdown ethic that now dominates commercial software. It demonstrates the parasitic roots of Microsoft--taking from the free software community and providing nothing in return.
One difference between the older community of more free academia and the newer micro-centric community would seem to be the availibilty of previous software. (free or at least provided with the system)
Hobbyists or not, it seems as though people were starting out in a near software vaccum.
Matt
--
/* Matt Sayler -- mpsayler@zen.as.utexas.edu -- atwork?astronomy:cs
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mpsayler -- (512)471-7450 Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? */
______________________________________________________________________
Reply-To: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> Sender: "CYHIST Community Memory: Discussion list on the History of
Cyberspace" <CYHIST@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU> From: Matthew Sayler <mpsayler@ZEN.AS.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject: Re: Earliest "free software"
In-Reply-To: <199812071541.IAA03770@kitsune.swcp.com>; from Kyle Silfer on
Mon, Dec 07, 1998 at 08:57:36AM -0600
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
______________________________________________________________________
Community Memory: Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace ______________________________________________________________________
I remember back in '98 when Kyle Silfer wrote:
>The particular irony of the Gates letter is that BASIC was (and is) a public domain language.
By 'public domain' do you mean freely availible specifications or freely availibe reference implementation?
>Microsoft's proprietary version of something
>that was already free does indeed indicate a major demarcation between the hacker ethic and the copyright crackdown ethic that now dominates commercial software. It demonstrates the parasitic roots of Microsoft--taking from the free software community and providing nothing in return.
One difference between the older community of more free academia and the newer micro-centric community would seem to be the availibilty of previous software. (free or at least provided with the system)
Hobbyists or not, it seems as though people were starting out in a near software vaccum.
Matt
--
/* Matt Sayler -- mpsayler@zen.as.utexas.edu -- atwork?astronomy:cs
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/mpsayler -- (512)471-7450 Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? */
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