*BSD News Article 10077


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From: mouse@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (der Mouse)
Subject: Re: BSDI/USL Lawsuit -- More Bad News for Human Beings...
Message-ID: <1993Jan19.022105.17798@thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu>
Organization: McGill Research Centre for Intelligent Machines
References: <BZS.93Jan14203519@world.std.com> <1993Jan16.203553.12911@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 93 02:21:05 GMT
Lines: 24

In article <1993Jan16.203553.12911@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>, scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons) writes:

>> In the strictest context, it only applies to BSDI and anyone
>> connected to them [...]

> [I]f USL establishes precedent that having access to source is
> sufficient to disqualify you from working on unix clones, we're all
> fucked.

Only if you're so pigheaded as to insist on working in the US.  All it
would do, even if your worst fears were to come to pass (which IMO is
unlikely), is to drive UNIXish work out of the US (except for USL).

This prospect doesn't bother me much; I wrote off the US for software
work a long time ago.  It'll thrash around for a while on inertia, but
I think the legal climate is in the process of killing off software
writing and, to some extent, use.  Oh well.  Go find a country with a
sane - or at least less insane - legal system...I'm not (yet) so
pessimistic as to think none such exist.

					der Mouse

			    mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu