*BSD News Article 10618


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From: jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu (James R. Saker Jr.)
Subject: Re: BSDI/USL Lawsuit -- More Bad News for Human Beings...
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References: <1j7f5rINNqvn@ftp.UU.NET> <93Jan15.211025edt.1578@smoke.cs.toronto.edu> <1993Jan17.203539.6063@s4mjs.uucp> <18102@umd5.umd.edu>
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1993 18:43:12 GMT
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mark@roissy.umd.edu (Mark Sienkiewicz) writes:

>It _is_ an opportunity to talk to USL people.  It should _not_ be looked
>at as an occasion to yell and scream at them.

I had an opportunity in the middle of December to express my opinion about
the lawsuit to a salescritter who called me regarding USL SVR4.2 (apparently
he worked for some authorized reseller of the product, since he said USL
wasn't directly selling it).

Since I had ordered information on SVR4.2 last summer, he called to ask if
I'd like to place my order. I expressed my sincere regret, indicating that
I was not interested in patronizing a company whose concept of "competition"
was filing frivelous lawsuits against a tiny player in the UNIX market.

He tried explaining how USL was only protecting their property against a
company who stole their "intellectual secrets", and warned against buying
a product from such "characters" (for fear of being drug into the legal
process). I politely suggested he await the outcome of the trial before
representing the BSDI use of NET2 code as "theft" and "fraud."  I think
he became aware at that point that I wasn't going to order SVR4.2 that
afternoon.

I wonder if anyone else has received calls similar to mine with such
broad misrepresentations made. 


..  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
..  Jamie Saker					jsaker@cwis.unomaha.edu    .
..  Network Costing Analyst			Business/MIS Major	   .
..  Telenational Communications			Univ. Nebraska at Omaha	   .
..  (402) 392-7548							   .
..  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .