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Xref: sserve comp.os.os2.programmer:11272 comp.os.coherent:9141 comp.os.linux:36466 comp.os.mach:2814 comp.os.minix:22026 comp.periphs:3580 comp.unix.bsd:11927 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:2536 comp.os.386bsd.development:606 Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.programmer,comp.os.coherent,comp.os.linux,comp.os.mach,comp.os.minix,comp.periphs,comp.unix.bsd,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.os.386bsd.development Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!network.ucsd.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!utzoo!henry From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: QIC NEWS ----- FLASH Message-ID: <C67Cur.Frs@zoo.toronto.edu> Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 16:37:37 GMT References: <jmonroyC66G2s.Dzw@netcom.com> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 25 In article <jmonroyC66G2s.Dzw@netcom.com> jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr) writes: > "I should note at that time, mid-1964, we had the ability to run > a fork process." >... > As some of you are aware, there have been accusations that > the current BSD source has source code that is copyright by > USL (Unix System Laboratories). These statements by Mr. Hardy point, > in some light, with good possibilities that USL is incorrect... This is sheer ignorance, I'm afraid. Whether the notion of "fork" existed before Unix has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the questions of trade secret and/or copyright that are being fought over right now. A copyright, on source code or anything else, protects only the form of expression, not the ideas expressed. And the Unix concept of "fork" -- as opposed to its implementation -- cannot be a trade secret since it has been public knowledge since Unix's earliest days. USL has made some stupid claims, but they haven't gone this far. Furthermore, Hardy's statement is not news. Thompson and Ritchie, in the classic CACM paper that first publicized Unix widely, said: "The fork operation, essentially as we implemented it, was present in the GENIE time-sharing system." Those words were published in 1974, folks. -- SVR4 resembles a high-speed collision | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology between SVR3 and SunOS. - Dick Dunn | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry