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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!sgiblab!sdd.hp.com!caen!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!uunet!utoday!wagner From: wagner@utoday.com (Mitch Wagner) Subject: Re: AT&T and BSDI -- yet again Organization: Open Systems Today Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 16:43:47 GMT Message-ID: <1992Jul31.164347.4251@utoday.com> Keywords: lawsuit, AT&T, USL, BSDI, new developments References: <1842@adagio.UUCP> Lines: 44 In article <1842@adagio.UUCP> grog@adagio.UUCP (Greg Lehey) writes: # #I had a phone call from Mitch Wagner of Open Systems Today today.... # #Mitch feels that USL is not fighting dirty - in his opinion, they are #genuinely convinced that BSDI is abusing their intellectual property, #that they have worked long and hard to produce an operating system and #that BSDI has now come and is trying to reap the fruits of their #labour in the commercial marketplace. # #I should make it clear - as I did to Mitch - that I don't completely #share this viewpoint. I do agree that they probably are not #consciously playing dirty. However, I don't think that USL can have #any unified view of what is theirs and what they got from BSD ... # I'm sure that Greg is reporting accurately what I said. But it doesn't precisely capture what I meant to say. (This is why I made the decision to go into print rather than broadcast journalism many years ago; I can put my views down in writing with great clarity, but I often find it difficult to SAY exactly what I mean.) Basically, I agree with everything that Greg says in the first graf, except for the stuff before the dash. I think he's accurately conveyed my understanding of USL's position. I *DON'T* think the folks at USL are saying "the heck with morality, we have to step on these folks at BSDI." I *DO* think the folks at USL sincerely believe their intellectual property rights to have been infringed on. However, now that we've established that both USL and BSDI believe themselves to be acting from good and just motives, comes the question of who is actually in the right. And the answer is, as of now: I don't know. And whatever my own personal views on this may be, I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure my reporting---the words under my byline in OPEN SYSTEMS TODAY---is fair, accurate and unbiased, because that's my job. -- Mitch Wagner, senior editor, Open Systems Today 2353 Massachusetts Ave. Suite 47, Cambridge, MA 02140 wagner@utoday.com CIS:70212,51 GEnie:MITCH.WAGNER For subscription information, please call 516/562-5882