*BSD News Article 3013


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From: sean+@andrew.cmu.edu (Sean McLinden)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: AT&T vs. BSDI --> 4.3BSD-NET2 distribution requires AT&T license!!!
Message-ID: <QeTP0wq00iUyM68Gwo@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 3 Aug 92 22:16:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.QeTP0wq00iUyM68Gwo
References: <l6nibgINNje6@neuro.usc.edu>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 24
In-Reply-To: <l6nibgINNje6@neuro.usc.edu>


>Further, AT&T's question about the time investment of BSDI in bringing out
>their product [compared with their own cost over many years] will likely go
>a long way toward supporting their unfair competition claim.  If it took a
>small company like BSDI only a couple of years with a small team of people
>to produce BSD/386 vs the multi year investment of a corporate giant - then
>it is very possible AT&T may prevail on the unfair competition claim.

Cut me a break. AT&T spent 40 million dollars, 5 years, and took 45 people to
develop a hospital information system which they canned at the end of the
project because they were still over a year from meeting their project goals.
The project leader commented, once, that if he had it to do over again, he
knows that he could have done the same project for 1/5 the cost, in 1/5 the
time, with 1/5 the number of people.

It is nothing but arrogance for AT&T to assume that because it took them so
long to do something, that a bright group of highly motivated people working
in an unrestricted environment aimed at producing a work which was suitable
for free and public consumption could not do better.

When I read about something like this I wish Judge Green would have *really*
castrated that company!

Sean McLinden