26 Jun
2024
26 Jun
'24
2:42 p.m.
On 6/19/24 9:44 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
On Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM Al Kossow <aek(a)bitsavers.org
<mailto:aek@bitsavers.org>> wrote:
On 6/19/24 8:47 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
An interview with Bob Marsh where he claims Onyx had the first license in Nov 1979 (pg
40)
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history/Bob_Marsh_Interview_198412.pdf
That's how I remember Otis Wilson explaining
it to us as commercial licensees at a licensing meeting in the early 1980s.
We had finally completed the PWB 3.0 license to replace the V7 commercial license
(AT&T would rename this System III - but we knew it
as PWB
3.) during the negociations Summit had already
moved on to the next version - PWB 4.0. IMO: Otis was not ready to start that
process again.
Is the really early history of Unix licensing documented anywhere?
Not to my knowledge -- I probably know much/most of it as I lived it as part of a couple
of the negotiation teams.
The work on reviving a Plexus P20 prompted me to put up the history of Onyx and
Plexus at
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history
<http://bitsavers.org/pdf/plexus/history> and a long time ago someone who worked at
Fortune
told me we can all thank Onyx in 1980 for working out the single machine licensing
withAT&T
Hmm, I'm not sure —but I don't think it is wholly clear—although Onyx was early
and certainly would have been a part. They were not the only
firm that wanted redistribution rights.
Numerous vendors asked for the V7 redistribution license, with HP (Fred Clegg), Microsoft
(Bob Greenberg/Bill Gates), and Tektronix (me)
being three, I am aware. It is quite possible Onyx signed the original V7 license first,
but I know there was great unhappiness with the
terms that AT&T initially set up. When the folks from AT&T Patents and Licensing
(Al Arms at that point) talked to us individually, it was
sort of "this is what we are offering" - mind you, this all started
>>pre-Judge Green<< and the concept of negotiation was
somewhat one-sided as AT&T was not allowed in the computer business.