9fans archive / 1997 / 04 / 50 /    prev next

From: Rich Cannings cannings@cps...
Subject: digging up the grave on licensing issues
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 18:40:17 -0600

Steve_Kilbane@ceg... wrote:
> Plausible, but then, this is a demonstration system. I have to admit
> that the easy of networking is one of the cooler aspects of Plan 9,
> so a standalone demo seems a little strange. But what would you leave
> out?

Yes, running plan9 on a single PC is limiting, but that's all I have
right now. Anyway, many of the ideas such as 8.5, sam, rc, and acme
still shine bright on a single pc!

> The licence terms are extremely generous - enough so that it
> seems ungrateful to stretch them too far through sophistry.

I am thankful for such generousity, but I think the intent of such a
generous license agreement was to make plan9 easily available for
further research. All I am saying is that I want to learn and pursue the
ideas behind plan 9 purely to further my education and help the
computing community. I do not mean to insult anyone or abuse the
agreement. I believe that the intentions of the project was blurred by
the lawyers who wrote the agreement. Adding a $350 price tag ($540 in
Canada) truly limits the availablity for students like myself. Anyway,
if the books are only $125 and the cd and books are $350, why is the cd
so expensive for software not intended for commercial use? Does bell
labs still get a cut? Anyway, I'd perfer it if I could buy a used copy.

thanks for the commnets.

rich

cannings@cps...