[TUHS] Unix single-machine licensing (was Re: Re: ACM Software System Award to Andrew S. Tanenbaum for MINIX)

[Clem Cole]

The article says is *"REVIEW: Was Onyx the first UNIX vendor on micro
hardware? MARSH: I think so. I signed the distribution license in November
of 1979."*

By then, Al Arms (who ran Patent and Licensing of UNIX for AT&T) knew
numerous of the commercial licensees wanted something better than the
current "second CPU" license, plus many wanted binary redistribution
rights.  As I said, it is quite possible that Onyx signed the original V7
redistribution license first, but it was offered to many of us.  I also
pointed out that many of us pushed back and that there was
great unhappiness with the terms that AT&T had offered.  This is why we got
together as a group to negotiate something. - which would later become the
System III license.   This contrasts with Al and the team coming up with
something like they did with the V7 redistribution license.

ᐧ

On Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 4:42 AM Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org> wrote:

> On 6/19/24 9:44 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM Al Kossow <aek at bitsavers.org <mailto:
> aek at bitsavers.org>> wrote:
> >
> >     On 6/19/24 8:47 AM, Clem Cole wrote:
> >
> >      > 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.
> >
>
> 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
>
>
>
>
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