[TUHS] History of cal(1)?
Douglas McIlroy via TUHS
tuhs at tuhs.org
Fri Sep 19 13:41:05 AEST 2025
Multics established connections between BTL and MIT, as did Unix
between BTL and many CS departments. However, I don't remember much
communication with MIT about Unix. Perhaps that is because MIT was not
an early adopter, so by the time Unix arrived there connections ran
every which way, not just to the hub at Murray Hill.
Early adoption was precluded by the MIT legal department's opinion
that AT&T's trade-secret assertion was too onerous. As I understand
it, the main sticking point was that one was not supposed to use
anything one learned from Unix code in any other context. I don't how
other universities' legal departments regarded the trade
secret--perhaps that the cat was so far out of the bag that strict
enforcement was impossible.
I'd love to hear how MIT's Unix ban was broken, and how long it took
for that to happen.
Doug
More information about the TUHS
mailing list