Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 10:02:25 -0600 (MDT)
From: Roger Ivie <IVIE AT cc DOT usu DOT edu>
Subject: [opendos] Re: Dear DOSbodies
To: OPENDOS AT MAIL DOT TACOMA DOT NET
Message-id: <01IGET24YIJ49088XO@cc.usu.edu>
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[[snip]]
> I was simultaneously heartened and intrigued to learn via another
> (unrelated) mailing list that Caldera was going to not only revive the lost
> DR/Novell DOS, but put it into the public domain too (and sue MicroBloat as
> well for good measure!).
[[snip]]
> And I want to actually *pay* for it, as I need it to be supported by a
> recognizable organization, and it will be used in everyday commercial
> operations anyway, so it needs the credibility of a recognizable "brand"
> behind it to be able to sell it to clients and their managements.

> So, to my main concern: release of the source code into the public domain.
[[snip]]

Caldera is not releasing the source code into the public domain. They have
a copyright on it, and will no doubt defend their copyright. What they _are_
doing is allowing people to use OpenDOS and the source for OpenDOS for
private and educational uses for free.

Commercial uses still require that you pay money to Caldera. Caldera will,
I assume, offer support for the operating system to commercial accounts.

Among the restrictions on the free use of OpenDOS are a prohibition against
redistributing it. In other words, you cannot get the source code to
OpenDOS, modify it, and put your modified source code on the web for anyone
to grab.

I presume the OpenDOS hacker community will release their modifications as
diffs agains the original Caldera source?

Roger Ivie
ivie AT cc DOT usu DOT edu