Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 23:13:39 -0800 From: W Gerald Hicks <jhix@mindspring.com> To: David Scheidt <dscheidt@enteract.com> Cc: Dann Lunsford <dann@greycat.com>, W Gerald Hicks <jhix@mindspring.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG, jhix@wghicks.mindspring.com Subject: Re: Sun release source code for Solaris 8 Message-ID: <200001280713.XAA67362@mindspring.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 27 Jan 2000 23:02:41 CST." <Pine.NEB.3.96.1000127225741.47003B-100000@shell-1.enteract.com>
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> On Thu, 27 Jan 2000, Dann Lunsford wrote: > > > On Thu, Jan 27, 2000 at 03:00:51PM -0800, W Gerald Hicks wrote: > > > > > > > > I suspect, when Sun releases the source for Slowlaris, that we will hear > > > > the sound of a lot of hackers getting physically sick from reading it. > > > > > > > > > > I have more fear of hackers getting *legally* sick from reading it ;-) > > > > > I think I'd enjoy this more if I knew what you meant :-). Really. > > > > You think there's going to be some sort of legal gotcha in the > > Slowlaris source? Or what? > > > I can see there may be intellectual property rights issues. Solaris does > some things better than the free UNIXes, like SMP. Even if the technology > used is well known in the literature, there may be concerns that people > doing work on other systems are stealing the Solaris implementation. How > likely this depends on the license (which I haven't seen) and also on Sun's > strictness in its interpertation and enforcement. (IANAL) My fears aren't necessarily that the current regime at Sun will pursue action against software developers who have been "tainted" by viewing the Solaris source (although they might) but that a future one _could_. Remember, it is not necessary that Sun actually be able to win a case like this to cause great damage to a project like FreeBSD. If they were to bring suit against an individual, this would probably have a chilling effect on other contributors who were also Solaris license holders. Since Sun has specified rather stringent requirements regarding the use and distribution of the source code under this license agreement, they could probably demonstrate that they have exercised due diligence in protection of their trade secrets and might win significant protection from the courts if the issue were ever raised. For my own safety, I have decided to ignore their source release and not become in any way tainted with knowledge of trade secrets disclosed under the Solaris source licensing agreement. Cheers, Jerry Hicks jhix@mindspring.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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