4 ms·

Except they were never open. You could download the code, but you were not allowed to distribute modifications to it. The project was cancelled in 2011, and ac

by lokedhs 10y ago

Except they were never open. You could download the code, but you were not allowed to distribute modifications to it. The project was cancelled in 2011, and according to the web page it's open source now, and I think that the open sourcing didn't happen until then.

tyingq 10y ago
I did put "open source" in quotes for that reason. At the time, it what somewhat novel to be able to get the source code at all, and even more novel that the writers would accept code from end users to put back into the product.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  >At the time, it what somewhat novel to be able to get the source code at all Really? IIRC, in Jason Scott's excellent BBS documentary (you should go watch it. Like, right now. It's that good), Thom Henderson (from SEA. Remember them? I don't, because I wasn't alive. Which is why I have to rely on documentaries) said that it was expected in UNIX circles, which is where Kermit originated. Or were you on PC? I don't know, I wasn't alive.
  - tyingq 10y ago
    For commercial end users of SunOS, Ultrix, etc, most of what we used was closed source. Kermit was not the only software you could get source code for. However, the entire ecosystem was much smaller than what exists today. I'll concede it may have been different in more academic environments.
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      shrugs Of course, in the early days of unix, you got the OS in source form, but those were long gone by then. AFAIK, a lot of independently developed utilities were distributed in source form, in part because it was common to have to edit the sources and compile yourself if you weren't on the exact same architecture as the author. But that's just what I've heard.
  - rsync 10y ago
    "... Jason Scott's excellent BBS documentary (you should go watch it. Like, right now. It's that good)" Agreed. The BBS documentary is superb and really, really entertaining and engrossing. Especially the episode(s) on fidonet.
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      I honestly found the compression and artscene episodes more interesting than fidonet. Although fidonet was good too.
  - kqr2 10y ago
    Link to BBS documentary : https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary
    - chiph 10y ago
      Thanks. Many memories of acoustic-coupler time spent on Compuserve and local BBSes.
timthorn 10y ago
They were for the definition of "open" which was current then - ie that the source or specification was available.
duaneb 10y ago
This is open source but not free software. Open source is still better than closed.

by lokedhs 10y ago

tyingq 10y ago

I did put "open source" in quotes for that reason. At the time, it what somewhat novel to be able to get the source code at all, and even more novel that the writers would accept code from end users to put back into the product.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
>At the time, it what somewhat novel to be able to get the source code at all Really? IIRC, in Jason Scott's excellent BBS documentary (you should go watch it. Like, right now. It's that good), Thom Henderson (from SEA. Remember them? I don't, because I wasn't alive. Which is why I have to rely on documentaries) said that it was expected in UNIX circles, which is where Kermit originated. Or were you on PC? I don't know, I wasn't alive.
- tyingq 10y ago
  For commercial end users of SunOS, Ultrix, etc, most of what we used was closed source. Kermit was not the only software you could get source code for. However, the entire ecosystem was much smaller than what exists today. I'll concede it may have been different in more academic environments.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    shrugs Of course, in the early days of unix, you got the OS in source form, but those were long gone by then. AFAIK, a lot of independently developed utilities were distributed in source form, in part because it was common to have to edit the sources and compile yourself if you weren't on the exact same architecture as the author. But that's just what I've heard.
- rsync 10y ago
  "... Jason Scott's excellent BBS documentary (you should go watch it. Like, right now. It's that good)" Agreed. The BBS documentary is superb and really, really entertaining and engrossing. Especially the episode(s) on fidonet.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    I honestly found the compression and artscene episodes more interesting than fidonet. Although fidonet was good too.
- kqr2 10y ago
  Link to BBS documentary : https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary https://archive.org/details/BBS.The.Documentary
  - chiph 10y ago
    Thanks. Many memories of acoustic-coupler time spent on Compuserve and local BBSes.

timthorn 10y ago

They were for the definition of "open" which was current then - ie that the source or specification was available.

duaneb 10y ago

This is open source but not free software. Open source is still better than closed.