5 ms·
> I'm sure that software was released in a permissive gray long before that, but I'd have to do more research, and that's enough for my point. For a few bonus
by ShroudedNight 6y ago
> I'm sure that software was released in a permissive gray long before that, but I'd have to do more research, and that's enough for my point.
For a few bonus swings at the horse, MVS source was freely available until 3.8j in 1981 and AT&T UNIX V6 source was well distributed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVS#Modern_MVS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MVS#Modern_MVS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions%27_Commentary_on_UNIX_6th_Edition,_with_Source_Code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions%27_Commentary_on_UNIX_6t...
- dwheeler 6y agoTo be fair, in earlier times it wasn't clear if software was copyrightable. In the US the Copyright Act of 1976, which became effective on January 1, 1978, clearly stated that Congress intended software to be copyrightable; before that there were many questions. So before that, in the US many considered any source code distribution as equivalent to a permissive license. Unix v6 source was well distributed, but the Lyons book (with Unix source code)) was only distributed as Samizdat for years because it wasn't clear it was legal.