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Source code culture

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whartung

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I was watching a video, the details of which I can not recall.

But the speaker was talking about how computing, historically, was a source code culture. He was citing IBM specifically, about how the relationship with the customer was focused on that hardware more so than the software, so they (IBM) didn't have an issue distributing source code to their clients, and that it wasn't until the early 80s that IBM switched from source code to binary artifiacts.

Now, I don't know anything about IBM, but I don't really recall much of this source code culture.

I mean, to be fair, early Unix was a distributed by source code. But I don't think any of the DEC stuff was, was it? I know when we had our 11/730, we have the huge stack of micro fiche with the VMS source printouts on them (a curiosity at best, not particularly useful outright). Did CDC distribute source code? DG? Any of the other large vendors of the day?

CP/M did, pretty much out of necessity. That was the time we were in, of course.

So, it's a mix.

But I would think that if there was a history of source code distributions of these legacy machines, then we'd have evidence of it today floating around.

Curious if others remember that time this way as well (I came a little late, late-70s.)
 
IBM had SHARE; DEC had DECUS; CDC had CO-OP. HP and TI had similar organizations distributing source code for the programmable calculators.

The DECUS archives seem to have been mostly lost. The calculators have been nearly completely archived but that should be a lot smaller.

If one can find any of the conference notes from one of the user support organizations, one can see a very different method from the current marketing heavy content light conferences.
 
CDC also had VIM for the 6000 series. Yes, source code was distributed widely--but there are two reasons, that I can see. (1) Almost all CDC system-level code was written in COMPASS (some later in SYMPL). If you wanted to run it, you'd have to buy CDC hardware. (2) Up until the mid-70s, it wasn't clear that computer code could be copyrighted, as it wasn't a "literary work".
 
Chuck(G) said:
Up until the mid-70s, it wasn't clear that computer code could be copyrighted, as it wasn't a "literary work".
Click to expand...

They tried to clear that up with revisions to the law in 1976. but a unique argument against ROM-ed code being copyrightable because they were actually "mechanical" components of the computer was thrown out by Franklin computer in the early 1980's in a defense against a lawsuit from Apple for cloning the Apple II's ROM with no changes, and they also tacked on a unique theory that "operating systems" in general shouldn't be copyrightable because they're purely "utilitarian" works implementing "systems and processes" instead of being "creative" works. Obviously that all didn't fly in the end, but it did create a lot of smoke for while when the argument was persuasive enough to get a judge to give Franklin a preliminary injunction against Apple.
 
krebizfan said:
IBM had SHARE; DEC had DECUS; CDC had CO-OP. HP and TI had similar organizations distributing source code for the programmable calculators.
Click to expand...
Sure, but that was for just random applications (as I understand it), in contrast to system software.

Surprising nobody has an old DECUS tape hanging around.

Did RSTS or RT11 ever float about in source form? Or any of the PDP 11 systems (TECO, BP, DCL, etc.)?
 
DEC software circulated privately. People were worried the Ghost Of DEC would kill them in the night.
Eventually everyone who were associated with the last known copies of things associated with
Mentec were thrown away.

DECUS management threw everything but VAX software away, since who would think about giving
something away that you always had to pay them for. DECUS PDP-11 SIG tape contents still exist
I would like to fine the .tpc tape images. Maybe Tim Shoppa still has them. There isn't "an old DECUS tape"
there are literally dozens of them.

It has been a tragic, completely avoidable situation that hobbyists have been trying to recover from
for DECades.

And even today, there are a few copies of the last Mentec RSX-11M Plus sources in the hands of
people who are still bound by a 'do not release' agreement with the rights holder who hasn't been
heard from in years.

One of my jobs is trying to find old software for CHM. Most software from the days before the IBM
unbundling doesn't exist because it was "old" and no one had a reason to save it. Companies, in
particular, have no reason to spend money preserving it, and it is all thrown away when it goes out
of support.
 
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Ugh. I just logged in to see where to find the software described in the DECUS tape descriptions. I was looking for some interesting work done with PDP-11 options and didn't feel like 're-inventing the wheel'. Seems like it is not available.
 
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