Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Mac OS X Server Press Conference

Author:Tim Moore
Posted:3/16/1999; 2:49:56 PM
Topic:Mac OS X Server Press Conference
Msg #:4187 (In response to 4183)
Prev/Next:4186 / 4188

The open source aspects of the announcement were not momentous. All the components they are releasing as open source already were open sourced. It seems that they are merely abiding by the terms of the license agreements for that software.

The last part isn't quite true. All of the free software that they use is covered by licenses that let you keep your changed version proprietary. Some of those components (e.g., Mach) have changed substantially since NeXT started using them over 10 years ago. The source tree they use has been evolving separately from the open source versions.

So they have gone above and beyond the license terms, but I still agree that it isn't momentous. After all, the world doesn't particularly need another free BSD or Mach fork. We already have plenty of good operating systems, and there's very little chance that this will generate a lot of interest.

When they announce a Free QuickTime, then I'll get excited.

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