Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!occrsh!uokmax!apple!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!aglew From: aglew@crhc.uiuc.edu (Andy Glew) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Latest code-copying decision Message-ID:Date: 12 Sep 90 04:47:35 GMT References: <1990Sep11.185105.14201@kodak.kodak.com> Sender: news@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News) Distribution: na Organization: Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Lines: 18 In-Reply-To: doering@kodak.kodak.com's message of 11 Sep 90 18:51:05 GMT >The case involves suits and countersuits between IBM and Allen-Myland Inc, a >company that apparently makes a living by modifying IBM mainframes to enhance >their utility to the people who own (not lease) those mainframes. After a >lengthy litigation the surviving claim was IBM's that A-M had copied >proprietary microcode already installed in these machines and should instead >have bought extra copies of the microcode rather than duplicating what the >customer had already bought and paid for. (I believe that A-M modified the >copied microcode and then installed the modified version to meet requirements >unique to the company that owned the IBM mainframe.) Hmm.... Isn't this like you buying a GM car, then taking it to one of those "Supe-it-up" garages, who take out the carburetor, build another carb that'll work like the original, only with better performance, and then putting the new carb in your car? -- Andy Glew, a-glew@uiuc.edu [get ph nameserver from uxc.cso.uiuc.edu:net/qi]