(Almost-Public)-Domain PC/IX Software

[rcc at imsvax.UUCP]

>For VI, though its authors swear it is public domain, the
>Regents of the U of C (who paid the bills and distribute BSD
>stuff) want not to upset AT&T.  AT&T claims that VI is "now" 
>considered part of UNIX, and my company's license with AT&T thus
>requires that I only distribute the VI to folks who posess a valid
>source license.

I think AT&T is full of it.  Legally, I think AT&T has two claims on
vi.  First, vi is based on ed, and therefore protected by trade
secrets just like a lot of 4.xBSD.  This alone, though, would give AT&T
no right to say that vi is "part" of their UNIX.  Second, Mark Horton,
one of the (many) original authors works for AT&T now and has been
maintaining vi.  If AT&T has been paying him for this, then they probably
have a claim on the versions that he's turned out since he started at
AT&T, provided that any additional work done by others in the released
version was done by AT&T people or some sort of agreement was reached
with the other contributors.  If this is the case, though, then there 
do exist versions of vi that AT&T has no second claim on.

Any opinions from netland?  Mark, if you're reading this, when (if ever)
did AT&T start paying you to maintain vi?  What would have to be hacked
out of/replaced in vi to make it totally public domain?

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