Recently, there was an item on the FreeDOS mailing list that Microsoft's HIMEM.SYS "was open-sourced." The following is an archive of the discussion: Subject: HIMEM.SYS was open-sourced Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 19:18:04 -0800 From: k3pbu@arrl.net To: fd-dev@topica.com A few days ago, while I was looking around one of the DOS repositories, I noticed that they had an old copy of HIMEM.SYS (just the executable) in their archive. Hmmm, I thought, looks like somebody uploaded something they shouldn't have. Apparently I was wrong. Today I was looking through my collection of old computer magazines, and I came across the July 1989 issue of "Microsoft Systems Journal". On pages 17-26 there is a detailed article about the (then new) XMS 2.x Extended Memory Specification. On page 24 is the following statement: "Anyone can get the Microsoft XMS driver, HIMEM.SYS, along with source code and the official XMS 2.0 specification by contacting the Microsoft Information Center at (800) 426-9400." Imagine, Microsoft releasing source code long before Linux! Microsoft, Leader of the Open-Source Revolution! Hoo ha! Marty -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: HIMEM.SYS was open-sourced Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 19:37:11 -0800 From: Joe Cosentino To: k3pbu@arrl.net CC: FreeDOS List [...] > 24 is the following statement: "Anyone can get the Microsoft XMS > driver, HIMEM.SYS, along with source code and the official XMS > 2.0 specification by contacting the Microsoft Information Center at > (800) 426-9400." Yeah, and you can also d/l it from simtel.net. The full URL is http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/microsft/himem278.zip Later, Joe Cosentino ==================================================================== Actually, this himem278.zip archive contains the HIMEM.SYS binary, but no source code. The HIMEM.SYS still contains the "This program is the property of Microsoft Corporation" copyright text from Microsoft. ==================================================================== Subject: Re: HIMEM.SYS was open-sourced Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2000 19:40:24 -0800 From: k3pbu@arrl.net To: fd-dev@topica.com On 7 Jan 00, at 19:18, k3pbu@arrl.net wrote: > Imagine, Microsoft releasing source code long before Linux! > Microsoft, Leader of the Open-Source Revolution! Hoo ha! Double hoo ha! You can still download HIMEM from Microsoft's web site, as a self-extracting file containing source code and a version of the executable updated to the XMS 3.0 spec. http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Xms.exe Dear old Microsoft, we love you! Marty ======================================================================= This self-extracting archive from Microsoft contains "Source listing for HIMEM version 2.03, which has only minor differences from version 2.04." The readme file includes this in the fine print: "Although it has been released into the public domain and is not confidential or proprietary, the specification is still the copyright and property of Microsoft Corporation, Lotus Development Corporation, Intel Corporation, and AST Research, Inc." Since no specific text on redistribution, I don't plan to mirror this on the FreeDOS site. ======================================================================= Subject: Re: HIMEM.SYS was open-sourced Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 04:24:12 -0800 From: Steffen Kaiser To: "FreeDOS Developer's list" On Fri, 7 Jan 2000 k3pbu@arrl.net wrote: > > Imagine, Microsoft releasing source code long before Linux! > > Microsoft, Leader of the Open-Source Revolution! Hoo ha! > > Double hoo ha! You can still download HIMEM from Microsoft's > web site, as a self-extracting file containing source code and a > version of the executable updated to the XMS 3.0 spec. > > http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/Xms.exe > The archive does not contain any copyright restrictions except the standard "Copyright 1988 MS". Therefore you cannot derive any rights from it to change or modify it or re-use portions of it within FreeDOS tools. Bye, -- Steffen Kaiser ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Re: HIMEM.SYS was open-sourced Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 06:30:18 -0800 From: k3pbu@arrl.net To: "FreeDOS Developer's list" On 10 Jan 00, at 4:24, Steffen Kaiser wrote: > On Fri, 7 Jan 2000 k3pbu@arrl.net wrote: > > > Imagine, Microsoft releasing source code > The archive does not contain any copyright restrictions That's not 100% true. In one of the text files there is an ambiguous statement that the "specification" (the context seems to imply that "specification" refers to the whole archive) is "public domain" and it then goes on to make a specific copyright claim. The legal terms "public domain" and "copyright" are contradictory, so I suspect that the statement was not reviewed by MS's lawyers. Because of the way that the LIM spec was developed, as a joint effort by Lotus, Intel, etc., I also suspect that MS had a contractual obligation to the other partners to make the information freely available. Be that as it may, my guess is that the legal standing of the copyright claim is questionable, and therefore we shouldn't use the material in any infringing way. > ... Therefore you cannot derive any rights from > it to change or modify it or re-use portions of it within FreeDOS tools. That would certainly be the wisest course. Remember, though, that copyright covers "expression", not "ideas". Copyright law does not prohibit anyone from reading the code, learning from it, and writing different code based on the ideas in the original. The key to that sentence is "different". A literary analogy: I can write my own allegorical novel about a sea captain obsessed with a whale, but I'd better not begin "Call me Ishmael". Marty (who is not a lawyer, so this message should not be construed as legal advice.) =================================================================== Remember: none of us are lawyers! ===================================================================