From: henry(_at_)zoo(_dot_)toronto(_dot_)edu
We want to be sure to pick an algorithm that is
legally unencumbered in BOTH directions. -- NB
For the purpose of building products it seems that whether something
is `legally encumbered' is not an issue, the licensing terms are
the issue.
Only if you assume that "product" means "commercial product". For
software that is meant to be distributed for free -- and FSF is not
the only group producing such, not by a long shot -- it matters a
whole lot. Ever gotten useful software by anonymous FTP? Not if
it required licensing, you haven't.
There is no particular limit as to how stringent or how lax licensing
can be. DES is still patented by IBM but they have granted everyone a
royalty free license. MacTCP, Apple's Macintosh TCP/IP software, is a
commercial product but their license policy has been that for $5,000
you get to distribute unlimited numbers of copies with your product
with no per copy royalty. This is true even if your product is free.
Thus you *can* anonymously FTP Eudora and get Apple's MacTCP with it
for free. (There are indications that Apple will have a much more
stringent policy on licensing future versions of MacTCP but that is
not going to effect existing licensing on older versions.)
In any case, I thought the best indications were that gzip didn't
require any licening...
Donald