🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <18836:Mar2014:38:3791@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
>[...] In any case, yes, you may copy the program from the disk you bought
>into the computer, and you may compile it if it is source code, and you
>may make backup copies, unless of course you signed an agreement saying
>otherwise. You may transfer your legally obtained software to someone
>else (along with all your backup copies), despite what Press et al. say.
>
>[...] In practice, what they care about is money. If you
>don't make a significant amount of money with your copying or take money
>away from the authors, you're on pretty solid ground.

Press and Co. do specifically disallow transfer of the source code
to machines other than the (single) PC for which the code is intended.
This _is_ a $$$-driven strategy; they then offer to sell you a license
to allow you to use the software on other systems.  If I do buy
(and maintain) the license, I'm in the same position I'm in with
IMSL or any other proprietary library vendor.

The problem I have with this is that it eliminates the niche Numerical
Recipes could otherwise hold.  I can't point computationally-naive users
to NR as I'd like to, since we can't just offer the library on our systems 
without buying and maintaining a license, which we won't do (since we're 
already doing it with IMSL, and duplication is pointless).

TeX and LaTeX manage to do just fine, with the books providing Knuth and 
Lamport with healthy royalty checks while the software remains freely 
available.  It's a pity the authors of Numerical Recipes didn't follow 
their example.

Marc
--
Marc Andreessen___________University of Illinois Materials Research Laboratory
Internet: andreessen@uimrl7.mrl.uiuc.edu____________Bitnet: andreessen@uiucmrl