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[nls-legal] Computer History Museum: NLS/Augment

To: Anne Cornelius <anne.cornelius@mci.com>
Cc: Michael Chernoff <michaelchernoff@hotmail.com>, nls-legal@chm.cim3.net
From: Jonathan Cheyer <jonathan@cheyer.biz>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 02:58:21 -0800
Message-id: <43EC71CD.7000800@cheyer.biz>
Hi Anne,    (01)

I was recently speaking with Michael Chernoff about a project I've been 
working on, and he suggested your name as someone who might be able help.    (02)

I'm currently volunteering time on a project for Silicon Valley's 
Computer History Museum. A key goal of the museum is to locate, 
preserve, and make available to the general public, historically 
important software. The system that I am helping to try to preserve is 
the NLS/Augment system, originally started in the 1960s at SRI by Doug 
Engelbart (inventor of the mouse).    (03)

The system was developed over about a 25 year period. The NLS system (as 
it was known at SRI) was sold to Tymshare and renamed to Augment around 
1977. Tymshare was later bought by McDonnell Douglas, which was itself 
eventually bought by Boeing. Development on the Augment system was 
stopped in the late 1980s by McDonnell Douglas and as far as I know has 
not had any commercial value since then. It has been generally forgotten 
since then, except as a subtext to a historically important demo 
presented by Engelbart in 1968.    (04)

Because of the lack of commercial value and general disuse of the 
system, Augment has not appeared in any of the asset listings in the 
sales and acquisitions since McDonnell Douglas, so it has been very 
difficult to track down who actually owns the rights to the source code 
and documentation of the Augment system.    (05)

We have been working for about the last year to determine the true 
owner. Our goal has been to have Boeing agree to transfer the copyright 
for NLS/Augment to the Computer History Museum for purposes of long-term 
preservation and availability to the general public, especially software 
historians and students.    (06)

We got off to a great start, because we have had the support and 
interest in our project from Boeing even up to Lew Platt (the Chairman 
of Boeing, who unfortunately recently passed away). However, in doing 
the necessary legal work, the legal department of Boeing discovered that 
it was probable that the NLS/Augment code had been transferred as an 
unlisted asset in the sale and subsequent acquisition of their Tymnet 
subsidiary (circa 1989). Tymnet was sold to British Telecom at that time.    (07)

We have since been working with British Telecom, again with the goal of 
copyright transfer for preservation purposes. British Telecom has also 
been helpful in trying to help us in this quest to determine the owner. 
Much to our surprise, after British Telecom did its own legal research, 
it now appears that NLS/Augment was probably transferred as an unlisted 
asset in the sale and subsequent acquisition of their BT Tymnet (or 
BTNA?) networking division (circa 1994). I believe that BT Tymnet was 
bought by MCI at that time.    (08)

We now believe (and hope) that MCI will be the current owner of the 
NLS/Augment code and documentation.    (09)

We are interested in pursuing a quitclaim from MCI that would transfer 
any rights that MCI might have specifically for NLS and/or Augment, to 
the Computer History Museum, so that preservation work on this project 
can proceed. Many of the people who worked on NLS or Augment over the 
years are still alive, and the Computer History Museum may be able to 
obtain assistance from these individuals in locating software and 
documentation. But we want to be assured that we have the legal ability 
to do so. We are hoping to move quickly on this project while there is 
still time.    (010)

A reason for renewed interest in NLS/Augment is that Doug Engelbart 
recently received the Fellow Award from the Computer History Museum, and 
he also turned 81 years old last month.
http://computerhistory.org/fellows2005/bios/engelbart.shtml    (011)

We have also gotten in touch with Vint Cerf to help us out. Vint, of 
course, worked at MCI for many years and has also received the Fellow 
Award from the Computer History Museum (back in 2000).
http://computerhistory.org/events/hall_of_fellows/cerf/    (012)

I'm a software engineer and do not have the legal background myself, but 
the Computer History Museum does have access to legal council for these 
kinds of matters.    (013)

Anne, it would be really wonderful if you could assist us in helping 
this project to move forward. What steps do MCI and the Computer History 
Museum need to take in order to make progress in this area?    (014)

If you need any additional background information about either the
NLS/Augment software itself, or about the Computer History
Museum, I would be happy to send you more information.    (015)

Thanks in advance for your help!    (016)

Jonathan    (017)

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