Hi Janis and Anita, (01)
As I mentioned in my email to Anne, I am working on a project with the
Computer History Museum to preserve the NLS/Augment system, which we
believe may now be owned by MCI/Verizon. More details are in the email
below. (02)
I image that things are quite busy for you from the MCI acquisition, but
I would appreciate any help or guidance that you would be able to
provide for our project. We are hoping to track down ownership of
NLS/Augment in order to move ahead with our goal of preserving this
historically important piece of software. (03)
I'm also cc'ing Phil Gust, who is the project lead for the NLS/Augment
project at the Computer History Museum. (I'll be in Hawaii next week
with no email access, but Phil will be able to respond to all emails.) (04)
Thanks for your help. (05)
Jonathan Cheyer (06)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Cheyer [mailto:jonathan@cheyer.biz]
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 5:58 AM
> To: Cornelius, Anne
> Cc: nls-legal@chm.cim3.net; Michael Chernoff
> Subject: Computer History Museum: NLS/Augment
>
>
> Hi Anne,
>
> 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.
>
> 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).
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> We now believe (and hope) that MCI will be the current owner of the
> NLS/Augment code and documentation.
>
> 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.
>
> 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
>
> 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/
>
> 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.
>
> 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?
>
> 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.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help!
>
> Jonathan (07)
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