Phil, (01)
Sounds like real progress.....as to the feelers on articles, I like the
suggestion but let's not get too far ahead of our headlights for now. (02)
Thanks. (03)
--John (04)
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Gust [mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 9:20 AM
To: John Toole
Cc: nls-restore; Bernard Peuto
Subject: RE: Follow-up of our discussion at HP Retiree's lunch on
Computer History Museum (05)
John, (06)
Thanks for forwarding this. Scott Griffin, Boeing's CIO, called me on
Friday. He had a few more follow-up questions about the results of
Kathe's
research, and also wanted to let me know he's working on this. Scott
sounds
like a very nice person, and we had a good conversation about the
project. He is very interested in what the museum is doing on
collecting
and preserving software, and he's especially interested in NLS/Augmen
Scott's found that the last work on the software was done at McDonnell
Douglas Network Systems Company. Boeing sold some of that company's
assets
to British Telecom Timenet. Scott is now looking in to whether
NLS/Augment
went with it or remained with Boeing, since the software was not an
active
product at the time of the sale. He said that it's not on his list of
Boeing software assets, but that may not mean much, being that far
back. He says that even if it did get sold to BT Timenet, he's
interested
in helping us interface with them and negotiating its release. (07)
I think it's very hopeful that we have so many well-placed people who
are
taking such an active interest in this project. Software preservation
seems to strike a chord in people's imaginations. Maybe we should find
some way to at least let the public know CHM is doing this, ahead of any (08)
workshops or conferences. One idea might be to see if we could get one
or
more popular articles in Discover, Science News, Smithsonian, or
Scientific
American. If this sounds like a good idea to you, we should put out
feelers to those or similar publications in the next month or so to
gauge
their interest. (09)
At 07:50 AM 3/28/2005, you wrote:
>Alan,
>
>Thanks very much for the note and consideration. We really appreciate
>Boeing's help in this matter, and know you see the value in preserving
>important software for posterity.
>
>If I, or any of our volunteers, can give you more background, please
>don't hesitate to ask. We'll look forward to hear from you in a couple
>of weeks.
>
>--John
>
>John C. Toole
>Executive Director & CEO
>Computer History Museum
>650 810 1000 (direct)
>650 906 9873 (cell)
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Poskanzer, Alan M [mailto:alan.m.poskanzer@boeing.com]
>Sent: Friday, March 25, 2005 2:41 PM
>To: John Toole
>Cc: Gullette, Robert L; Tierney, James K; Griffin, Scott D
>Subject: RE: Follow-up of our discussion at HP Retiree's lunch on
>Computer History Museum
>
>
>Mr. Toole,
>
>I have been asked to look into this matter, as described below, and we
>are doing so. There are some internal procedures that must be followed
>at Boeing to effectuate approval of the release of the copyrights to
the
>software and we are initiating that. It will take a couple of weeks
>before we know if the release is approved. In the meantime, please be
>patient and we shall keep you informed of our progress.
>
>If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to give
me
>a call.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>--Al Poskanzer
>
>
>Al Poskanzer, Ph.D.
>Director, Technology Licensing
>The Boeing Company
>Intellectual Property Business
>(949) 790-1343
>(949) 790-1399 fax
>(949) 300-2939 cell
>alan.m.poskanzer@boeing.com
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Philip Gust [mailto:gust@NouveauSystems.com]
>Sent: Friday, March 18, 2005 10:53 AM
>To: Lew Platt
>Cc: John Toole
>Subject: Follow-up of our discussion at HP Retiree's lunch on Computer
>History Museum
>
>
>Lew,
>
>It was nice to see you again at the HP Retiree's luncheon this week.
>Your
>reflections on the HP culture gave me food for thought as a "retiree".
>It also gave my wife Kathe a new perspective as someone who is
>still with HP. We'd both like to thank you for that.
>
>When we talked before lunch, I told you that Kathe and I are involved
>with
>the Computer History Museum, as part of the Software Collection
>Committee. The committee is developing methods for the museum to
>collect,
>preserve, and exhibit software, as it currently does with hardware. We
>feel
>a particular urgency to act quickly, while the artifacts and some of
the
>
>people who worked on them are still available.
>
>The committee has launched a handful of pilot preservation projects,
>lead
>by committee members who are familiar with some of the most
historically
>
>important pieces of software. I am leading the project to preserve NLS
>(oNLine System), an early knowledge management system created by
Douglas
>
>Engelbart and his team at SRI from 1964 to 1977. NLS is a seminal
piece
>of
>software that pioneered such things as hypermedia, windowed user
>interfaces, display editing, screen sharing, and groupware.
Ironically,
>
>the best known by-product from this work is the mouse. Doug and several
>members of his team are now advisory members for the preservation
>project.
>
>An issue that invariably comes up in software preservation projects is
>ownership and the right for the museum to collect, preserve, and
exhibit
>
>the software. Kathe has researched the issue, and has discovered that
>through a series of acquisitions, Boeing is the current owner of NLS,
>later
>commercialized as Augment.
>
>While NLS is no longer of any commercial value, it is important for
>learning about early software architectures and development techniques.
>The
>last known copy of NLS/Augment, complete with all the source code and
>documentation, is running on a PC based PDP-20 emulator that a few
>volunteers help Doug maintain. Doug would like to see NLS/Augment
>preserved
>by the museum, and made freely available to the software community.
>
>That is why, on behalf of Doug and the Computer History Museum, I am
>asking
>for your help. I am requesting that Boeing formally release NLS/Augment
>into the public domain, and allow Doug and the museum to make it
>available
>without restriction to anyone who would like to study, use it, or build
>on
>the concepts that it embodies. By doing this under the auspices of the
>Computer History Museum, Boeing may even be able to realize some tax
>advantage by having the it recognized as a contribution by the museum.
>John
>Toole, the Executive Director of the Computer History Museum, is open
to
>
>discussing such an arrangement.
>
>I appreciate your interest in this, and your offer to help us locate
>someone within Boeing who can authorize what we are asking. In the
>likely
>event that it is not feasible for Boeing to trace this internally
across
>
>all the acquisitions and mergers, I would suggest that Boeing consider
>issuing a simple letter releasing any interest it may have in the
>software
>to the public domain. Doug just turned 80, and I know that this would
be
>
>the best birthday present anyone could possibly give him.
>
>Best regards,
>
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
>=-=-=-=-=-=
>Background and Chain of Ownership of NLS/Augment
>
>Douglas C. Engelbart grew and directed a pioneering computer research
>lab,
>the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at SRI,. The lab, which at its
>height had a staff of up to 47, pioneered modern interactive computing
>and
>working environments. Among the lab's developments, were "NLS" (oNLine
>System) which, integrated the "mouse," display editing, windows,
>cross-file
>editing, idea/outline processing, hypermedia, and groupware, including
>shared-screen teleconferencing and computer-supported meeting room
>capabilities. NLS/Augment is arguably the genesis of hypertext, linked
>media online webs.
>
>In 1977, a company called Tymshare Inc., bought NLS, hired its creator
>as a
>Senior Scientist, and offered commercial services based upon NLS, which
>they re-named Augment.. Tymshare was already somewhat familiar with
NLS;
>
>back when ARC was still operational, it had experimented with its own
>local
>copy of the NLS software on a minicomputer called OFFICE-1, as part of
a
>
>joint project with ARC.
>
>When Tymshare was later acquired by McDonnell Douglas in 1984, he
worked
>
>with the Aerospace Components Division of MDC on issues of integrated
>information system architectures and associated evolutionary
strategies,
>
>extending the work done originally at SRI. Active development of NLS
>was
>more or less finished by late 1968 , and McDonnell-Douglas appears to
>have
>completely stopped working with the product upon Englebart's retirement
>in
>1986.
>
>McDonnell-Douglas, last known owner of the copyrights to the system
>merged
>with Boeing in 1997 in a $13 billion stock-swap.
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-
>=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>
>
>
>Philip Gust
>Nouveau Systems, Inc.
>
>phone: +1 650 961-7992
>fax: +1 520 843-7217
>
>
>mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com (010)
Philip Gust
Nouveau Systems, Inc. (011)
phone: +1 650 961-7992
fax: +1 520 843-7217 (012)
mailto: gust@NouveauSystems.com (013)
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