Order of the Butterfly
Posts: 370 from 2003/3/28
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Here is an update from Dave...
His following post is more important, this is what he's really talking about:
HazyDave:
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They still don't understand clean room development. If you have seen the Amiga source code, you cannot produce a legally separate work-alike. So any copied comments are absolute proof that the code is dirty. And they're not rejecting my claim, if you go back into those linked documents, that the comments were copied.
If the MorphOS people would like to swear in public that not a line of code or comment is copied from the AmigaOS sources or derived from the Phase 5 code (fruits of a poisonous tree, in legal terms), I will not mention MorphOS again.
I replied with the following where I've tried to give my interpretation of the situation.
Minator:
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At the time Amiga technologies were seemingly sending their code to all and sundry. I've never heard any talk of NDAs so I'll assume there wasn't one involved.
If this was copied, could it have been done with AT's knowledge or permission?
i.e. Did AT give and Amiga sources to Phase5?
The question then is how does this relate to MorphOS.
Did that code get into MorphOS?
If yes, then the MorphOS team might have IP contamination issues. However, I doubt it because this would have been very old code by the time MorphOS was even started and MorphOS uses a different kernel anyway (MorphOS was always intended to add things like SMP and full memory protection at some point so the low level architecture is quite different).
The other question is, did anyone who has seen AmigaOS source work on MorphOS.
The answer to this is more complex, because it depends on the time elapsed between seeing the AmigaOS code and then working on MorphOS. As I understand it there shouldn't be any IP issues because MorphOS wasn't started until years later.
I'm no expert on this but I do know people (in a completely different context) who have been "IP contaminated" and had to go and work on something else for a period of months before they could come back to work on something related.
It should be pointed out however that MorphOS was never created as an alternative or to compete with AmigaOS. When MorphOS was started AmigaOS had been cancelled and declared dead.
I once asked did they use any AmigaOS code and was given a clear no. I've no reason to doubt this.
The point he's making is about "IP pollution". Has anyone working on MorphOS seen the AmigaOS source? If so, then there is a potential problem.
It's not about if someone has copy-pasted code. It's if they've ever even seen the AmigaOS code. If so, under what conditions was it seen? Was any code produced referencing it and did any of this make it into MorphOS?
It's much more complex than it first appears and it's certainly a valid question.
While some people are writing off Dave as some old dude, it's clear to me he's one of the smartest people who ever worked on the Amiga and given the clarity of the comments he makes, still is. Quite why he is so negative towards MorphOS I don't know, but I suspect it's all a misunderstanding, a very old misunderstanding.
However, I think this can be finally cleared up by answering the questions he posed:
I believe the first part has been answered. What about the second?
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If the MorphOS people would like to swear in public that
not a line of code or comment is copied from the AmigaOS sources
or
derived from the Phase 5 code