Re: What do you think?

[Scott_Fahlman@SEF-PMAX.SLISP.CS.CMU.EDU]

Dear Mr. Juwig,

Rob MacLachlan passed your query on to me.  I lead the CMU Common Lisp
project and handle the administrative decisions.

Many groups in Europe have already obtained CMU Common Lisp for free via
anonymous FTP, but there are still some potential users who are not
attached to the Internet -- I don't really know how many.  We can't help
these people for two reasons: first, making and sending tapes is a big
hassle for us; second, and more important, we get our money from the U. S.
Department of Defense, and they would find it politically embarrassing if
we were to *actively* distribute our software outside the U. S.  (As you
know, our government currently has very mixed feelings about international
cooperation vs. foreign competition.)

So far, we have had no complaints about passive distribution via anonymous
FTP.  This benefits U.S. industry, and if other countries also get the
code, we can't control that.  In fact, maybe 1/3 of our users are in
Europe.

We would be happy to find some company like yours that would make tapes for
people in Europe, but I think this company must have good access to the
Internet.  Then the company can pick up new releases whenever we make them,
and not distribute obsolete code.  Is there perhaps some nearby university
or laboratory on the Internet who could work with you on this?

Regards,
Scott Fahlman

===========================================================================
Scott E. Fahlman
School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Internet: sef+@cs.cmu.edu