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0 pointspanick21_3y ago0 comments

Since this is a thread of Adobe and some people might know this:

In the late 80s and 90s many of the window managers were based on PostScript. Sun News was an extension of PostScript and Next was based on Display PostScript.

How did licensing work back then. Could Sun have OpenSource News? I mean it did implement PostScript but my understanding is they were not using actual Adobe code.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

grishka3y ago· 1 in thread

Is it even possible to license a standard? Not a particular implementation, but the standard itself, like a file format or a network protocol.

panick21_OP3y ago

I don't know if there were libraries or things like that provided by Adobe that was included in News.

> Is it even possible to license a standard?

Its the age old question of software interfaces right?

My assumption would that if Sun had their own implementation with no code from Adobe, they should be able to open it up. But unlike that that is something Adobe would have liked.

hedgehog3y ago· 1 in thread

I don't know specifically but it was bad enough that Apple decided to rework OS X before they shipped.

panick21_OP3y ago

I never read anything about why they did it. Next developed Display PostScript with Adobe back in the day.

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