14 November 1986
Mr. Art Carlson, Editor
The Computer Journal
190 Sullivan Crossroad
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Subject: Legal Status of ZCPR3 and ZRDOS
Dear Art:
On page 46 of Issue 25 of The Computer Journal appears a letter from
"D.D.". Item (4) of the letter states "The Z-System is public
domain, but surely the BIOS from Micromint or Ampro is not public
domain; specifically, which files is one allowed to copy for friends?"
Our reply. First, Z-System is not public domain, period. All
aspects of ZCPR3 and ZRDOS that make up the Z-System are copyrighted.
But ZCPR3, CP/M CCP replacement, is special. Programs and utilities
written by Richard Conn can be freely copied and given to friends, but
they can not be sold. You need a license from Echelon to sell ZCPR3
programs.
Second, ZRDOS, the CP/M BDOS replacement combined with ZCPR3 is
Z-System, is licensed and supported by Echelon. You need a license
from Echelon to sell ZRDOS. And it is against the law to copy it and
give to friends. Subject files are ZRDINSnn.COM and ZRDOSnn.BIN,
where "nn" is the version number. But support utilities associated
with ZRDOS can be freely given to friends who have obtained ZRDOS
package from us. These are AC, VTYPE, VIEW, SFA, DFA, COMP, DOSERR,
DOSVER, DISKRST, LOGGED, DRO, SRO, and SRW. Each was written to take
advantage of features of Z-System and thus only run if ZRDOS is
present.
Z-System is fully copyrighted by Richard Conn, Dennis Wright, and
Echelon. To sell and support Z-System is one reason Echelon is in
business.
Last, those who receive Z-System fully installed on their
computer, e.g., on Micromint's SB180, and want to become involved with
the Z-System community, should subscribe to our fortnightly
newsletter, Z-News. It sells for $24.00 per year. Also we have a
free catalog of interesting Z80 and HD64180 Z-System and CP/M-
compatible software products. Additionally, we support over 60 remote
access systems called Z-Nodes around the world acting as electronic
forums for people interested in Z-System. Latest program versions
appear first here.
Art, thanks for supporting our kind of computing--keep it up!
Cordially,
(signed)
Frank Gaude'
President
P.S. Please check with Micromint and Ampro to get their BIOS position.
We cannot speak for them.
