Path: csiph.com!optima2.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!news.fcku.it!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Rod Pemberton" Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Open source CPU+open source toolchain Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2015 22:05:05 -0400 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 43 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: n4wpt9zq8xR26Ttf9mo2BA.user.speranza.aioe.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Opera Mail/12.16 (Linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.forth:40993 On Thu, 30 Jul 2015 21:56:55 -0400, Elizabeth D. Rather wrote: > On 7/30/15 8:22 PM, Rod Pemberton wrote: >> On Thu, 30 Jul 2015 01:40:11 -0400, rickman wrote: >>> Not intending to rain on anyone's parade, just asking a question. >> >> So, you're willing to reign on the people's parade? ... ;-) >> >>> Why does the forth community care if the FPGA development tools are >>> open source? >> >> No ... It's not open source that the Forth community wants. It's free. >> Not "free" as in "free" beer like open-source software, but "free" as >> in truly free. No cost. No money. No license. No encumbrances. >> >> Why? Because, that's the way the Forth community has always done it. >> Historically, they never copyrighted anything and gave everything they >> created away for free. >> >> You don't have to believe me. Go look for yourself. > > "Always done it"? FORTH, Inc was founded in 1973. FIG didn't come along > until 1977-8, largely inspired by the success of FORTH, Inc. (figFORTH > was based on FORTH, Inc.'s microFORTH, which was introduced in 1977). In > the 1980's, there was a thriving market in commercial Forths, with a > number of vendors producing products of varying quality, including MPE. > MPE and FORTH, Inc. are the only remaining commercial vendors, but our > roots go way back. > Yes, but, unfortunately, those are insignificant percentage of the overall Forth community over time. fig-Forth took over. fig-Forth code and interpreters are still working to this day. Most of the commercial programs from 1970's and 1980's disappeared when their companies went bankrupt. RP -- Scientists now say we'll experience a mini-ice in 2030. So, I guess we need more global warming today ...