Posted By
JamesC
on 2003-07-11
|  Re: Where Plus4 SW is better then M$?
I think that Microsoft owns the acronym of "Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code" (BASIC). The arrangement with Commodore probably ran along the lines of MS providing the original code but Commodore having the right to modify to suit future products (as obviously Commodore didn't plan on using the 6502 exclusively forever; the license would have to be renegotiated for 6510, 7501, 8502, etc). Licenses usually run for a predetermined length of time (ie 5 years, 10 years, etc).
Commodore's use of the Microsoft copyright notice would indicate to me that the original license was not applicable, and a new license negotiated. The new license probably required the "(C) 1977 Microsoft" line.
|
