Checking out the Contributed Software Library
April 3, 2008
When the HP 3000 first nurtured its community, the computer pros contributed software for one another. This sharing first took place in the 1970s, an era long before open source when only academics exchanged work without payment. For more than two decades the 3000 community created the Contributed Software Library, programs written and fostered in the computers of user group Interex.
More than two years have passed since Interex passed away. The user group's assets have been dissected, calculated and disbursed, but the CSL was not on any trustee's list. Interex never owned these programs, only the collective mass of them on a single tape or selected from one data store.
Now the community is looking for what it contributed. Charles Shimada, a volunteer whose hard work kept Interex computers running at many a conference, was holding the archives of the CSL when Interex melted down. He's willing to share any particular CSL program, so long as a 3000 user can ask for it by name.
Except for a few programs created and contributed by HP 3000 engineers at Boeing, the whole of the CSL is now available. How to get a program is a process with several solutions. Shimada said if anyone wants a contribution from the CSL, he will try to supply it in a store to disc format.
Craig Lalley, a former member of the Interex CSL committee, wonders that if Interex is now a non-entity — and indeed, the CSL looks abandoned — then who could sue for damages if the software programs were released
OpenMPE is ready to host this collection of contributed programs, accessible from a Web server. A collection of this kind of contributed software is already available on the servers at 3k Associates.