What was the software world like before open source?

Limited equipment and vendors made life like a dystopian horror story.

Many All Things Open conference attendees have grown up with open source software (OSS). Since the 1990’s, we have taken Linux, TCP/IP, POSIX, and other innovations for granted. Or these were the norms for those under thirty-five.

But things were different before open source software. Computers filled entire rooms with their cabinets. Minicomputers were the size of a refrigerator. Your company or school had a computer, as in one singular. There were many vendors including IBM, UNIVAC, Digital, Sun, Wang, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few. You had to choose one vendor. 

You purchased the hardware, software, training, maintenance, and software support from that vendor. If you wanted a compiler for FORTRAN, COBOL, ALGOL, or another language, you paid extra for it. The software licenses were very restrictive on how, when, and why you could use your vendor’s property. The easiest way to see your system’s source code was to get a job with the vendor. 

You did not have to worry about network issues, as most systems did not support networking. To share code, you could use Sneaker-net by making a floppy disk (back when they were floppy) or a reel of tape and walking it to the destination. However, you could not share a program that ran on your IBM 360 with my DEC VAX. Now, there was a project from AT&T with an operating system named UNIX that ran on a few different types of hardware (a big wow), but entering into a contractual obligation with AT&T was a nightmare. 

Programmers were lucky if they had access to a compiler, a step-debugger, a full-screen editor, and a monochrome monitor. The learning curve was much less steep than now. The fortunate few were able to have a terminal and a phone line device known as a MODEM to access the computer after hours and on weekends. 

If your vendor decided that the old line of hardware would be replaced by a gleaming, new type of hardware, then the value of your current investment in everything went to zero. New meant buying everything new, and all your old stuff was sold for scrap. The support costs of an older machine were astronomical, and your staff did not want to be put into the antique computer niche. So goodbye RSTS/E, Tops-10/20, and ‘hello VAX/VMS’ if you were in a Digital shop. 

All your old applications must be rewritten for the new platform. You were locked into your vendor, and changing to another vendor meant little more than a different address for the payments to be sent to. Damned if you do, damned if you do not, and your vendor drove the relationship. Was this a dystopian horror story? No, that is what computing was like before open source.

When a software product changes from a free and open source software license to something much more restrictive, it makes me mad. Little by little, the various modules we depend upon seem to be wrestled away, and the general community is made poorer. Not everyone can fork a now-restricted code or engineer around this obstacle. Each change to a restrictive license is a grain of sand being washed away from our computing foundation. This erosion will send us back to a version of the 1980’s and, if left unchecked, could lead back to the days of sole-source vendor lock-in and limited options.