There *is* some precedent for turning proprietary software into the public
domain. DEC's done it, in fact, through DECUS. Where they are not the sole
licensor (as in the case of Multiplan, where Microsoft holds some rights),
they can't, of course.
I've been meaning to say this for some time, but keep forgetting: the
MicroCHS stuff is only useful if you have *their* controller. I assumed if
you had their controller, you had their software. So I figured you had a
DEC controller. There aren't any other choices, right?
That's the only reason for mentioning their stuff. As long as DOS can
find the disk to partition and format it, you're initialized and don't need
MicroCHS's stuff.
No, I never heard what happened to that guy, but I'd look outside the
United States, first.