Some basic questions:
1) Do we know who the current owner of the commercial Macsyma is?
Rumor has it that Andrew Topping died intestate. If that is true, it
could take years to resolve.
2) Do we have any evidence that the current owner is interested in selling?
3) Do we have any idea of the current owner's expectations? Rumor had
it that Topping thought it was worth millions to the right buyer.
4) Do we have any information about who else might be interested in
buying it (MathWorks? one of the commecial CAS vendors?) If so, do we
have any calculation about what it would be worth to them?
5) Why do we believe that a Google or whoever would be interested in
making Macsyma available under a free license?
-s