Mathematica to Maxima translation is a derivative work



There is a lot of precedent for reverse engineering
of software as long as you don't look at the code-- even
software belonging to companies that can afford to buy
higher-quality equal justice than Wolfram R.  All the
functions I wrote thus far have no source code supplied with
them, so thats not a problem. My memory is not clear, but I
seem to recall application packages delivered with source
code in the early 90s, but I can't believe WR would have
done that-- unless it didn't compile properly.  That would
have to be reimplemented without looking at it if you wanted
it.  Incidentally, on the topic of reverse engineering-- all
the hype fanfare at the time notwithstanding, there is a
reason Mma looks so much like Macsyma.

(btw, Macsyma is a great name for a math program for the age
of google, and Maxima is terrible. But I guess they were
chosen long before the web.)

On Sunday 14 September 2008 02:32:33 pm AAlberto Ruiz Ce?or wrote:
> I think that creating a derivative work, such as a translation from
> Mathematica to Maxima is copyright by Mma, so who to sue in case of
> problems?