[jan@intevation.de: Re: [Freegis-list] open source SEG-Y viewer wanted]

[John Stockwell]

On Wed, Jan 24, 2001 at 04:53:58PM +1100, John Reid wrote:
>>> Does anyone know of an open-source (or even just freely available)
>>> viewer for SEG-Y format seismic data?  Or even better, is there support
>>> for the SEG-Y format in one of the open source GIS packages?  We have
>>> some sonar data from the EdgeTech X-Star sub-bottom profiling system,
>>> and the ability to integrate this data with other sources would be very
>>> useful :-)           

>> Jan:
>>I am am forwarding you my answer to a recent question
>on the FreeGIS list.
>
>The actual problem of your license that violates the definition
>of Free Software is
>>
>>	"... The simple repackaging and selling of the SU package as is, is expressly
>>	forbidden without the prior written permission of the Colorado School
>>	of Mines. Any such arrangement will carry the restriction that only
>>	a modest profit above reproduction charges may be realized by the
>>	reproducer."
>
>With adding this statement, did you have a specific intention in mind?

First. To my knowledge there is no all inclusive legal definition of what 
constitutes "Free Software".  You may be referring to the "copyleft" policy
of the GNU project, but the rest of the world is not them.  Indeed, we may
be violating *your* definition of Free Software, but we stand by our right
to call our materials "Free".

Second. As to why we have this statement, this reason is simple: the disparity 
in price between our Free software and the price of commercial packages. 
Commercial seismic packages cost 10's of thousands to 100's of thousands of dollars, 
so there is a strong temptation by third party individuals to simply 
repackage SU, doing no original work of their own, for the purpose of selling the
package at a price beyon mere reproduction costs.

Indeed, we had one incident a couple of years ago in which a couple of individuals
attempted to sell SU, as is, to the University of Bengal for $100,000. They were not
successful because one of the students had the presence of mind to check the net
and contact me.  The individual thanked my for both providing SU as Free Software,
and for having an explicit statement in the License making it illegal to repackage
and sell the code, as is.

Third. The purpose of SU is to elevate the basic level of seismic utilities that
are available to the world community.  Indeed, we *encourage* users to take parts
of the SU source code and use it for the development of their own applications, 
whether these be commercial, or non-commercial. Our project is not one which 
exists to make money for organizations that exist merely to sell CD's containing 
other people's software, but who do not do original work of their own.

Fourth. The package is updated continuously, so by the time a CD would be obtained
by a user, that version would be out of date. So, the distribution by CD option
is less attractive.

Fifth.  We actively encourage users to submit their own improvements to the package.
Users do this without compensation, safe in the knowledge that their work is not being
exploited by a third party "distributors" to make money that the authors of the
code will never see.

> Jan:
>As you can see from the attached mail, it would be helpful to utilize
>the code for SEG-Y reading for other Free GIS Software products.
>So it would be great if you would release at least that part of code
>under a standard Free Software license or just contribute it e.g. to GRASS.

The full statement of the Guidlines of our license is as follows:

 Guidlines:
 SU may be used in the commercial processing of data, as well
 as the development of commercial software applications. The
 simple repackaging and selling of the SU package as is, is expressly
 forbidden without the prior written permission of the Colorado School
 of Mines. Any such arrangement will carry the restriction that only
 a modest profit above reproduction charges may be realized by the
 reproducer.

I do not believe that this restricts the normal usage of SU for academic,
government, or commercial seismic processing or for the development of 
commercial applications. Indeed, numerous seismic processing companies
and software vendors make use of our code for both of these purposes. 
As this usage is in accordance with our license, they do not have to obtain
prior written permission to use it in this fashion.

>Jan:
>SU make a very good impression though I haven't doenloaded and tested it.
>If you decide to make it Free Software, I would be happy to add it to FreeGIS at
>http://www.freegis.org.

I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with SU, before you make further
comments. Furthermore, I strongly object to your characterization of SU as not
being "Free Software".

The Seismic Un*x package *is* Free Software. I would also point out that our
package is the *only* Free seismic software package of its kind currently
used in more than 55 countries.

If "FreeGIS" is requesting a link to our site, then you have my permission
to do that.  If you would like to request permission to include our software
in one of your CD distributions, then you need only write a letter to me requesting
permission to do this. Please note, permission to distribute SU by CD is for a given
release of SU, which expires when a new release is granted. I don't want a bunch
of old releases being recycled, when new and improved versions are available.

I would furthemore point out that your policy regarding your definition of
"Free Software" is deficient, in that it does not recognize the right of authors
of Free Software to put their own restrictions and conditions on their packages,
nor does it encourage users of Free Software to familiarize themselves with the
licenses that free software may be downloading from the net.


-- 
John Stockwell	 | john at dix.Mines.EDU
Center for Wave Phenomena (The Home of Seismic Un*x)
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401 | http://www.cwp.mines.edu/cwpcodes
voice: (303) 273-3049

Our new book:
Norman Bleistein, Jack K. Cohen, John W. Stockwell Jr., [2000],
Mathematics of multidimensional seismic imaging, migration, and inversion,
(Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics, V. 13.), Springer-Verlag, New York.



This file is the property of the Colorado School of Mines,
it may not be altered in any way.
Copyright statement:
Copyright (c) Colorado School of Mines, 1992-2000
All rights reserved.

The CWP/SU Seismic Unix package is not public domain software,
but it is available free under the following license:

License:
Permission to use, copy, and modify this software for any
purpose within the guidelines set below, and without fee is
hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice 
and this permission notice appear in all copies, and the 
name of the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) not be used in 
advertising or publicity pertaining to this software without 
specific, written prior permission from CSM. CSM makes no representations 
about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is 
provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Guidlines:
SU may be used in the commercial processing of data, as well
as the development of commercial software applications. The
simple repackaging and selling of the SU package as is, is expressly
forbidden without the prior written permission of the Colorado School
of Mines. Any such arrangement will carry the restriction that only
a modest profit above reproduction charges may be realized by the
reproducer.

Referencing Seismic Unix:
In publications, please reference SU as per the following example.

Example:
   Cohen, J. K. and Stockwell, Jr. J. W., (2000), CWP/SU: Seismic
      Unix Release 34: a free package for seismic research and processing,
      Center for Wave Phenomena, Colorado School of Mines.

Of course, 2000  and 34 should be replaced with date and number
of the release you are using.

Recent articles about SU in peer-reviewed journals:
Saeki, T., (1999), A guide to Seismic Unix (SU)(2)---examples
        of data processing (part 1), data input and preparation 
        of headers, Butsuri-Tansa (Geophysical Exploration), 
        vol. 52, no. 5,  465-477.
Stockwell, Jr. J. W. (1999), The CWP/SU: Seismic Un*x Package,
        Computers and Geosciences, May 1999.
Stockwell, Jr. J. W. (1997), Free Software in Education: A case
         study of CWP/SU: Seismic Un*x, The Leading Edge, July 1997.
Templeton, M. E., Gough, C.A., (1998), Web Seismic Un*x:
        Making seismic reflection processing more accessible, Computers
        and Geosciences, in press.

Disclaimer: 
There are no guarantees, explicit or implicit, made by the
Center for Wave Phenomena, the Colorado School of Mines, or
any member of the aforesaid organizations, or by any
contributor to this package, past, present,
or future, regarding the accuracy, safety, usefulness, or
any other quality or aspect of this software or any software
derived from it. 

Statement of Y2K compliance:
All releases of SU from the initial to the current release have been Y2K
compliant as there are no serious parts of the SU package that depend
on the date.