From:	jstewart' at \`fai.com (Dr. James Stewart)
Date:	Mon, 26 Oct 92 11:13:59-1795
Subject:	Details of MOPAC-7 Release

         Details of the Release of MOPAC-7


  Until now, MOPAC has been public-domain software.

  After I left the Seiler Research Laboratory, and became a private
consultant, it became inevitable that MOPAC would become a commercial
product.  Under an agreement with Fujitsu, MOPAC-7 has been developed.
Initially, our plan was to sell MOPAC-7, and get a reasonable return on
our investment.  However, some researchers made the point that, as
MOPAC had become widely available, it now no longer `belonged' to any
one person or organization.  In recognition of this, Fujitsu decided to
distribute MOPAC-7 through QCPE to end-users, both academic and industrial.

  We finally decided on the following arrangements:

 1.  MOPAC-7 will come in two forms: MOPAC-7 (public domain),
     and MOPAC-7.

 2.  MOPAC-7 (public domain) will consist of MOPAC 6 plus all
     donated code plus essential bug fixes.  We hope this satisfies
     the ethical imperative that we do not take commercial advantage
     of freely donated code or ideas.

 3.  MOPAC-7 will consist of MOPAC-7 (public domain) plus work
     commissioned by Fujitsu. MOPAC-7 will be protected by copyright.

 4.  Both MOPAC-7 and MOPAC-7 (public domain) will be distributed
     through the Quantum Chemistry Program Exchange.  The cost of
     both programs from QCPE will be the normal QCPE cost.

 5.  In order to receive MOPAC-7, users will be required to sign a
     non-distribution licence.

 6.  MOPAC-7 will consist of source code, command files, test-data,
     and hard-copy manual.

 7.  Users can modify the source code, port the source code to new
     platforms, and in general make whatever changes they want,
     provided the copyright notices are not altered.
     
 8.  All donated code will be acknowledged.  Some donors will be
     referred to as `authors' in the current version.

 9.  Organizations who want to modify MOPAC-7, and distribute the
     resulting modified code, will need to obtain a special license,
     in which case they should contact:

                Kumiko Iguchi
                Manager, New Business Development
                Applications Software Planning
                Information Systems Division
                Fujitsu America, Inc
                3041 Orchard Parkway, San Jose
                CA 95134-2022
                
               Tel 408 988 8012 x  226
               FAX 408 492 1982

10.  The anticipated date of release of MOPAC-7 in January 1993.

We now recognise that MOPAC is truly a cooperative development.  Authors
in MOPAC-7 include researchers in Ireland, Japan, the Ukraine, and Israel,
as well as from the United States.  In recognition of the changing
status of MOPAC, many of the older, very informal, arrangements have had
to be changed.  For example, donors must formally agree to allow their
contributions to be placed into the public domain, and ported copies of
MOPAC must satisfy tests before they can be distributed.  To a large
degree, one effect of these changes is to allow us to increase quality control
over the program.   Because users are not allowed to distribute their
improvements without a special license (see 9 above), a mechanism is
being developed to allow their improvements to be included in the next
public domain release of MOPAC.



     James J. P. Stewart


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