Dave Crow (from Triangle Universities Computation Center - TUCC) hosted this review of the SPLA programs available. Dave is the author of the Heath clock code that we run at my shop.

He started off with a little ancient history. The SPLA library was begun in 1955 ("In 1955 there was nothing BUT public domain software"). Although SHARE started it, IBM ran it for 14 years. Remember Type-3 and Type-4 Contributed Programs? Type-3 programs were written by IBM SEs, and Type-4 programs were written by customers. HASP was a Type-3 program. In 1969 SHARE took the library back when IBM got out of the free software business.

All the popular mods tapes are available through SPLA, but you are probably better off getting them from their original sources, 'cause SPLA isn't cheap. SPLA distribution is not limited to SHARE members (but SHARE is restricted from sending software to Red Bloc countries or to South Africa).

Dave made the usual and obligatory pitch for contributions to the library.

TUCC is closing shop by July 1990! It was owned by Duke, UNC and NC State, but Duke pulled out this past year, and the other two are following suit. This means Dave Crow will be without a job (but certainly not for long), and the SPLA library will be without a home. The next SSD (SHARE newsletter) will ask for volunteers to take the library distribution task over. They expect that it is a break-even proposition for the sponsoring institution.