Is There a "Public Domain" MATLAB?

From time to time, I see references to, or get requests for, the
"public domain" version of MATLAB.  I am the original author of
MATLAB, and one of the founders of The MathWorks.  I would like
to explain how I regard "public domain" MATLAB.

There are two versions of MATLAB.  I wrote the first, which we now
refer to as "classic" MATLAB, over the period from 1977 to 1984,
while I was on the faculty at the University of Mexico.  It is
an interactive matrix laboratory, written in Fortran, which uses
some of the subroutines from LINPACK and EISPACK.  I distributed
a few hundred copies of the source code, usually charging a
small service charge, and including a letter requesting that the
code not be redistributed.  I never used the term "public domain".

The second version, written in C by Steve Bangert and John Little,
is the basis for a family of products from The MathWorks, Inc.,
a company which Bangert, Little and I founded in 1985.  These
products are called PC-MATLAB, Mac-MATLAB, Pro-MATLAB, etc.

I obviously recommend that anyone interested in using MATLAB
acquire the MathWorks version appropriate for his or her machine.
In addition to my commercial interest, I believe the MathWorks
versions are preferable scientifically, educationally, and, in the
long run, economically.  The MathWorks versions:

     * Are faster in execution,
     * Have much better storage management,
     * Include powerful graphics,
     * Are extensible and programmable,
     * Can be expanded with sophisticated "toolboxes",
     * Are supported by scientific software professionals.

The only feature of classic MATLAB that is not present in modern
MATLAB is the "chop" function which allows the simulation of
shorter precision arithmetic.  It is an interesting curiosity,
but it is no substitute for roundoff error analysis and it makes
execution very slow, even when it isn't used.

I know of several serious bugs in classic MATLAB, particularly
in logical and looping operations, but I don't intend to fix them.
In fact, there have been no fixes made to the code since about 1982.
I stopped distributing any copies myself 4 or 5 years ago.

The number of computers for which MathWorks MATLAB is not available
is declining as old machines are retired and new machine versions
are announced.

A few other commercial systems, for example SCT's CTRL-C,
are based on classic MATLAB.  That's OK.  CTRL-C, was done with
my permission and it helped establish MATLAB in control and
systems engineering.  Now the company is a worthy competitor.

I realize that classic MATLAB is available on a few bulletin boards
and through some "freeware" services.  In some cases, unauthorized
statements about public domain software are included.   I have
regarded this as a mixed blessing.  It certainly gives the MATLAB
approach to computing valuable exposure, but I am afraid that some
users of classic MATLAB do not realize how inferior it is to the
MathWorks products.

In summary, here is my position:

     * There is no such thing as "public domain" MATLAB.

     * I no longer distribute "classic" MATLAB.

     * The code and documentation of classic MATLAB cannot
       be used for commercial purposes without my permission.

     * I would appreciate it if anybody making a copy of
       classic MATLAB for personal or educational use
       would include this statement with it.

Thanks to everybody who has used and supported all the versions
of MATLAB over the years.  Stick with us -- we're committed to
its continued support, development and improvement.

   -- Cleve Moler
      mo...@mathworks.com, or,
      na.mo...@na-net.stanford.edu

|> A few other commercial systems, for example SCT's CTRL-C,
|> are based on classic MATLAB.  That's OK.  CTRL-C, was done with
|> my permission and it helped establish MATLAB in control and
|> systems engineering.  Now the company is a worthy competitor.

Is CTRL-C based on the `classic' MATLAB code, or merely the concept?

|>
|> Thanks to everybody who has used and supported all the versions
|> of MATLAB over the years.  Stick with us -- we're committed to
|> its continued support, development and improvement.
|>
|>    -- Cleve Moler
|>       mo...@mathworks.com, or,
|>       na.mo...@na-net.stanford.edu
|>
|>    MathWorks main office:
|>       The MathWorks, Inc.
|>       21 Eliot Street
|>       South Natick, MA 01760
|>       508-653-1415

I find commercial pitches in `academic' newsgroups a little annoying (even
though we use and admire Pro-Matlab here quite a bit).

Anyway, if you're looking for a `public domain' Matlab lookalike.  Don Gavel
of LLNL has written one which is a freebee.  It's covered by the University
of California's copyright which is quite liberal (you can use it freely, but
you can't sell it).  It's called Mat/C and it runs on Macs and Suns.  If
you're interested give Don a ring at ga...@tweety.llnl.gov.  He is quite
willing to give away copies (with source code, in C).

I also know of a project at a major aerospace company, which I'll leave
unnamed, aimed toward providing a free Matlab-type tool.

For example, for my NeXT computer. Matlab announced 2 years ago when the
NeXT was unveiled that they would port, but never did so. Why would I be
interested in a small, free-ware MATLAB-like system? Because it would
presumably port to my NeXT in a day or so (given the Sun-3 and BSD4.3
compatibility).

Matlab is more than just an interactive system, it's also a language.  Many
people, myself included, have written their own utility programs in Matlab
to be loaded in as needed.  The main drawback is the lack of a way to
compile these files---interpreted loops can be incredibly slow.  A
compilation utility similar to that in Lisp systems would be very helpful.
A little competition from compatible systems might provide more impetus
for this and other improvements.

It's obviously an asset for any free clone to be fully "Matlab-compatible"
so as to be able to load user-written code without modification.  With
all the current furor about look-and-feel copyrights, though, I wonder
if duplicating the exact syntax of the language could be considered a
copyright infringement.  Anyone know?  Cleve, are you going to start
suing people?  If so, I hope the legal costs drive Mathworks belly up
within a year!  Picture IBM with a look-and-feel copyright on Fortran!

GNUMatlab, anyone?

--
Louis Howell

I have since received a call from Don.  Apparently, there are stricter
limited on distribution of the code.  Hence, the code cannot be distributed
via ftp and will probably not be released until it is in its final form.

My apologies to Don for any problems I may have caused him.

Matt