RE: NONMEM 7 Update

Dear all, The term "open source" has been used in connection with NONMEM. This is not correct. A better term might be "source distribution". For the definition of "open source", please see http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd NONMEM distribution never complied with any of the rules, e.g., free redistribution and derived works, nor was it intended to comply with the spirit of open source. The code was always protected via copyright and a strict license agreement (see below). Some historical background: the first version of NONMEM (ca. 1980) was distributed as pre-compiled binaries for IBM mainframes. Stuart decided later to distribute as source only because it allowed NONMEM to be run on more platforms. Comments were stripped to help it fit on the smaller media (mag tapes; floppies) of the time. Did any users ever look at the source code to understand what NONMEM was doing, or contact Stuart to say "the algorithm in such and such a subroutine could be improved, here is my suggestion"? Maybe, but Stuart did not distribue the source code to invite collaboration. I believe that, had there been some way of distributing NONMEM in a form that would allow it to be installed on all platforms, but without providing the source code, Stuart would have done so, and Lewis would have agreed. Perhaps there will be a loss to the NONMEM community and to science when the source is no longer distributed, but it is not "open source" as such that is being lost. As Tom Ludden pointed out to me, "The new methods have all been previously published. Only the specific implementations of the methods are protected, not the science related to their development." Here are some of the provisions of the license agreement that was used when UCSF distributed the code. As you can see, they were not at all in the spirit of open source software, and do not allow anyone to take NONMEM and develop it on their own. 2.1 REGENTS grants to LICENSEE a non-transferable, non-exclusive license, under REGENTS' Copyright and/or license to use, for internal use only, LICENSED PRODUCTS. No right to sublicense REGENTS' LICENSED PRODUCTS is included herein and such right is expressly withheld. 3. RIGHT TO USE . 3.1 LICENSEE shall have the right to copy and modify the LICENSED PRODUCTS for use on a single computer of LICENSEE provided that any portion thereof included in a modified work shall remain subject to all terms and conditions of this Agreement. LICENSEE agrees to take all steps necessary to ensure that the LICENSED PRODUCTS, or any portion thereof, in any form, are not disclosed to others by LICENSEE. LICENSEE warrants that all individuals having access to the LICENSED PRODUCTS under this Agreement shall observe and perform this nondisclosure covenant, and that the LICENSEE will establish adequate procedures for this purpose. 11. TERMINATION 11.1 LICENSEE agrees that, should this license not be renewed within thirty (30) days after its anniversary date, LICENSEE will return all LICENSED PRODUCTS to REGENTS and will destroy all other copies of LICENSED PRODUCTS and any derivative works of LICENSED PRODUCTS LICENSEE may have in his possession. -- Alison Boeckmann [email protected]