Subject: Re: USGS and Vista Pro
From: Ernie Wright <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 13:55:36 -0700 (MST)

> Question:  Since the USGS is a government arm, this data should
> essentially be FREE.  I know this because anything I develop as I work
> for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and gov't sponsored is in the public
> domain.

The USGS data is basically public, and the costs associated with getting
it are mostly to cover collecting it together, reformatting it and making
it available on convenient media.

But it is NOT true that work paid for by the government is automatically
public domain.  The work I do for DOD agencies is licensed to the federal
government ONLY, and this is the case for most contractors.  If this
weren't true, contractors would have to give away the entire private-
sector market in exchange for the priviledge of working for the govern-
ment.  Put another way, the .0005 cents you contribute to the cost of my
work doesn't necessarily entitle you to incorporate my source code in
your next commercial release.

- Ernie