Important News About the Kermit Project

Columbia University is proud of its role in developing and supporting the Kermit protocol and software, first developed in 1981 by Columbia University to facilitate interconnection of diverse computers and transfer of data between them. Columbia has been pleased to offer the various versions of Kermit software for free or at exceptionally low fees over the years, providing what we believe has been a valuable contribution to the progress and popularization of computing over the past 30 years.

Unfortunately, Columbia has determined it can no longer continue to support the Kermit Project going forward. As of July 1st, 2011, development of any new Kermit software enhancements at Columbia University will cease, as will any ability of Columbia to provide ongoing maintenance and technical support for Kermit.

As a reminder, existing commercial licenses of the Kermit software itself are perpetual, so current users may continue to use their existing licensed copies of Kermit under the terms of the agreement even after Columbias support and maintenance have ceased. In addition, Columbia intends to continue to make new Kermit 95 Bulk Right-to-Copy licenses (without maintenance or support obligations) available after July 1st, 2011, for those who may wish to obtain them. If you or your organization would like to purchase a new Kermit 95 bulk license or additional license seats, please contact us via email at techventures@columbia.edu, and reference “Kermit” in the subject line.

Columbia is also exploring ways to make the underlying Kermit source code available to the public after July 1st, 2011, so that ongoing development of Kermit can continue beyond Columbia's involvement. Our current plan is to distribute the source code in a new Open-Source version bearing the BSD license, except for code that is not authorized for distribution through that means. In addition, the Kermit website will remain available for the foreseeable future, with pages modified to indicate the new situation. The Kermit ftp archive will also remain available for the foreseeable future.

Thank you for your support of the Kermit project over these many years. For details of the transition, click the first button below. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at techventures@columbia.edu.

Transition Details Kermit Project Home Page

Orin Herskowitz

Executive Director and VP of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer

Columbia University

techventures@columbia.edu

This page replaces the Kermit Project home page for one month: 15 March - 15 April 2011. Use buttons above to access website.