Re: Building An Apple ][ Software Archive

[atanasmarkov@my-deja.com]

In article <39c937ac_3@news3.prserv.net>,
  "Tom Zuchowski" <tzuchow@attglobal.net> wrote:
> IMHO asimov's great sin was its total lack of maintenance. As someone
> mentioned, it was a catalogue disaster, and they did not bother to
remove
> commercially viable titles from their list. That was unacceptable and
I
> fully understand the wrath asimov felt from many people. I
wholeheartedly
> agree that asimov SHOULD have been shut down. It WAS criminal the way
they
> callously damaged then-current authors and publishers. I totally gave
up on
> trying to get them to fix their Eamon library, which was a total
disaster. I
> settled for telling everyone I met to get their Eamon DSK's anywhere
but
> asimov.
>
> Having said that, I have some difficulty understanding the problem the
> copyright zealots are having with 20-year-old DOS 3.3 games that were
> commercially DOA long before the Apple IIgs came out. I have quite a
stack
> of these. Anybody ever try Automated Simulations' old games? Invasion
Orion,
> Temple of Apshai, Rescue at Rigel, Hellfire Warrior, for some
examples. And
> then later when AS morphed into Epyx, there was Star Warrior, Crush,
> Crumble, & Chomp and a bunch of other really fun plays.
>
> Anybody remember Three Mile Island? I've spent about a million hours
playing
> that one. All done in Lo-res graphics, a sure moneymaker in today's
market!
>
> How about Robot War? I had it directly from the author at Kansasfest
one
> year (was his name Silas Warner?) that the original masters of that
great
> classic went into a landfill and were lost forever. He regretfully
had no
> idea how we would go about getting it released to the public domain,
and he
> is the author! But that game has zero value in today's computer
market.
>
> I toyed with the idea of including a bunch of those old Automated
> Simulations games on my Eamon disk. But in the end, I chickened out.
> Needless to say I am not in the least bit concerned about any
response from
> the Epyx people although if they did come forward, I would quickly do
> anything they required of me. No, I chickened because I didn't want
to face
> the firestorm from the copyright zealots.
>
> Tom Zuchowski
> Eamon Adventurer's Guild newsletter and CD
>
you understood the main problem out there. there's lots of software
that was great for it's time, but it can't be sold now for any reason.
have you tried publish it!? it was great for the early 90s, but will
you publish anything using a dot matrix printer now in the year 2000?
so why should this software be copyrighted? and what about the games
you talk about? can they sell them now? so why do their authors keep
them away from public? that's why i am against such "privacy". yes, we
must keep privacy, but for products that can still be sold. we must
respect authors. i am an author, too(i write accounting software for
the PC), but should i keep my copyrights in 5 or even 10 years if i
haven't written newer versions of the product, that will surely be very
difficult to sell at all? i think i'll have to write new products then,
but not try to sell the old one. so i think that software that's more
than certain age old must be made PD. can we take any steps for doing
that?


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