Building An Apple ][ Software Archive

[lowlife2270@my-deja.com]

Hi to all of you.

This is my first post to the newsgroup, so I'm expecting some flames
and so on, but please, bear with me, I'm sure that what I say won't be
completely wasted.

I've been reading, both with interest and concern, about the entrenched
views regarding software piracy and software archival (and its
associated retrieval). Clearly, people have issues with how this has
been happening in the past (the Asimov topic would be an obvious way to
prove this).

I'm not going to say that anyone has been right or wrong in this
particular argument. I don't think that would achieve anything, and the
last thing I want to do is to aggravate any already-existing feelings
(that's not why I'm posting). Instead, I'd like to help the community
ensure that the rich diversity of Apple software is maintained for
people in the future to enjoy.

I propose that we build a software archive. One in which access is
controlled. One in which those that post material can ensure that they
can access their own material again. One which shows all the skills
which the Apple ][ series fostered in the community (and yes, that
includes the cracking of software titles). I could get into more
details than this, but I don't know that they would be overly useful at
this point. Suffice to say that there would be a cute web-based
interface to the system, and people could browse through a listing of
the current contents of the archive. I have several years' experience
of doing this kind of work, and I'd be more than happy to apply that
knowledge to something constructive like this. I'm not in it for the
money (or the disk images).

My point is this. We can all argue about the relative merits of each
others' stances on this issue until we're far past blue in the face.
And some may find that to be what they want to do, no question. However
we are now, in effect, the sole patrons of a revolutionary computer and
the cuture it spawned. It would be a pity for that to be lost.

If anyone has any thoughts on how they would like to see this dealt
with, please feel free to let me know, either through the group or the
nasty deja.com email address above.

Paul


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