Re: An Example of Ancient Wares and Present Values

["Quantum_Cat" <anonymous@cotse.com>]

Hiya, SirThomas,

 *>SirThomas writes ...
 *>> 
 *>> At the risk of getting heavily flamed by pirates and
 *>> protectionists alike, here goes.
 *>>

Hey, feel free to jump in.  If you get too upset at getting 
flamed, you're doing something wrong.

RosyWanker expectorates:

 *>     Just a minor correction: Nobody here supports 
software piracy. Those

LOL!  That has GOT to be the dumbest thing I've heard from 
you, Rosy!  You've been taking lessons from Clinton, haven't 
you?  

 *>who support the archives which host ancient out-of-print 
commercial wares do
 *>so on the grounds that making the software available ...

Whee!  Another RosyWanker Bulleted List (tm)...

 *>o- benefits the copyright holder as well as programmers, 
artists, and others
 *>listed in the software's credits

Ah.. How convenient of you to forget to tell us how getting 
ripped off can benefit these folks.  It's about like saying 
"Well, you had fun, didn't you?" to a rape victim.  You suck, 
man.

 *>o- benefits users

No quibble here.  Oh, perhaps one.  That darn slippery slope 
where "It's OK to steal 20 yr. old software", then "It's OK 
to steal 15 yr. old software", then "It's OK to steal 10 yr. 
old software", then "It's OK to steal software".  

 *>o- violates no anti-piracy statutes .

Uh.. another name for this would be "copyright statutes" and 
we've demonstrated the fact that this is another RosyWanker 
lie so often that only mental midgets like the Turlettes and 
6 ft piles of dog feces don't "get" it yet.

 *> 
 *>> On the value that companies place on "ancient" software,
 *>> how about looking at a
 *>> fact or two?  Consider this current, Year 2000, example 
from Activision:
 *>> 
 *>> Buy a whole CD jam packed with Atari 2600 games for 
$12.95, get a CD
 *>> containing:
 *>> 
 *>> Zork I
 *>> Zork II
 *>> Zork III
 *>> Beyond Zork
 *>> Zork Zero
 *>> Enchanter
 *>> Sorcerer
 *>> Spellbreaker
 *>> Wishbringer
 *>> 
 *>> ...and...
 *>> 
 *>> Scans of all the manuals.
 *>> 
 *>> !!!AND!!!
 *>> 
 *>> All the hint books.
 *>> 
 *> ....
 *>> 
 *>> Cost in 2000, after $3.95 postage and packing, 
absolutely, totally,
 *>> unequivocally FREE!!!  Still copyrighted, though!!!
 *>> 

OK, SirThomas...earlier you mentioned "Buy a whole CD jam 
packed with Atari 2600 games for $12.95, get a CD 
containing:"... So this is 2 CD's for $13?

I don't know if you could claim this was "unequivocally 
FREE!!!"..  ;)

 *>> Hmmmm...
 *>> 
 *>> What conclusions could be drawn on what Activision
 *>> thinks of the value of this
 *>> "ancient" software?  Could one extrapolate this example
 *>> to lots and lots of other companies?
 *> ....

I'd say they think it's valuable enough to use as an 
inducement to get you to buy their other software

 *>     Probably. In fact, at the nearly give-away price, 
what you have shown
 *>is that Activision feels its oldie software has value 
chiefly for
 *>promotional purposes.

Sure.  They feel that offering it would increase the sales of 
this particular product.

 *>     It hardly matters whether the oldie wares get out to 
users on a CD
 *>(which probably costs more to produce and distribute than 
the revenues from
 *>sales will repay) or is distributed via public archives-- 
except, of course,
 *>that distribution via the archives is free.

Wow.  That's quite a leap, Rosy.  It "hardly matters"?  

Note the difference:

"Buy our product AND get this CD filled with more games!"

"You don't have to buy our product to get all these games!"

Something tells me you're not a businessman, Rosy.  And that 
if you were, you wouldn't be for long.

Perhaps you've been playing to the gallery of idiot Turlettes 
so long that you've forgotten how to think on your own.

Or perhaps you just like being a manipulative liar.

 *>     Thanks for posting the information!

Yeah, interesting post, SirThomas... 

Vogons For a Turlette Free Apple II Community!

Quantum_Cat