Re: WHO???

[wbdesnoy@acs2.acs.ucalgary.ca (Byron Desnoyers Winmill)]

Jeff Blakeney wrote in response to Byron:
: >in this principle.  Now the question still stands, how long should that
: >interval be?  It is a question which I can not answer in good faith.

: That question has already been answered in the copyright laws.  No
: need to try to come up with another answer.  :)

You will recall that the longevity of the copyright is intended to serve the
interests of the author, while setting limits to ensure that material of
significant social value is allowed to survive.  But I would also argue that
those same laws define an unreasonable period to preserve works of significant
social value.

The reason for this is rather simple: the significance of any piece of writing
(and it is probably safe to say something similar for music, photography,
programming, videography, or any other form of mass communications) is to the
generation for which it is created.  For example, a child born today could no
more understand the marvels of Ultima or Zork than a mediaeval king could
understand Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World".

That means that the value of this material would be lost to all but historians.
And how material historians will lament when they discover that we were so
eager to shamefully destroyed all links to our past.

: >But a lot of software is simply destroyed, and that does concern me.  At the

: I don't see why Apple II software can't survive through the exchange
: and sale of second hand merchandise.  It may be a little harder to get
: than some music but it is still available that way.

Going back to my earlier comments,  you will find that I said the only places
that I could find affordable second hand components was through individual
dealings, thrift stores, and that software consignment store which is not so
far away.  Well, Bev and yourself gave a couple of excellent examples of why
this is true.

Now it may be said that I am frugal with my software, but I take
a deal when I find one.  To me, $30 US for AppleWorks with
documentation is not one of those deals when I can pick up a copy
of ClarisWorks (still in the shrink wrap) for the Macintosh for
$20 CAN.  You are familiar with the state of the Candian dollar
and can confirm that that is half the price.  Come to think of
it, I paid less for a fully equiped compact Macintosh and
ClarisWorks than I did for my adequate IIgs.

But don't get me wrong: while my IIgs makes a poor IIgs, or classic Macintosh,
it makes a fantastic IIe.  This is because IIgs has a crisp display (have RGB
monitor), can fit all of my useful software (Sneeze, ShrinkIt, Kermit, FrEd
Writer, Apple's ProDOS utilities, etc.) on a single 3.5" diskette, loads stuff
faster (re: 3.5" floppy), had tonnes of memory (if only it could be used for
something other than RAM drives), and is easier to attach to my modem (re:
modem cables can be swapped with my Macintosh).

Now the development tools offered by ByteWorks seems somewhat more reasonable,
but that is mostly because of my interest in Apple II programming.  The Apple
IIe was the first computer that I really learned how to program on!  (And
Pascal is my favorite language by far, though I learned how to program in it
on a PC.)

But I have digressed.

: My thrift shops rarely carry Apple II software but I'm only in a city
: of 100,000 and Apple wasn't quite as popular in Canada as it was/is in
: the states, unfortunately.  I have found a couple pieces of software
: that way, though.

Same country, just the other end.  I can say the same about Apple computers
out west though: everybody seemed to have Commodores.  My exposure to Apple
machines were through school.

: However, the best way to get stuff is from individuals that are
: getting rid of their Apple IIs.  You can find these people through
: your local users group, by posting want ads in buy and sell papers and
: don't forget comp.sys.apple2.marketplace.

When buying things online:

Outragous prices seem to be par for the course.  $15 US + shipping quite
easily makes a DSDD floppy drive for Apples and Macintoshes twice the price
for new high density drives on a PC.  I finally found a drive for $15 CAN
though.  The shipping was quite reasonable too, since it was coming from
300km north of here.  And I still think that that is steep.

The local buy/sell papers are not much help either.  Ads can stay in there
for months and only get one or two responses.  Usually these deals fall
through because of price or location or, in the case of the last guy, he
was trying to deal with a new baby in the family.  Though I have managed
to get a super serial card that way.  <grin>

: I don't know if Orca/Pascal will run on a IIgs with only 1 MB of RAM
: and using it from floppies can be a little tiresome but Apple 1 MB
: memory cards can be had for free to take you to 2 MB which will allow
: you to run a whole lot more software.  Hard drives can be a little
: expensive depending on how you get one but they will definitely make
: using your IIgs a much more pleasant experience.  :)

Well, I have the IIgs connected to my fast machine (it is a IIci).  That
give me my hard drive.  Slow, but cheap!  ;-)  But I will gladly take one
of those Apple 1Mb memory cards off somebody's hands.  You can even keep
the memory chips, since I can populate the board myself.  (Almost a dozen
XTs and ATs pillaged in their sleep.  Mah-haw-haw!  Now how is that for
a sadistic streak.  ;-)  Shipping will, of course, be paid for.  I will
also trade minor Apple IIe or Commodore 64 accessories.

Byron.