Re: WHO???

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

Steven Lichter wrote:
: I still support the Apple II and have hardly made anything on new sales of
: GBBS, and just a few on upgrades, right now I'm holding off on anymore because
: we are working on a better upgrade.

: We have all copyed software at one time or another, if not to just see how it
: works and then maybe buy it.  Just because the software is not for sale anymor
e
: does not mean that gives the right to copy it and give it to others, do you do
: the same for music and other items you can no longer buy?

No, it does not give people the right to copy the software.  As it stands,
copyright laws are not indefinite either.  This is an acknowledgement that
some intellectual property has a greater social value, and should not
depend upon the copyright holder for its survival.  And I am a firm believer
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.

But a lot of software is simply destroyed, and that does concern me.  At the
very least music has a chance for survival in the exchange and sale of
second hand merchandise.  But software?  With the exception of individual
sales, it has not even a prayer!  Take Apple II software, I have yet to find
an original piece of software and documentation in used software shops or
thrift stores.  Indeed, I stick to software like Sneeze and FrEd Writer
because of this.  I also have originals of diskettes which came with the
//e (DOS 3.3, Apple Presents . . ., and ProDOS).  Beyond that I have a
disfunctional copy of PFS and manuals for AppleWorks.

All of my other software (this stuff in original boxes, manuals and such) is
for the Commodore 64 and 128.  One package is for 8-bit Atari's and another
is for the Atari ST.  Since the Apple II is my main machine, it sort of leaves
me wondering what did people do with their software?  Trust me, playing games
on a C=128 ain't fun!

But how many software shops are going to carry used Apple II software.  Come
to think of it, I only know of one place in my city of 800 thousand that
sells used software at all.  Now it has been around for years, and I remember
when it did sell Commodore and Apple software, but not any more.  As the
proprieter told one person who wanted to sell an Amiga, the stuff simply does
not sell.  Hell, Macintosh software does not sell that well in his shop,
nor does OS/2.  About a month ago I picked up two copies of Warp Connect (one
red and one blue), which were displayed prominently for three to four months.
I also picked up a copy of MacX for half price simply because it had been
sitting around for over six months!  Now I can not go around buying every
odd ball package in his store to keep his sales of odd ball stuff up.  But
I did make my contribution.  AND STILL NO APPLE II SOFTWARE.

For myself, bidding for stuff on the Internet is not an option either,
mostly because things always get bid out of proportion if two really
interested people are involved.  About eight months ago I tried buying
a copy of Apple Pascal, and bid my fair price.  The next guy bid about
1.5 to two times what I could afford to pay.  So that leaves me with
used software shops (again, no Apple II), thrift stores, and finding
sympathetic individuals on newsgroups who will sell their wares for a
fair price (individual deal, no auctioning).

BTW - I am still looking for a version of Pascal which will work on a ROM03
1Mb IIgs.

Byron.