The battle Rages!

[Nick <spam@ix.netcom.com>]

Well, if nothing else, the flame wars and persistent
I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong exchanges are certainly entertaining.  It
certainly livens things up in here!

Personally, I think it is pretty pathetic to argue about something as
trivial as reposting or compiling public or semi-public forum postings,
especially if it has been done to become a value-added resource.  I
could see a problem if someone was mirroring Delphi on their own server
or on USENET, but this isn't the case.  I also don't see the harm in
archiving and distributing copies of extremely old software, where most
of the companies don't even exist anymore, and those who do, aren't
worrying about a platform with as small of a userbase to erode its
profits.  The sites that distribute the software don't make money off of
it, and if it weren't for those sites, the software would cease to
exist, and so would a lot of interest in the platform.

There are a lot of moral and ethical questions raised about whether this
practice is really "okay."  It would certainly not be a fair thing to
give a registered copy of say, Bernie to someone else, without their
paying their fee to the authors.  There is a channel to purchase the
software, and if you use the application, you should buy it.  However,
if you want to play your old favorite game, say Summer Games, you have
no reliable avenue to purchase the software.  You might be able to find
a site on the web that carries old stock or some such thing, but Epyx is
not going to benefit from the sale, especially being that they don't
exist.  The same holds true for almost all apple II software where the
companies are still around.  They've already made all the money they are
going to make off of the software.  They sold off their stock to
distributers long ago, and if any still exist in the channel, it is so
far off the company's books, they probably don't even have a sku for it
any more.  So are the distributers stuck?  Well, for those who really
care and are in it for the nostalgia, they might buy the software
anyway, just for the "cool" value... that is their market.  No one else
is going to make an investment in something that old unless they really
want it.

So, without saying it is right or wrong to participate in this activity,
it doesn't really hurt anyone at this point, and it has such a minimal
impact on society at large, that it is hardly worth the time to write
the messages about.  The positive effect of making the old software
available is that it allows for a larger interest in the platform.  The
more interest there is in the platform, the better the odds that someone
will want to buy a new piece of software for it.  There are a lot of
strikes against old platforms as it is,  since they are slow, have
limited modern capabilities and are difficult to maintain.  The platform
can use as many users as possibe to keep it alive.  It is kind of like
Betamax... once the movies stopped flowing, it died a pretty quick
death.  There was nothing to watch on it.  The handful of apps written
for the appleII this decade aren't going to keep the platform alive.  A
richer software base needs to exists for it to prosper  at all.

But where does one draw the line?  When does someone decide when a piece
of software can be ethically "pirated?"  And who decides this?  Well,
every individual is left to make that choice for his or her self.  Some
assert it is moral for the sake of keeping the memory alive, some say it
is wrong, because it breaks copyright law.  The bottom line is that
people are responsible for their own moral judgements, and if they have
the law on their side, and if it is worth it, enforce it.  Otherwise,
live and let live, and don't always assume someone is wrong because they
don't think the way you do.