Re: Where is the beef???

[modus-dejanews@pr.es.to (Patrick Michael Kane)]

On Sat, 05 Sep 1998 17:29:10 GMT, Jeff Blakeney <CUTjefbla@bconnex.net> wrote:
>On 4 Sep 1998 22:45:13 GMT, modus-dejanews@pr.es.to (Patrick Michael
>Kane) wrote:
>
>>But there's no point in rehashing the same arguments every 2 months.  Asimov
>>has been around for years and I inherited the archive from someone who had
>>been running a similar archive for just as long.  All the newsgroup vitrol
>>there is won't change that.
>
>Well, "rehashing the same arguments every 2 months" will at least give
>warning to those reading these newsgroups for the first time that
>there is software being made illegally available on the asimov site.
>
>Hopefully this will be enough to stop them from downloading the stuff
>they want rather than trying to obtain legal copies from for sale
>newsgroups here or on online services, or finding copies at used
>computer stores or thrift shops, or from a legal reseller of those
>titles, or from schools selling off their Apple II stuff, or from
>auctions either in person or on the web, or even from the original
>companies themselves that might still have a few copies lying around.
>
>There are legal ways to get hold of older out of print software.
>
>By the way, if I were to ever come across a huge pile of original
>Apple II software I probably wouldn't pick it up (unless it was almost
>free) because there would be no way I could sell them what with them
>being available as a free download from asimov.  Who, except for those
>that care if they break the law or not, would pay for a product and
>pay for shipping it, when they can get it for free?
>
>This may have happenned any number of times since asimov opened its
>doors.  Many more people could probably have originals right now but I
>imagine a lot of those originals ended up in landfills because no one
>felt it was worth the effort because you can't compete with someone
>who is giving your product away for free.

If all people care about is the software on the disk, who cares if it
goes into the landfill .. We've got images of it.  No loss to the 
community.

However, if people care about the box, the manual, the pack-ins and the
other bits, which is the case, that software won't end up in the landfill.
In fact, I just bought a pile of Apple ][ Infocom stuff, in original boxes,
for just this reason.  I have the programs already, but it's the rest of
the package that makes the purchase compelling.

I am excluding here, of course, packages still being sold be a publisher
or reseller who care to enforce their copyright.
-- 
Patrick Michael Kane
<modus-dejanews@pr.es.to>