Treasure Chest edu question (was Re: free software ...)

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Eric Young writes ...
> 
> Nathan Mates wrote:
> > ....
> >    Welcome to comp.sys.apple2. I invite you to read the
> > comp.sys.apple2 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) at
> > http://www.visi.com/~nathan/a2/faq/csa2.html Section 5.2 lists many
> > Apple II software sites where the maintainers actually care about
> > staying legal. While poorly organized, ground's 'apple8/Edu' directory
> > might prove useful to look at.
> >
> > Nathan Mates
> 
> Sorry, I had looked at those, but wasn't sure if they were legal.


     Certainly, one would not wish to take any such risk.

     The truth is that, while some major educational wares makers will tell 
you (if you call) that downloading and copying their out-of-print wares is 
okay, they will not reclassify the programs as "freeware" or place the 
wares in the public domain. That is their right. However, this means that 
some old wares available on popular A2 ftp sites are likely, technically, 
to be there illegally.  

     One solution is to actually buy the software!? (Just kidding-- schools 
which need to spend millions on condom use education and teaching 
English-speaking first graders to read in Spanish will not, of course, have 
funds for quality math, history, etc. educational software.)

     A low-hassle solution is to find someone on your staff who knows which 
end of the net is Up and let her rip off educational software. Everyone 
else, then, 'discovers' the wares in the school's Resource Center and gets 
to remain pure. Once your archive is up to snuff, you can fire the 
disgusting person who created your collection.

     Still another approach would be to check the csa2 Treasure Chest 
Project site for listings of edu wares which are legal to download. You 
could, also, visit local A2 swap meets and advertise on 
comp.sys.apple2.marketplace for software bargains and donations. Once you 
have some wares, a few calls to makers will let you know whether or not 
making multiple for-use copies of favorite products is permitted.  


Rubywand