Re: Piracy

[cheer@i.hate.spam (Christopher D. Heer)]

It was Wed, 26 Feb 97 00:17:12 GMT.  I was reading instead of working.  And 
Kevin Loesch <kloesch@nauticom.net> said:

>In article <5ekh8a$hro@inet-nntp-gw-1.us.oracle.com>, cheer@i.hate.spam 
>(Christopher D. Heer) wrote:

>>It was 13 Feb 1997 11:38:57 GMT.  I was reading instead of working.  And 
>>Steven H. Lichter <co057@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> said:

>>>dastar@crl.com (Sam Ismail)
>>>Said:

>>>:You've been watching too many re-runs of Starsky and Hutch or something.
>>>:This, I assure you, will not happen.  Feds in California have more
>>>:important things to do like busting doctors for prescribing marijuana
>>>:to their dying patients.

>>>Well part of what you said is right, but the Software Publishers
>>>Association will get involved and they do have limited police powers.

>>"Police" powers?  Are you certain?  I don't remember hearing that the SPA had 
>>been deputised or anything.

>        Do you think they really care? Does anyone really care about piracy of 
>10 or 15 year old software? When is the last time you walked into a store and 
>saw apple II software for sale? 4-5 years ago? The developers who wrote this 
>stuff have moved on and don't seemed too interested in this old software or 
>else they would still try to sell it. 

Well, that may be, but the intellectual properties still belong to the authors. 
I think we at least owe them the courtesy of *asking* if it's OK, don't you?  
Thanks to the Internet, doing the necessary research is a lot easier than it 
might have been years ago.

The WordPerfect case is a perfect example.  Someone asked, and now it will be 
shareware.  Inspired by this, I've initiated discussions with a couple of 
copyright holders of some old Apple favourites of mine (no names until I've 
talked to them a bit first).  I'd think they'll appreciate the courtesy.

>I do not condone piracy of software that 
>is still produced and being sold(Oregon trail by MECCA is an example), but the 
>vast majority of II and IIgs software is no longer commercially available and 
>it definitly isn't commercially viable or else these companies would still 
>sell it. Face it, the Apple II market is commercially dead. Its is going to 
>stay dead. I still love my machines but I have no fanasties that the apple II 
>is going to make some giant comeback and reconquer the world. Let peaple enjoy 
>the machines they have. If all the Anti-Piracy crusaders had their way anyone 
>who picked up a used machine at a garage sale would be stuck running only 
>BASIC  and DOS 3.3,  if they were lucky.

Not at all.  Besides, if the owners of these properties don't care, they'll 
surely admit it, won't they?
-- 
          Christopher D. Heer - cheer at us dot oracle dot com
     My opinions are my own and do not reflect those of Oracle Corp.
    SPAMProtect: You'll need to fix my email address before replying.