Re: Reclassification of commercial softwares

[rubywand@aol.com]

In article <5e4aiu$b4p@dove.qut.edu.au>, yeo@pigeon.qut.edu.au (Willie Yeo) writes:

>....
>	When Medley v2.1 was reclassified as FREEWARE, I too, had some 
>doubts then. I managed to email the person in charge and the truth came 
>out. I then posted the email replied back to me (it's still in my disks 
>somewhere) by Milliken on their stand, and affirmed that it it was true, 
>except for the Spell Checker and Thresaures (oops ! Never spelt that 
>correctly ever !).
>
>	In any case, I applaude Charles Turley for his efforts in trying 
>to get the owners to reclassify the softwares. But I should stand that, if 
>any other reclassications do happen, somone ought to check it out a post a 
>similar email from someone from the organisation (preferable with Name and 
>Postion) for clarification.
>

     Getting Medley reclassified is, certainly, a valuable contribution.

     Unfortunately, as the problems with Word Perfect/gs demonstrate, one may obtain well-meant agreements and emails from individuals in a company's bureaucracy. Yet, when the 'dust clears', one may, still, not have a valid release.

     Corel, supposedly, owned Word Perfect/gs; Dr. Tom contacted Corel and requested reclassification; Corel said "Okay". There was joy in Appleville. Then, however, doubts expressed by some users led to further checks. As a result, Corel discovered that they no longer own WP/gs and the reclassification notice had to be withdrawn and WP/gs uploads to ftp sites had to be erased.

     This underscores the challenges involved in getting old Apple II wares reclassified for release into the public domain. Many wares have been sold, transferred as part of a settlement, reverted to an obscure programmer, etc.. Often, the owning corporation or individual is not even aware of possessing rights to a product. Then, too, owners and potential owners are not always enthusiastic about digging through old records. 

     Not only must one discover who, probably, owns a product, one must convince the owner to verify ownership, to release the product, and to confirm the release. The whole thing may easily collapse; but, sometimes, a valuable product becomes available to all Apple II users. We are fortunate to have someone willing and able to give the process a good try.


Rubywand