Re: Piracy

[sheldon@atlcom.net (Sheldon Simms)]

In article <5e6ftf$714@news.vanderbilt.edu>, lesherjt@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
(Tilghman Lesher) wrote:

> How is it, then, that now that Joe Kohn is involved, Brutal Deluxe
> now sells some of their software?
> 
> If I was confronted with such a situation (i.e. I had promised that
> all future releases of software by my software group would be
> freeware), and I wanted to release software for profit, I would then
> produce a new organizational name and release under that.
> 
> For all other patrons of this newsgroup:  does this seem strange to
> you?  Is Joe Kohn a slimeball capitalist who took advantage of
> Brutal Deluxe?  And will Jimmy Hoffa's body ever be found?

Tilghman, for what it's worth I have never had any reason to think of you
as other than a welcome poster to c.s.a2 but this post sickens me.

Joe Kohn has done more for the Apple II than anyone I can think of in
the past 5 years (at least). I know people who have no connection to the
"Apple II world" besides Shareware Solutions II. To these people (and
there are many of them), Joe Kohn *is* the Apple II.

Joe distributes shareware and freeware for $5 a disk. This is a pittance
and it is certainly not making him rich. If Brutal Deluxe wishes to charge
$25 for Convert 3200, that is their business. If you don't want to pay,
then don't buy it, and DON'T STEAL IT EITHER. Furthermore, if Brutal
Deluxe wishes to make LemminGS available only to people who have
purchased Convert 3200 that is their business too. Both programs are
the product of a lot of hard work by Brutal Deluxe and neither you
nor anyone else has any right to possess or use the software without
complying with the terms that Brutal Deluxe sets.

On the other hand, Charles Turley, whom you seem to admire for some
unfathomable reason, has caused trouble for a long, long time.

I don't have proof of anything. But I look at the alternatives:

A) Charles Turley is a liar, thief, and troublemaker who occasionally
   does something useful.

B) Charles Turley is an upstanding trustworthy person, and for some
   unexplained reason some unknown person or persons(s) are "out to
   get him", by breaking into his house many times over the past 5 years,
   using his accounts, sector editing commercial software so as to put
   "Dr. Tom" in the credits and then uploading the software to BBSes
   and ftp sites. Also these unknown slanderers call people on the phone
   claiming to be Charles Turley and act like jerks and threaten the
   people they call.

Frankly, I find it just as easy to believe that the FBI is controlling
people with invisible waves as it is to believe option 'B'. Option 'A'
is much simpler, and more likely IMO.

Perhaps you and everyone else in the Charles Turley fan club ought to
think of all the people who have written the Apple II programs that
you use every day, especially the ones who post to usenet. How many of
these people defend Charles Turley? I can't think of a single one.

-- 
W. Sheldon Simms III   |   2000 is *still* the 20th century
sheldon@atlcom.net     |