Re: CD of all Files on Asimov

[johnlb@primenet.com (John Bowling)]

In article <518720$gem@darla.visi.com>, Nathan Mates <nathan@visi.com> wrote:
>In article <5181eg$ssp@kettle.magna.com.au>, Deth <deth@magna.com.au> wrote:
>>I'm going to put together a CD of all files on Asimov if anyone is
>>interested in purchasing it. I should be able to fit every file and
>>emulator on the CD all unzipped so you will be able to run all dsk
>>files off the CD. I know having all these files on HD just takes up
>>too much space, so if you are interested, drop me a line. Later....
>
>   Hmmm. First piracy, now bootlegging. The legal penalties are
>higher, now that you're not just content to steal, you're stealing
>_AND_ making money off it. I'm glad to see that there are some
>consciouses beginning to twitch by realizing that Asimov might be shut
>down. Why? BECAUSE IT'S F***ING ILLEGAL! However, what do these people
>do? Write off their conscience as a bad dream, and go on.
>
>   This also manages to totally repudiate all of the "oh, my disk
>failed and I just wanted a replacement" argument also, unless your
>collection of legit stuff manages to EXACTLY mirror what's on the CD.
>You'll be getting stuff you have zero legal right to posess. Can we
>trust every single person who ever buys or is lent such a CD not to
>touch anything they didn't pay for the first time? If so, I've got a
>lot of real estate you can invest in.

<lots of further arguments snipped>

In general, I agree.

Yes, the purchase of a product does not *usually* give someone the
expectation of free replacements forever.

-BUT-

Many of the software packages I have bought over the years have come with
a "replace a worn disk with a new one" warrantee for a fee that is
often < 10% of purchase price, and which did *not* specify *any* time
limit.  Any most of those companies have failed to honor this warrantee.

And when they fail on their end, the user *has* a right to enforce the
companies written warrantee through other means!

Under any conditions, this would apply *only* to software that *was*
purchased, and which had such a warranty.

For me, I looked at Asimov and didn't find anything that fits the above
(I did not check 100%, just what I have that has failed), so it is all
stuff I should *not* have, except for those that are placed in the public
domain via the company, programmer, or time.  And Asimov does not provide
any information about what is in the public domain.

And as such, there should *not* be a CD created from Asimov.
No one could have purchased *all* of the software there.

John

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- John Bowling          -- Shouldn't you be commuting by bicycle?
- johnlb@primenet.com   -- No, that's not a valid excuse!
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