Re: Vintage Apple II commercial software and US law

["Paul G." <carbide@egine.com>]

On Aug 1, 4:28 pm, Steven Hirsch <snhir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> N.N. Thayer wrote:
> > On Aug 1, 7:06 pm, MdntTrain <j...@cimmeri.com> wrote:
> >> Also out of curiousity, why would someone give a hoot about protecting
> >> *vintage* software -- say from the 1980's?
>
> > Indeed.  Asimov's longtime survival is the strongest evidence that no
> > one cares.
>
> Let's all observe a moment of thanks for the fact that Nathan Mates no longer
> frequents this group.  I stopped following CSA2 for many years as a result of
> his tirades and proselytizing.  This is just the sort of thread that would set
> him off...  (No, I'm not nostalgic <g>).

Heh heh! You predate me then. I got my first Apple II (a complete IIc
system) at a garage sale for free, on the condition I take the whole
thing. I only wanted the Imagewriter II. But the IIc was so elegant it
got me interested. I found Nathan's website and downloaded the faq so
I could learn the ProDos commands. When I went back a few days later
looking for more, there was just a "goodbye cruel world" message
raving about copyright infringement forcing him to activate the self-
destruct sequence.  I pictured something like the end of Stephen
King's "Carrie".

This was at least a couple of years after the last Apple II shipped.
The demise of the platform derailed the Apple II software gravy train,
not copyright infringement.  His poor, tormented mind couldn't grok
that reality.

I am, however a veteran of the abandonware flame wars that raged after
he left.  I felt it was a lot more important to preserve and archive
as much software as possible, because it had no economic value but a
lot of historic value.

Indeed, Asimov was under constant assault in those days by Vogon
vandals with the skills to disable it.
-Paul