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Re: Vogons vs Turlettes
I prefer to call them the absolutists and the pragmatists. Both
sides are correct in their own ways. Copyright laws should be
followed, but to many people, the LETTER of the law, when
applied to software more than 8 years old written for an out-of-
production platform, is too restrictive, is contrary to the
SPIRIT of the law.
There are also a few misconceptions. One is that copyrights are
protected only by civil law. Not true; violation of copyright is
a federal criminal offense. Another is that copyright violations
that go unprosecuted are therefore legal -- the "no harm, no
foul" defense. In the absence of a plaintiff, a copyright
violation is very difficult to prosecute. But that does not mean
the action is legal, merely that the laws pertaining are not
enforced. The same situation exists in those states with laws
regarding intimate relations; the police don't break down
people's doors looking for violators of Victorian standards of
conduct, but technically, the acts that some few consenting
adults participate in are still illegal.
The pragmatists often take the position that as long as no one
complains, they're within the law. Technically, they are not.
What they are in fact doing is protesting by means of civil
disobedience. In fact, whenever any copyright holder protests,
they remove the material in question.
The biggest difference seems to be in whether you agree with the
idea "do it until someone says you can't" or "don't do it until
someone says you can". There seems to be a number of people who
feel that after a number of years have passed that the former
applies better than the latter to the case of abandoned computer
software. Others believe that the latter should be held to at
all times, in all cases.
All this started because someone accidentally included some
software, that was still being developed, upgraded, and
supported, into a publicly available ftp archive of abandoned
commercial software. The author complained, and all heck broke
loose. Ever since then, the battle has raged, and we the readers
of CSA2 have suffered. I stuck my two cents in a couple of times
in an attempt to mediate, got ignored mostly, got put in an
electronic newsletter, got told some of the history in question
(thanks, Sandy, because although it wasn't relevant to the
particular thread I started, it provided me with more
perspective)... now I don't care enough anymore to post much
toward the ongoing war of words. Except to try to explain it to
others.
I've long since given up on using this newsgroup to find a CHEAP
source to actually get any of my three IIgs systems (one Woz
limited edition) actually doing anything productive, such as
GS/OS, GSWorks, or anything of that nature. Right now, all I
have for any of them is a 3.5" disk with a self-playing
HyperCard stack that's supposed to be a demo of the IIgs. And of
course BASIC.
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