Re: Avast! Be there still pirates in these here waters?

[obsbedia2@aol.com (Obsbedia2)]

<<  How is software going to keep you warm? >>


	Warmth is not the goal, only an intermediate step.  The purpose of keeping
warm through the freezing, cold night is to be healthy in the morning to face
the challenges of tomorrow.
	
	Software doesn't keep one warm; it can make one useful and productive to
tackle those problems that computers tackle best.

	My //e kicks butt.  It kicks butt because the Apple ][ software kicks butt and
because I take the time to learn it and use it.

	When it comes to keeping shareware that makes my computer even more useful, I
send postcards and email to trackdown the authors.  To date, I've only had one
respond*.  

	I don't believe that these authors are hanging on to their programs out of
spite, greed or a fear that their intellectual copyright will be infringed upon
and they'll lose money to pirated over lost Apple II software sales.  They just
don't even know (let alone care) that we're still out here.  RC Systems in
Washington hadn't had an Apple II sale in over SEVEN YEARS before I contacted
them.  Their stock is still there, but just gathering dust.  I past along a few
Apple II websites and they started advertising again.  They even updated their
web page with their Apple II hardware and software.

	The Apple II Community and marketplace has come full circle.  We do encourage
our own through purchases, sharing hardware, expertise and advice.  I've never
sold an Apple II program, piece of hardware or documentation.  Real Apple II
Users (not collectors), by my definition, don't sell, but they do give them
away.  That sense of support in the Apple II Community still exists.  So does
the sense of protecting those still supporting our machines.

	No one has ever offered to give me a copy of anything from Texas ][ and I've
been around long enough now to have received an offer if there were any out
there.  I've bought 99.999% of my software library (again, not a collection. 
I'm a User, not a collector.)  I did receive my favorite program, Tutor-Tech,
free.  The owner didn't even want to talk to me about Apple II programs.  He
had an appointment and he wanted to leave, but he spun around and shouted when
I said the magic words:  Tutor-Tech.  I tried contacting the company for months
without luck (they were in the middle of a move), and was fortunate that they
were actually happy to answer my questions.  I was even lucky enough to
purchase some of their old Apple II equipment, now that they were running Apple
II emulation software. 

	Don't even bother asking me for a copy of Tutor-Tech.  Techware still sells
it.  They'll even send you a demo copy if you ask them.  Me, twice I've bought
extra classroom licenses so that I can legally have all of my students on Apple
II computers busily authoring their own stacks.  Would I do that for the rest? 
Sure...if I can find them.  I protect the Apple II market that remains, but,
like most teachers and Apple II Users, I've had to become a scrounger to
continue to be productive.  It's hard to keep warm when it's so cold outside.


Imagine the day that the last Apple II program is written. Sad thought.  
						Support Shareware!
         ______
       _/_____/!
      /______ /!    Jay's Apple IIe
     |       !~!
     |  //e  | /           (ASCII Art, best
     |_______|/|-,.::...    viewed with a
     |-=-|-=-|// :     ;    monospaced font,
     /######/ /  :    I :   such a Courier.)
     ~~~~~~~~~   .:  (")
                []

* Michael Foegelle, author of Columns version 2.1, did write me back over a
year ago with his price list.  I had discovered his program after ordering the
shareware version from Kula Software.  He had moved, but the forwarding address
was still good.  I ordered the upgrade and he wrote then that it would probably
be one of the last disks that he would ever issue because his Apple II was
dying.