Re: OS-9 L2 .DSK needed

[louiss@gate.net (Louis Schulman)]

In <32EBE2A2.6ADD@pobox.com>, Allen Huffman <allenh@pobox.com> writes:
>SOMEONE UNAMED wrote:
>> I'm borrowing someone's copy of the CoCo 3 Emulator for the weekend, and am
>> in need of the OS-9 Level 2 system disk .DSK file.  Would someone be so
>> kind as to email it to me?
>
>Isn't it amazing?  Someone will occasionally pop up and ask for a copy
>of the CoCo ROMs for the emulator, and get flamed to heck and back.  But
>someone asks for an OS-9 L2 .DSK image, and we are silent.
>
>For reasons like this I say the orhpanware issue is more "pro-Terry" and
>"anti-Terry", rather than pro/anti subject.
>-- 
>   Allen Huffman {allenh@pobox.com - http://www.pobox.com/~alsplace}

I occasionally follow this group, because I run OS-9 on an Apple //e.  This 
same argument is so vehement among Apple II users that the FBI has allegedly
been called.  Therefore, whoever "Terry" may be, I doubt he is at the root of
the problem.  In the Apple II group, the issue is often "pro-Nathan" and
"anti-Nathan".

I observed that the original post, if taken at face value, was by a well-
known person at Microware asking for an "illegal" copy of Microware's own
software.  This is completely consistent with the fights in the Apple II
newsgroup.  This issue is almost never raised by real copyright holders.
Rather, it is raised by third-party vigilantes who see it as their duty to
tell everyone else what to do.  Meanwhile, the "orphanware" slowly dies.

I think we all have a responsibility to protect recorded knowledge, even in
trivial old software.  If the copyright holders don't exercise their rights
and this responsibility, it is up to the rest of us.

Louis Schulman  louiss@gate.net