Re: CD of all Files on Asimov

[shack@deimos.frii.com (Randy Shackelford)]

In article <51hc1g$fo5@crl4.crl.com>, Joe Kohn <joko@crl.com> wrote:
>Randy Shackelford (shack@onyx.southwind.net) wrote:
>
> >I'm just curious about the statement that people downloading ancient
> >software are harming current developers.
>
>Like I said the other day, a number of titles available on Asimov are still
>being sold by Quality, Sun Remarketing, Shareware Solutions II and Alltech.
>I can't speak for the other companies, but Shareware Solutions II had to lay
>out cold hard cash for boxes upon boxes of software.
>
>In any case, I've just slashed prices on everything that I got from Big Red
>Computer Club when they went out of business, and you can now buy shrink
>wrapped commercial software from SSII for as little as $3 a program, and 
>I'll pay the postage.
>
>Obviously, I'm going to be thinking twice before purchasing any more excess
>Apple II inventory. I've just been offered a deal to purchase some excellent
>IIGS software in bulk from another IIGS company who is soon going the way of
>the dodo, but I just can't afford to take the risk. So...that's at least one
>very real, concrete, example of how "people downloading ancient software are
>harming current developers" and, dare I say it, themselves.

All the stuff you've said here would support the statement that downloading
ancient software can harm current resellers. You've made no relation to the
people who were writing this stuff. A good example would be Applewriter, all
the old Beagle Bros software, and the other lost classics. The authors decided
that letting people have them does no harm so now they're distributable. In a
perfect world, this would happen for every title. People should work to make
it so rather than what we see happening now.
-- 
Randy Shackelford                                 US Air Force officer
shack@frii.com                                    and Apple aficionado