MECC Freeware?

[e@prc.org]

Referring to the program COMPUTER INSPECTOR, "Dennis L. Director"
<dennis@inner-solutions.com> wrote in the thread "Any Apple IIe
diagnostics:"

> MECC says they have discontinued that disk, and that if you
> can find it, you are allowed to copy it (because it is
> discontinued).  Does anyone know if that can reliabley
> capture the disk image and post it or email it ?

> Apparently, many MECC disks were copyable in the older
> version.

I'm very interested in the prospect of old MECC Apple II programs
becoming available freeware.  IMHO, the quality of existing public
domain Apple II educational software is generally disappointing, and it
would be wonderful to have old MECC programs available from grind,
GEnie, or caltech.  Is there some clear statement from MECC that lets
us know exactly which programs are officially discontinued?  And does
MECC clearly state that the old programs can go into FTP libraries, or
are they just intending that a school owning one legitimate copy of an
old program can act as if it had a site license?  If the story is
really as good as it sounds, I could hunt up a few of these programs to
contribute to the effort.

Steve Eisenberg      Pennsylvania, U.S.A.     e@prc.org