On Feb 26, 7:01�am, apple2fr...@gmail.com wrote:
On Feb 26, 7:05�pm, schmidtd <schmi...@my-deja.com> wrote:
On Feb 26, 5:34�am, apple2fr...@gmail.com wrote:> If anyone has any p
ointers to online sources, they would be much
appreciated.
Google isn't always our friend, it turns out. �But in this case, it
is:http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+ii+software
Heh.
I've been through the first 100 or so links on Google some time back.
Little more than public domain software to be found there.
I was hoping to locate private bit torrent trackers, private ftp
sites, private boards with rapidshare links to hard-to-find Apple II
software, etc.
I've done an exhaustive search on tracker aggregators like isohunt,
fileshunt, etc. and come up mostly empty. �I did run across the
pleasuredrome tracker, but they focus on retro gaming and don't have
much in the way of application software.
If you examine Asimov more closely, you'll find quite a lot of
commercial software, including productivity and programming
applications. Public domain software is only a fraction of what
exists on that site. I myself have uploaded several commercial titles
to it over the last few years.
The general rule with Apple II software, as far as I can tell, is that
we want it to be as widely and publicly available as possible, in the
interest of preservation - unless someone is actively claiming rights/
ownership and lets us know about it. Since the platform's commercial
viability today is next to nonexistent, this is almost never a
problem, which allows places like Asimov to thrive. Apple II software
doesn't "hide out" in places like Rapidshare, BitTorrent trackers, or
exclusive-access sites, because there's simply no need for it to.
The only "private" collections are real-world physical media, in the
attics and closets of folks who have yet to remember they're there;
sometimes they'll show up on eBay, and I only hope that they're going
to people with a preservational motive.