Re: PDF -- Understanding the Apple II+ & //e

[Polymorph <polymorph69@hotmail.com>]

On Nov 9, 8:09 am, Alex Freed <al...@mirrow.com> wrote:
> Scott Alfter wrote:
>
> > There are also copyright questions in either case (not that again! :-) ),
> > but I think that while there's a case to be made that making copyrighted
> > abandonware freely available is a public service of sorts and falls into a
> > moral/ethical gray area, a similar case can't be made for selling someone
> > else's abandonware.  That, IMHO, is more black than gray.
>
> Needless to say I'm not a lawyer.. and I don't want to start a flame
> war. But here is an example.
>
> Mr. X walks by a landfill and sees a few Apple 2s ready to be dumped. He
> picks them up, blows the dust off and offers for sale on e-bay.
>
> I don't think anyone would have a moral problem here, and it's not very
> different than offering someone else's IP that would be lost otherwise.
>
> -Alex.

It is indeed a delicate question - however, in the example you give,
Mr. X can only sell the few Apple 2's he finds, he cannot continually
sell Apple 2's in a store-like fashion.

Its touch and go, but I think reference books such as these should be
made freely available to promote Apple 2 development. Adding fee's and
hiding information only has a detrimental impact IMHO. I wouldn't mind
paying a modest fee, say to cover the costs of production, but
anything more than that is a bit much. Particularly when all you've
done is scan in someone else's work. If you write your own book about
the A2, then sure, feel free to charge as much as you want.

I spent 8 weeks translating the TML Pascal II manual from French into
English and I don't ask a cent to download the results. Then you've
got Mike Maginnis who graciously scanned all of Hardcore Computing and
mailed DVD's to anyone interested. IMHO when you've got a community as
small as the A2 community is, you should be doing all in your power to
promote interest to not only keep those already in the community, but
to attract others.

<disclaimer>
All opinions are mine and mine only. No offense to anyone was implied
or intended.
</disclaimer>

cheers,
-p