Re: Official and LEGAL ways to emulate Apple II?

["Bill Garber" <willy46pa@comcast.net>]

I found this on Apple's site, concerning usergroup licensing.

http://developer.apple.com/mkt/swl/pdf/UserGroupSDA.pdf

Bill @ GarberStreet Enterprises
http://garberstreet.netfirms.com


J. Random Luser <postmaster@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
q9jebv8ngd7d209r6t3l53lrdl5jtoslag@4ax.com">news:q9jebv8ngd7d209r6t3l53lrdl5jtoslag@4ax.com...
> I am a tech support person at a K-12 public school, and I would like
> to continue to have Apple II software available for staff and
> students. (Yes, even now, some schools are STILL holding onto their
> 15-20 year old Apple II hardware. Hey, I even have two Digicard
> networks running yet.)
>
> Even though most of the word processing and business software is
> horribly out of date, the "drill and practice" type games for learning
> math, typing, and reading have not lost their value to elementary
> teachers, and the teachers would still like to have access to the
> software.
>
>
> However, it is generally not feasible to continue using Apple II
> hardware. The hardware takes up space that could be better used by
> even a "low-end" $500 1gHz system -- with more than 1000 times the
> speed and capability of the original Apple IIe.
>
> Additionally, I have pressure from the school superintendent to get
> rid of the Apples simply for "image" reasons. We want to appear to the
> public to be current and up-to-date, and to have an attractive image
> to potential new teaching staff. How can you do that when you've got
> totally obsolete Apple II hardware (some of it now nearly 20 years
> old) sitting in classrooms?
>
>
> At this point, emulation seems to be the proper path to go. I have
> used the Janzer-Schmidt version of AppleWin and like it a lot. I have
> also converted some 150 old MECC floppies into disk images, put them
> on a Netware server, and even have them appearing in an individual
> computer's Start Menu, direct from the server. Just go to the Start
> menu, select the program, and it instantly loads in AppleWin.
> Everything is working great!
>
> Except there is one problem. I cannot determine how we can officially
> and legally use the Apple IIe ROM with the emulator. I do not want to
> do this "on the sly". I want to be able to do this in a fully public
> manner that can be shared with other schools and is looked on by Apple
> as being acceptable to them. We are after all a public institution and
> as such we should be doing things in a fully legal and proper manner.
>
> I do not want to try and do this "secretly" and then later have all
> the effort wasted if Apple learns what's going on and tries to sue or
> issue "cease and desist" letters to schools, telling them to stop
> using "unlicensed" Apple II emulation in schools.
>
>
> So far, the fully proper route of getting a license to the ROM-code
> from Apple has failed. I hunted around, calling various Apple
> corporate numbers, until I found a special email address for the
> "Intellectual Property Law" department at Apple.
>
> I sent them a number of anonymous email requests for information on
> how to get a free or low-cost license for the Apple IIe ROM-code for
> K-12 schol use, and got this response back from one of their lawyers:
>
> >  Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 10:54:05 -0700
> >  Subject: Re: status update? (Re: Apple II ROM)
> >
> >  Thank you for your correspondence dated Fri, 25 Apr 2003, which has
> >  been forwarded to me for response.
> >
> >  At this time Apple has no interest in releasing Apple II ROM code
> >  for additional use.  While we appreciate your interest and support
> >  of Apple, we ask that you respect this policy.
> >
> >  Thank you for contacting Apple with your question.
> >
> >  Very truly yours,
> >  APPLE COMPUTER, INC.
> >
> >  Mark Aaker
> >  Attorney
> >  Apple Law Department
>
> So they won't do licensing directly. Is there any "indirect" licensing
> available? Are there any emulators out there that I can buy that
> include the ROM-code and are officially blessed by Apple to include
> the ROM-code with their emulator?
>
>
> I have also heard a claim that you can emulate as long as you own the
> original machine you are emulating. I have no idea if this is true, or
> if it's just a made-up concept that has no real legal bearing. Has
> this ever been tested in court? (Can you point me to any web info
> relating to this?)
>
> How far does this concept go? Must you retain a fully functional
> machine, or is it enough to just own the ROMs from the machine? Could
> I pull the ROMs, put them in electrostatic-safe foam, and discard the
> rest of the computer?
>
> Must you own the exact machine, or is it okay to have the ROMs from a
> newer generation of the computer line and emulate an older version? At
> this school I am trying to upgrade to emulation, we have 25 Apple IIgs
> computers in storage. But I want to use AppleWin, not a IIgs emulator.
> Is it okay to keep the IIgs ROMs around as legal "proof" I can use the
> IIe emulator?
>
>
> Another question is how the costs of "past purchases" factors into
> this. The school where I work has likely bought more than a hundred
> Apple IIe/IIgs computers in years past. Even if we have now discarded
> the actual hardware, it seems like all that money spent should be able
> to count for something now.
>
> In my opinion, we should still be able to use an emulated Apple IIe
> even if we discarded the hardware, because we already paid Apple once
> to use the ROM in that hardware. We shouldn't need to pay them again
> to be able to emulate up to as many Apple II computers as we had
> originally purchased some 10-20 years ago.
>
>
> If anyone knows the real, legal facts surrounding these issues, I'd
> appreciate some help.
>
>


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