Re: trading policy for IIe

[ludditetech@mac.com (Simon Williams)]

"Tom Zuchowski" <tzuchow@attglobal.net> wrote in message news:<3d01f7de_1@news3.prserv.net>...
> Uh . . . the very definition of public domain is that it is free for anyone
> to do anything with it they darned well please. They don't need anyone's
> permission. I explicitly put every stitch of Eamon stuff I ever wrote into
> the public domain, it says so right in the docs. If someone wants to erase
> my name and take credit for my stuff, he has that right, though I might take
> it upon myself to proclaim his low morals to others.

Well, I think you almost make my point for me. While it may be legal
"for anyone
to do anything with it they darned well please", it is not necessarily
ethical.
  
> You didn't mention your views on abandoned software. Abandoned or not, it is
> still "someone else's software." How do you feel about trading stuff like,
> for example, Robot War, which "belongs" to a company long out of business
> and who had even lost the capability to manufacture because they sent the
> hard drive to a landfill back in the '80's. I remember another example
> (forget the title) in which inquiry resulted in a company rep denying that
> they had EVER sold software for the Apple II, even though it was founded on
> that platform in the '70's. What should we do then?

I guess there could be a lot of hair-splitting done on this subject.
If a company has gone out of business, it does not necessarily follow
that they have given up authorial rights to their software. However,
if they are no longer manufacturing said software then there is no way
they could reasonably expect to still be making money from it.

But to be more pragmatic:
Since the Apple II platform is essentially "dead" as far as software
developers are concerned, I doubt if even the most blatant piracy
could do much to damage the situation. Not that I condone it, mind
you... and it's safe to say that supporting anyone who is developing
new software is a good thing.

SW