Subject: Re: Ancient wares and present values
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From: "Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
References: <395b93c3$1@news1.svn.net> <200006292257.SAA18098@anon.cotse.com> <395c5d3d@news1.svn.net> <395ccb51.125637294@news>
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Organization: Silicon Valley North (http://www.svn.net)
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2000 18:55:30 GMT
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Jeff Blakeney <CUTblakeney@home.com> wrote in message
news:395ccb51.125637294@news...
> On Fri, 30 Jun 2000 08:38:30 GMT, "Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net>
> wrote:
>
> >Nonsense. The volume of new software is so small, it wouldn't make a
pimple
> >on the ass of the body of existing software.  You've got it backward, the
> >people you criticize are PRESERVING, not destroying the work of past
> >programmers.
>
> Preserving the works of the past is a good thing but making those
> works illegally available to the entire world isn't.
>

Well, Jeff, in your world perhaps the only choices are good and evil, but in
mine, sometimes you have to choose between "bad" and "less bad".  Bad would
be letting all the old software sit on deteriorating, original
copy-protected diskettes until it's all gone. Less bad is to archive it
online for posterity.  One of the attractions of the Apple II is the large
body of historic software for it, if you limit that to the dwindling supply
of original software, you're going to end up with an Apple II user group the
size of the Coleco Adam user group.

Your way, the Apple II rapidly becomes extinct.  The existing way, which
will prevail no matter how many tantrums your ilk throws, will preserve the
Apple II for future hobbiests.  I know there are a few people who still use
their Apple II as their primary computing platform, and more power to them
in their excentricity, but frankly, the future is people like me who just
cherish and admire them as historical artifacts. I prefer original
diskettes, BTW, but many of mine are no longer usable and new ones can't be
had. I also like to run them from a hard disk. I  wonder if this obsession
with copy protection didn't contribute mightily to the demise of the
platform. For example, I have Print Shop for the IIgs and the same
generation of Print Shop for the PC. You can install the IIgs version to
hard disk, BUT you have to insert the original floppy in the drive every
time you use it (wow, how... convenient, especially for the grade school I
bought it from.)  The PC version installs and runs from the hard disk, like
just about all other PC software. No wonder the teacher replaced the IIgs
with a PC.
Another teacher asked me to try to find a downloadable version of some
educational software that was copy protected and no longer sold. She was
down to her last usable diskette. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it
anywhere. I would have cheerfully violated it's copyright.  You'll be
relieved to know that those Apple II's have since been scrapped, so there's
no longer any reason for that teacher to contemplate violating any Apple II
copyrights.  Praise the Lord! The fewer Apple II's left, the less piracy!
Get the axe, Jeff!

> A big part of the problem is people here have been pushing developers
> away.  Wouldn't it be better if the developers themselves were to
> stick around and preserve their software?  Unfortunately, some were
> driven away by people here.  Nathan Mates is no longer around to make
> his software available,

There's a good example. As it happens, I got my first Apple II just weeks
before he had his melt-down. I downloaded his FAQ, and the next time I tried
to access his web page, he had a note on it saying he'd reformatted his hard
disk to make sure he'd done all he could to spite the Apple II community.
Like QC, the guy needs professional help.

 >
> Had these developers not been pushed away, there would be more
> software being created for the Apple II today.

No.  There would be no Apple II community for the developers (both of them?)
to write software for, without the ability for new users to download
software for the Apple II they bought for $1 at a garage sale. (Actually, I
only wanted the Imagewriter II, the seller insisted that I take the complete
IIc system too if I bought the printer. I got hooked by the elegant
design. )

If there were less
> piracy going on in the Apple II world, more developers would be more
> comfortable with releasing their software to the world and would
> therefore be more likely to produce more titles or updates.
>

I hate to break this to you, but piracy is not the reason there is very
little new software produced for the A2 platform.  You seem like a
reasonable fellow. I'm amazed that you think there'd be more software being
written, if the Apple II community strictly observed all copyrights. I
believe there'd be no Apple II community to write software for if you had
your way. But it's moot. The status quo will prevail.  The dead horse you
copyright-obsessed types have been beating is long gone, there's just a
crater there.
-Paul