Hi Rich, I had a look at the negative comments, which I would say that they do not want to support the QL. They everything for nothing, which was a similar position 10 years ago with the hardware I was trying to supply.
I completely support the hard work you were performing, with little or no reward. Nearly every piece of software I bought, is now free. I am probably guilty of not buying much these days. But I think new software is needed for the QL. I am not sure my programming skills are good enough to write quality software, but I like to try. DerekOn 6 Jul 2016 10:09, Rich Mellor <[email protected]> wrote: > > In view of the highly negative (and offensive) comments which I have > received on various forums about my approach to the preservation of QL > software, I have now taken the decision to formally close my project. > > It is interesting to read that World of Spectrum is also going through > similar problems due to people becoming abusive to the people who invest > time and money in the site. > > Thankfully ql-users has remained immune, but since all of this is having > a negative impact on my health, and taking me away from the small amount > of time I am well enough to work each day, it is with regret that after > 9 years, my own project has now come to an end. > > It is a shame as over 120 titles have been released as freeware in the > past 2 years mainly due to my efforts in tracking down and contacting > the copyright holders to ask them what they wanted done with their > software. A further 29 titles have also been re-released commercially > as a result. > > The majority of feedback seems to be that my commercial interests are > ruining the software preservation and that a project where software is > preserved and simply made free to download by all is what is required > (without any willing hands to do the work). > > I shall therefore no longer be updating the QL WIki and if there is not > enough interest to keep this going (and updates by others), then perhaps > I should remove its hosting as it is obviously of no value. Similar > comments apply to the SBASIC/SuperBASIC Reference Manual Online. > > The QL community will now need to find others to take software > preservation and the QL Wiki forward - there is a spreadsheet available > for reference which shows the current list of known programs and status > of preservation: > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/84m3eizdplf9fv3/%21%21%20Full%20QL%20Software%20List%20-%20Preserved.xlsx?dl=0 > > > There is also the Italian software preservation project - which has been > running alongside my own personal project and concentrates on preserving > img dumps of microdrive cartridges and disks (complete with copy > protection etc) - although again, Simone (Outsoft) has been criticised > for not making what he has preserved to date freely available for > download, in breach of copyright. > > So - where does it go from here? > > That is up to the community to decide. > > There is now a huge opportunity for the community to decide exactly what > QL preservation should look like, how it should be funded and who should > be responsible for preserving the software and maintaining any > repository, dealing with copyright holders and hosting the websites / QL > Wiki etc > > If anyone can provide evidence that permission has been obtained for > even more software to be released as freeware, then I can of course > release it from my stored backups - although you may still need to > remove copy protection, find additional copies to merge together into > one fully working copy, or alter the software to get it working on > modern systems and emulators. I shall however, not get involved in > software piracy. > > > -- > Rich Mellor > RWAP Services > Specialist Enuuk Auction Programming Services > > www.rwapservices.co.uk > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List
