At 00:37 -0800 on 20/01/03, Clark Martin wrote: >sells off it's assets to satisfy it's creditors. Even old software >that is not being published anymore can be considered an asset so >it's likely that someone still owns it.
Which is what bothers me about the whole thing. If it's worth something, it should be made available for purchase. If it's not worth making available for purchase -- i.e., it's not economical for the company to sell it -- then there's no reason that it shouldn't be released to the public for free. We don't want source code. We don't want support. We don't want discounted upgrades to newer versions. (Any company so inclined to offer any of those three would be welcomed with open arms, however.) We just want software that the company/creditors/whomever happens to own the rights to, refuses to do anything with, and refuses to sell to us. I can't think of a single current software product from a major vendor that still works on 68Ks, with the lone exception of DiskWarrior. To get 68K support on most Adobe products you have to go back at least three full version numbers from current. M$ is at least two. Even AppleWorks 6 doesn't work on 68Ks; you have to drop back to version 5.x. Ever call Adobe and attempt to buy Photoshop 3 or 4 since version 5 came out five years ago? How about a lot of these small shareware developers who've disappeared entirely in the last five years? You can't buy any non-current software from Micro$haft even if you try; a charity in Australia tried to do that (to avoid legal problems with OS licencing on a pile of old PCs that were donated to them) and M$ required them to buy licences for Windoze 2000. They told M$ to shove it and installed Linux. If a company is *willing* to sell an older piece of software (like Apple is with 7.6.x, or 8.x, or even 7.1 if you really really beg them), then copying it and distributing it is very obviously illegal, and the company has every right to claim loss of revenue. If a company is *not* willing to sell an older piece of software because it's not worth it to them to sell it, they have very little argument in court against someone who *does* "pirate" their abandonware, since they can't possibly be losing any revenue. After all, they refused to sell it in the first place. Visit <http://abandonware.mivox.com/> <http://www.lowendmac.com/myturn/2k0615.html> <http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/01/0816.html> for more on this topic. -- the pickle FAQ <http://macfaq.org/index.shtml> _________________________________________________________________ -- Quadlist is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Enter To Win A | -- Canon PowerShot Digital Cameras start at $299 | Free iBook! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Quadlist info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/quadlist.shtml> The FAQ: <http://macfaq.org/> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/quadlist%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
