I used to be dead against sharing SAM files but as time goes by, it really is getting a bit pointless, EXCEPT for the obvious exceptions of anyone who we know would be against it or for anyone still producing stuff that isn't free such as Colin. I agree with most of what you said - basically we're talking about a World Of Spectrum type setup.
I previously had an idea of posting lists of SAM software on a webpage, each with a date in brackets 1 month from time of posting. The idea would be that this mailing list would consult the webpage, decide among ourselves what would be insensitive to set free on the web, and then after 1 month, anything that hasn't been complained about, would be published as a dsk. I'll maybe have a crack at starting that this weekend. At the end of the day, a lot of this is just being pedantic because the majority of the software is out there on the net somewhere and we all know that. What we're talking about here is a slightly more "official" archive - sanctioned by us lot seeing as we're pretty much all the SAM has left! Gavin Quoting Johnna <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Well I've bid my time on here long enough playing by the polite 'rules' of > not publishing other people's files. But I think that after all this time, > it's getting a bit stupid. > > I haven't got Days Of Sorcery, but if I had it, I would share it. > Technically it's software piracy, but in reality it is only things like this > that will keep our little machine alive. > > Most of the author's of the original software probably never give the SAM a > second thought and I certainly think that a system whereby they are > published on a site somewhere and the authors are allowed to ask them to be > withdrawn if they wish is preferable to the current system where people who > want to find out what the sam is all about cannot. > > That recent message from the Young McKenzie was the most incredible thing > I've read on here - does he really believe that holding the secondary rights > to software for a machine which even ten years ago was only a 'cult' thing > is the route to a quick fortune?! It's a joke that we are still protecting > the commercial rights of some of these authors - there is NO money to be > made from the scene with regard to OLD software. If people wanted to buy it, > they would have bought it ten years ago when it was published! > > So I say - Publish and be damned! Let's get a website up and running and > dump EVERYTHING we've got on there that is SAM related and then maintain it > as a homage to what was, once, a great machine. Nobody else is going to do > this. We are almost the last bastions of the SAM World, even the original > manufacturers of the machine show no particular interest in it anymore. > > Or of course, we could wait until the natural copyright expires in around 65 > years and do it then. Most of us will be dead, and those who aren't will not > care any more. > > But sitting around and talking about doing something, although almost a > great tradition of the Sam scene, will only end up with us losing the last > remainging interest that reamins in the machine. > > > -----Original Message----- > > It would always be best but it's not practical and as time goes by the > harder it will be. My own opinion is that we (this group in general) know > roughly what shouldn't be distributed and anything else is okay to go on NVG > with a disclaimer that it will be removed immediately if the author does > complain. I think that's about as fair as we're going to get really - > otherwise we start to be pointlessly anal. > > Gavin > > > > >
