On Thu, 10 Aug 2000 14:34:52 -0600, pippi5 wrote:
>> damn! all the links have 404 errors.
>>> buncha DOS games here: http://jupiter.spaceports.com/~cdos/
> Gee, awful sorry, seems all the links are .zip and they've
> forgotten to put the name in, but then, they might not be on
> there anyway.
That's OK, Pippi. The site falls into "abandonware" category,
which tends to be short-lived. Quoted from an (used to be)
abandonware site:
URL: http://skyscraper.fortunecity.com/byte/514/
_________________________________________________________
!!! Site Closed !!!
_________________________________________________________
Sorry folks but after having my xoom accounts wiped out
yet again and loosing all the files people have sent to
me I've had enough... unless somone can offer me space on
a private server which will not delete my files (unless
they are threatened by the SPA or somthing silly) Rafe's
Abandonware Compilers will be gone for good.
And of course if I DO get the space on a private server I
will be putting the files up for download... no more
trading! :)
If you have a server you want to offer space on (I need a
LOT of space... my collection is over a gig) the please let
me know. My email addy is [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_________________________________________________________
Although actually reside in the gray area, abandonware sites
are viewed as strictly illegal by the computing industry. When
asked why, they would pointed you to the unarguable copyright
violation, even though the software in question is no longer
supported, or the author/publisher has long gone.
I'm not a lawyer, but (IMHO), the true reasons behind this might
be as follows:
* Software industry: Older software tends to easily damaged in
time. Especially when you not careful with the media (fungus-
invested floppies, scratched CD ROMs, etc.). When this
unexpected happened, usually you won't be able to get the same
replacement. Your only way out would be either upgrading, or
buying a new version. Both costs real money, and are the main
income of the software industry. Abandonware sites are a real
threat to this scheme.
* Hardware industry: You won't ever think to buy newer, more
powerful hardware, if you still able to use your older (more
efficient) software for the very same functionalities with
your current hardware. Again, abandonware sites are against
this scheme.
* Free web hosting services: Being relied heavily from ads for
it's survival. Abandonware sites are just too expensive for
them. The total bandwidth used to serve remote downloadings
of abandonware files would exceeds income from the site's
paid banner/ads impressions. You simply can't insert either
pop up or embedded banners when the requested files are not
HTML. Tripod came up with the idea of interstitial page to
overcome this. But still, only a single ad page could be
displayed for each (up to several MBs) archive file
downloads.
Simply put: Follow the money <g>.
But if you still want to enter this -- probably illegal -- gray
area. Then here's a few pointer:
* The Abandonware WebRing
Bunch of abandonware sites are here.
http://nav.webring.org/cgi-bin/navcgi?ring=abandonware;list
* Search for "abandonware" at your favorite search
engines, then navigate the results.
Due to the nature of abandonware sites, some of the leads above
will ended in a defunct site. However, few of abandonware sites
are hosted on it's own paid server and run commercially (by
accepting paid ads). These tends to last longer, as Rafe said,
if not sued by the SPA, or commercial software companies in
general.
--Eko
http://survpc.virtualave.net/
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