I agree with what Theresa is trying to say, but on one condition. In the paragraph that starts out, "The publishers would retain all copyrights to the products,...", I would eliminate the second and third sentences. I say this because we don't want to limit distribution rights, whether you're the author or an authorized archivist. What would be the point of archiving if you can't have the freedom to distribute as many copies as you want to as many people as you'd like?
The authors, publishers and shareholders in that piece of software have already taken a write-off whenever a title and version number are discontinued, even if they didn't make enough profit off of that product. They want to wash their hands of it and not be burdened by something that old. I say it's much easier to say make that software free to distribute and let everyone else sort it out. The archivists acquire their copy, which then get distributed freely amongst others.
In a way, the title may as well be issued a GPL and considered freeware-unsupported by the original owners. But in the meantime, until someone wakes up and realizes this, I will continue to freely archive and distribute my resources to those who ask kindly of it. I don't want to make a profit for my efforts and any profit I could make would go towards funding the costs of blank media (floppies, CDs, DVDs, etc.). As long as the demand is still there, I will continue to do so. I like helping out and also like collecting. But what's the point if I can't have the freedom of ownership?
73s de Phreakout. :rambo:
The authors, publishers and shareholders in that piece of software have already taken a write-off whenever a title and version number are discontinued, even if they didn't make enough profit off of that product. They want to wash their hands of it and not be burdened by something that old. I say it's much easier to say make that software free to distribute and let everyone else sort it out. The archivists acquire their copy, which then get distributed freely amongst others.
In a way, the title may as well be issued a GPL and considered freeware-unsupported by the original owners. But in the meantime, until someone wakes up and realizes this, I will continue to freely archive and distribute my resources to those who ask kindly of it. I don't want to make a profit for my efforts and any profit I could make would go towards funding the costs of blank media (floppies, CDs, DVDs, etc.). As long as the demand is still there, I will continue to do so. I like helping out and also like collecting. But what's the point if I can't have the freedom of ownership?
73s de Phreakout. :rambo: