[Coco] [Color Computer] Ira's Archive (trs-80.com) Available For Download

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 21 June 2007, Rick R. wrote:
>Dear Eugene,
>
>I too, for the most part, have remained silent about this whole discussion
> of the TRS-80 archives.  But don't you think your being a bit over
> zealous?!!  Granted, you might have written/re-written things for these
> computers, but what we are talking about is software for computers that
> haven't been made for more than 20 years!!  Just how much money (and that
> is what your message eludes to) do you think you'd earn from old and
> outdated software? 

No money is involved & in my case never has been.

> Do you stand to join the ranks of Bill Gates or Steve 
> Jobs?  I doubt it.  Will you finally be able to afford that million dollar
> home you've been dreaming about? Probably not.  Will you be able to go out
> and buy that new car you've had your eye on?  I don't think so.  It's even
> more unlikely that the sale of said software would even put you into a
> different tax bracket.  Almost all of the "major players" have either
> released their software into the public domain or just plain gave up on
> them.  You, on the other hand, seem to be acting in bad faith and with
> greed.

No bad faith & no greed.  It is pure and simple that this child comes roaring 
in here in a cloud of dust and thinks he is running the show, and I felt it 
was time he learned some manners.

>This is simply a SMALL community of vintage computer users (certainly not
> their primary computer or even the one being used to read this message)
> just helping out one another.  They're just having fun.  Call it
> nostalgia...call it what you like. No one is out to purposely cheat you out
> of anything.   That is why I, personally, find your Cease and Desist notice
> to be utterly redicules.  Even if you were to persue legal action, it would
> cost you more in doing so than what you would stand to gain otherwise.

>My challenge to you, Gene, is this:  Create a website and make your code
> available for sale again.  What kind of support will you offer?  Will there
> be any updates?  Let's see just how many hits your site gets.  I would be
> interested to learn just how successful that would be for you.  My guess is
> that you probably wouldn't even make enough money to even cover the cost of
> hosting the files much less the text promoting your business.

Absolutely correct.

>By making these comments I may be opening myself up for either heavy
> criticizm or wild applause.  Either way, I don't care. I just feel that
> you, sir, do not have my best interests at heart.  The people offering
> these archives are doing so as a gesture of good will and honest intent. 
> For you do sh*t on this gesture puts only you in a bad light.  Should you
> decide to offer your software for sale again, I wish you better success
> this time around (however unlikely that may be).

It never was for 'sale', but one of my utilities is still shipping as part of 
an installation disk from one of our vendors, with my blessings I might add.  
Can you say that?

I did not intend to come across as being protective of the value, and I think 
you badly miss-read that message if that is what you got out of it.  The 
point I was trying to emphasize is that Ira had already denied that right to 
this person, and this person is bound and determined to do as he wants 
whether he has permission to do so or not.  My software has been free for use 
for a long time, but I own the copyright, and like Ira, I can say no.

Now, had this person taken the trouble to contact the various people who might 
own the copyrights, including me, asking each for their permission to do 
this, then I suspect that 99.9% of us, possibly even including Ira, would 
have said yes.  I know I would have.  But to come charging in here, assuming 
he is running the only show in town, with zero regard for the rights of the 
authors, just got to be a bit too much.  The light you want to shine on me is 
not the light the rest of this group would use.  They all know me as being 
honest, sometimes to a fault, and helpfull if I can be.

>Good Day.
>
>Rick Rotaru
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Gene Heskett
>
>  I've more or less stayed out of this till now, but AISI, this is a more
> blatant copyright violation than anything else we've ever done in this
> group under the guise of "Preserving history". Ira has made it plain that
> *you* do NOT have permission, and that should be as far as it goes. If any
> of my work is in that collection (and I do not know, but its possible since
> I did write/re-write some useful tools for os9), consider this as a Cease
> and Desist notice. ...
>
>--
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-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
America has been discovered before, but it has always been hushed up.
- Oscar Wilde