[Coco] vcc and WIDTH command when using HDB-DOS

[Tormod Volden]

On Mon, Oct 27, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Nick Marentes wrote:
> On 27/10/2014 9:34 AM, Aaron Wolfe wrote:
>>
>> I'm sorry that you have been another victim of the trouble caused when
>> people redistribute software from unofficial sites.  Unfortunately this
>> seems to be a cancer in our small community.
>>
> The other part of this problem is the "open source" concept itself.

I am amazed that you can call this a part of the problem.

>
> When the source code is distributed freely (legit or non-legit), this allows
> every man and his dog to mod/hack at it and release another version of the
> software.

This a huge advantage of open-source software.

And if you replace "every man" with "bad boys" it would be very true
for closed-source software. If you google for any closed-source piece
of software you'll get plenty of hits from "download" sites offering
outdated and virus-infected versions.

>
> I'm all for open source but there needs to be a single distributor of the
> official version to prevent "version chaos".

There always is. But it is often easier to redistribute legally
because of permissive licensing, than typical closed-source software.
And like many things in a liberal society, that it is legal does not
always mean it is good.

A problem is if redistributors don't inform about the "upstream"
official site. And google zombies who stop after the first link.

As also goes for closed-source software, there is a possibility that
the originally official distributor stops working on the software,
sometimes without notice. At least for open-source software there is
the possibility for someone to take over and become the new official
distributor.

Now for Vcc, it is closed-source software, so is quite funny that Nick
uses this thread to bad-mouth open-source software. Vcc is a prime
example of the problems with closed-source software.

Tormod