[Coco] Peeks, Pokes, Execs on-line

[Arthur Flexser]

I believe that it was a product of Microcom Software, a couple of Indian (Asian,
not native American) fellows (father/son??) located (had a store, I think) in
upstate New York, the same company that sold Word Power 3 and other software.  
Nice folks.  (I know, three parenthetical phrases in the same sentence is a bit
much.)

Art

On Sun, 9 Oct 2005, Neil Morrison wrote:


> 

> If you can find the copyright owner, do so and ask permission. If you can't, 

> which is worse, to publish it on the web or to lose it forever? Much has 

> already been lost, never to be seen again. We should have started a grand 

> collection years ago, but it's only now that we all realise what we are 

> losing. Even Bill Gates, the most notorious copyright defender, offered to 

> publish his original 8-bit Basic source code in some form. He then found out 

> he had lost it and no longer had a copy!

> 

> I know people who sell $1 million software - who no longer have a complete 

> set of sources!

> 

> Neil

> 

> ----- Original Message ----- 

> From: <farna at att.net>

> 

> 

> > Morally it's wrong. Someone owns a copyright to it. Legally it's wrong for 

> > the same reason, but someone has to file a complaint. Since the amount of 

> > damages is so miniscule, the only thing they are likely to do is issue a 

> > "cease and desist" order, that's if they actually do consult a lawyer. 

> > Since there is no money in it for him, that's what most lawyers recommend. 

> > Only if you continue after that is there much value in suing, and then 

> > it's a fine imposed by the court and usually the defending lawyers fees, 

> > sometimes out of the fine, sometimes in addition. But they DO have to show 

> > that you were contacted and/or they attempted to rectify the situation out 

> > of court. Very few people are willing to put up $5K or so in lawyer fees 

> > on principle.

> >

> > Practically, no one really cares about it any more, and there is really no 

> > profit to be made. Even if it were available through legal channels it 

> > would likely be to expensive to buy because there are so few potential 

> > buyers. Definitely wouldn't be worth while. That's why I gave all rights 

> > to everything I had to the people who would see it distributed -- Glenside 

> > CoCo Club. I also put it all in PD after they okayed it. THAT is what 

> > should be done to "orphanware" after a 5-10 year period. Retaining rights 

> > on software after 10 years is really stupid, as most outlives it's 

> > usefulness in 2-3 years. Now if a company is still publishing a version of 

> > it, especially with some small amount of code left from the original, 

> > that's a lot different.

> 

> 

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