Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ucselx!crash!oleg From: oleg@crash.cts.com (Oleg Rovner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: "Demos" and piracy Message-ID: <3471@crash.cts.com> Date: 11 Jul 90 06:20:41 GMT References: Organization: Crash TimeSharing, El Cajon, CA Lines: 32 In article mofo@bucsf.bu.edu (jason greene) writes: >While the topic of PIRACY is so damned popular and flame-warranting... > >I have an interesting question. If there are so many people against even >the smallest piracy (copying your friend's Marble Madness or something), >how can these same people incessantly search for "The Red Sector demo" or >the "Champs demo" or whatever others there are. [stuff shredded by me] > >What is most ridiculous is the many FTP sites that carry these demos, and >that people on the net constantly ask about them. > >I think that supporting these demos is akin to supporting the pirates >themselves, and should be stopped. > >Jason Hey, demos are what sells the Amiga. As someone who bought one of the first Amigas that made it into San Diego, and has convinced three other people to buy one (hopefully I convinced more, but three is all that I'm sure of :-), I can definitely say that the vast majority of Amigas got sold not on the basis of WordPerfect or ProPage, and usually not even games. They got sold by D-E-M-O-S. Boing! came first, and after the buyer had his interest grabbed, his wallet and mind followed. Now, Boing! is not that big of a deal, because it is so familiar, but truly original hack demos are right up there in capturing one's attention. I will skip the reasons for creation of these demos simply because they are immaterial. The demos show the raw power of the machine. They sell the machine. They are not pirated. So any argument about supporting piracy by carrying demos is moot. Not to mention silly. OR