Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!bellcore!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!iuvax!silver!amhartma From: amhartma@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Andy Hartman (AmigaMan)) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: "Demos" and piracy Message-ID: <50403@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> Date: 10 Jul 90 21:47:22 GMT References: Sender: root@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington IN. Lines: 61 In article mofo@bucsf.bu.edu (jason greene) writes: >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. >I have seen many of these "demos" and they are indeed, quite impressive >both in graphics and sound. HOWEVER, these "demos" are stuck on the boot >block of pirated disks by pirates. If you examine these disks, you will notice that "The Red Sector demo" is 2 disks long. I'd like to see even the most skilled pirate put that on a boot block. (The Kefrens 8 demo is also 2 disks long). [...rambling deleted...] >Most often these demos are made by somewhat skilled European programmers >who want games for themselves, so they "contribute" these "demos" to the >various pirate groups to use. IE, the programmers of the demos are most >often pirates themselves. Why not try to encourage these pirates that they can, indeed, put out good stuff? Maybe this will turn their attention to constructive programming rather than cracking. >What is most ridiculous is the many FTP sites that carry these demos, and >that people on the net constantly ask about them. Why not carry them? They are just neat programs like much of the other stuff on other FTP sites. {prepare for VERY hypothetical situation...} ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Okay, let's say that Matt Dillion had once been a pirate. (remember I said VERY hypothetical!!!) Would that mean that his very useful DNet, Dice, and other great programs shouldn't be seen? NO! {Hypothetical situation OFF.} NOTE: I am in no way trying to say that Matt is a pirate...He's just the first PD/Shareware author/trustworthy guy that came to my mind! >I think that supporting these demos is akin to supporting the pirates >themselves, and should be stopped. Isn't what this country's legal system is all about? Reform prisioners. If you reward their good, they might catch on... >Jason Just my 0.02 worth (God, I wish the Ami had a cents key!) AMH * Andy Hartman | I'd deny half of this crap anyway!| "Somedays, you just * Indiana University |-----------------------------------| can't get rid of a * // Amiga Man | amhartma@silver.ucs.indiana.edu | bomb!" * \X/ At Large! | AMHARTMA@rose.ucs.indiana.edu | - Batman (original) * Andy Hartman | I'd deny half of this crap anyway!| "Somedays, you just * Indiana University |-----------------------------------| can't get rid of a * // Amiga Man | amhartma@silver.ucs.indiana.edu | bomb!" * \X/ At Large! | AMHARTMA@rose.ucs.indiana.edu | - Batman (original)