Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!van-bc!cynic!curt
From: curt@cynic.wimsey.bc.ca (Curt Sampson)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Software Piracy
Keywords: piracy
Message-ID: <ya9LT5w163w@cynic.wimsey.bc.ca>
Date: 3 Dec 90 18:09:45 GMT
References: <1990Dec2.171747.20333@acc.stolaf.edu>
Organization: Mad Artists' Technological Hangout, Vancouver, B.C.
Lines: 41

sobiloff@thor.acc.stolaf.edu (Chrome Cboy) writes:

> You ignore the more likely scenario: the software isn't up to the full
> capabilities of the hardware. For example, the whizz-bang 2000 is the
> first computer on the market with a full virtual reality kernel. This of
> course isn't the software's fault, but very few people would be inclined
> to buy a whizz-bang 2000 if the software doesn't take advantage of the
> unique powers of hardware. So it would seem that free software with source
> code is great for the installed base, but it doesn't significantly affect
> the new products.

I disagree.  There are a *lot* of people out there that program, and
are willing to do a fair amount of programming on their own time.  If
a company releases a binary version of a commercial software package
it will be available for only the machines that company has the time
and resources to port it to.  People that tend to buy the newest
whizz-bang devices tend to be fairly technically inclined, though.  If
source code is available there will always be people out there with
the new machine that will be willing to have a go at porting the old
software and perhaps adding some new features to take advantage of the
new hardware.

One example would be the elvis editor (a vi clone).  It was written
for UNIX (or MINIX-ST, actually) by the author, but it has been ported
to various UNIX systems and clones (BSD, SYSV, Coherent), Atari ST
TOS, and MS-DOS, among others.

MODEM7 (the venerable CP/M communications program) grew quite rapidly
and had a lot of features added because the source code was freely
available for it.  Even though I didn't program under CP/M at the time
I still used it and took advantage of that freedom.

I think that distributing source code is the way to go.  I see this
binary-only trend as an abberation brought on by the standardization
of the IBM PC between the fall of CP/M and the rise of UNIX in the
microcomputer world.

cjs
                                 | "The unconscious self is the real genius.
curt@cynic.wimsey.bc.ca          |  Your breathing goes wrong the minute your
{uunet|ubc-cs}!van-bc!cynic!curt |  conscious self meddles with it."  --GBS


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