Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cca!mirror!prism!john From: john@prism.TMC.COM Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc Subject: MEAN18 AUTHOR REPLIES TO POSTING: Message-ID: <235400004@prism> Date: 10 Mar 88 22:03:00 GMT Lines: 73 Nf-ID: #N:prism:235400004:000:3216 Nf-From: prism.TMC.COM!john Mar 10 17:03:00 1988 XXXXXX --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following letter was dictated to me over the phone by Rex Bradford, who is the author of the MEAN18 golf program recently posted on Usenet. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the author of MEAN18, I was understandably mortified to find that a pirated copy has appeared on Usenet. In case there is any confusion regarding the copyright status of this program, let me clear it up: MEAN18, marketed by Accolade Inc., is a proprietary product, is copy-protected, and includes a copyright notice on its title screen. There is not and never has been a "public domain" version. The fact that illegal copies of software show up on bulletin boards is no excuse for anyone to assume that they are public domain. There are many "pirate boards" in existence: Usenet should not be one of them. Mr. Schmitt's claim of ignorance has no credibility given the software's copyright notice and its high visibility in the marketplace (MEAN18 is carried in all major software chains, and sold mail-order by PC Connection, 47th St. Photo, etc.). I greatly appreciate the Usenet community's reaction to this incident, and hope that members will get the word out to remove this pirated software. I make my living by creating software like MEAN18, and this episode has not made my day. I encourage anyone who tried the program and liked it, to purchase a legal copy--the current version includes support for Hercules, and EGA, and looks much prettier on the EGA. By the way, course data files which users create using the COURSE ARCHITECT program in the MEAN18 package may be distributed freely (without including MEAN18, of course). Note that this does not apply to FAMOUS COURSE DISKS sold by Accolade Inc., which are also proprietary. I think having a moderator for binary conferences is a good idea. While it may be impossible to effectively screen viruses, it is relatively easy to spot copyrighted software and keep it off the nets. 7) Sorry for the long posting--I hope this has cleared up what little confusion there may have been on this matter. Rex Bradford President, MicroSmiths Inc. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I will be happy to forward Usenet responses, Email, and snail mail replies sent in care of me, to Rex. John Dowd Mirror Systems, Inc. 2067 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge MA 02140 ---- JOHN DOWD john@mirror.TMC.COM {mit-eddie, ihnp4, harvard!wjh12, cca, cbosgd, seismo}!mirror!john Mirror Systems Cambridge, MA 02140