Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!uwmcsd1!marque!gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser From: hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com (Harv Laser) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Be cool kids, we could be next. Message-ID: <2924@gryphon.CTS.COM> Date: 18 Mar 88 01:20:21 GMT Sender: root@gryphon.CTS.COM Organization: People-Net [pnet02], Redondo Beach, CA. Lines: 111 (crossposted from the Atari ST Club on Plink) ----- Club : ATARI ST Sec: 1 Date : 3/17/88 9:01 Num: 2,753 Theme: ATARI ST PIRACY? To : ALL By : ATARI*TROS Title: WILL WP -- GO AWAY??? ----- Thanks to ST*BILL for this alarming news about Word Perfect on the ST. -------------------------- Date 3/16/88 23:58 From ST*BILL -------------------------- TO: ATARI*TROS The following was captured tonight from the Applied Computer Associates Bulletin Board, Gaithersburg, Maryland (Atari/Blue Chip dealer). The message from CI$ is a very harsh warning about the piracy of the first respected, supported professional product for our machine, WORD PERFECT. (DOWNLOADED FROM COMPUSERVE - 3/16/88) Message number ( to end): 94541 #: 94541 S3/ST Applications 15-Mar-88 10:50:50 Sb: #WORD PERFECT QUITS Fm: SYSOP*Ron Luks 76703,254 To: All Last night I received a VERY disturbing phone call from the director of corporate communications of Word Perfect Corp. It seems that the powers that be at WP are very upset at finding their software freely available on a number of pirate BBS and have decided the ATARI ST market is not one that they want to participate in anymore. That's right-- WORD PERFECT intends to remove themselves from the ATARI ST market and plans to withdraw their software from the store shelves!!!! Mr. Acerson explained that the decision to pull out of the ATARI market wasn't something he preferred to do, but its been a long standing policy at WP not to copy protect their software and to utilize systems like Compuserve and BBS to *support* their users. They will not operate in an atmosphere where the same support systems are used to steal their product. They feel its up to the user community to police themselves to prevent such problems and explained to me that they have not found similar problems in the PC or AMIGA communities. The unfortunate fact is that both WP and the decent members of the ATARI ST community will both be hurt by this move because of the actions of a few pieces of scum. Jeff acknowledged that the first release of WP for the ST contained some bugs but that they have been corrected because WP has always had the commitment to stand behind their product and will devote whatever resources are necessary to do this. If they pull out of the ST market, they will lose the development costs associated with the ST version but the REAL losers will be the ST community. If a company with the stature of WP decides to drop out of the ATARI market, who will be next?? In our conversation I tried to convince Mr. Acerson that these pirate BBSs were actually a minority and that it just wasnt fair to the rest of the ATARI community to suffer for their actions. (in fact, WP discovered complete copies of their product on 3 BBSs in the few months its been available) He stated that WP would be seeking legal action against these BBS operators, but that WP was in the business of selling and supporting software, not spending significant corporate resources tracking down thieves and that although 3 BBSs werent going to bankrupt WP, this number found in such a short time bodes badly for the ST market. I then asked him if WP would reconsider their action if it could be shown to them that in fact these 3 thieves were a small minority and the majority of the ST community represented, decent, law abiding responsible consumers who deserved to be served. He said that if he could show his superiors that this was the case, and that the ATARI community could responsibly police itself, there was a good chance WP would remain in the ATARI ST market. Therefore, I'm asking for a show of support from the SIG*ATARI membership on this subject and requesting that this problem be circulated to all other systems and BBSs wherever possible. C'mon folks-- piracy just about about killed the ATARI 8-bit market, and now seriously threatens the ST market. Many of us have too much invested in our systems to watch it go down the drain because of a few pieces of scum. If we can show a significant amount of support, perhaps we can retain the vendors we now have and hope to have in the future. Ron Luks ************************************************************************** * NOTE FROM SYSOP: If you captured this message, please upload it to any * * --------------- BBS you frequent. thanks. -Steve * ************************************************************************** ---Bill ----- nb: I have not personally verified this with WP Corp, nor have I altered any of the text, nor am I out to start any flame wars with comp.sys.atari.st so this is not being posted there. I have friends who work at WP Corp... they're a helluva company to be supporting the Amiga. I'd really hate to see this happen to _US_ ! Harv Laser, Sysop, The People/Link AmigaZone. Plink: CBM*HARV UUCP: {ihnp4!scgvaxd!cadovax, rutgers!marque}!gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser INET: hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com