[PLUG] Abandonware problem and ScummVM...

donkyhotay donkyhotay at verizon.net
Wed Apr 22 07:50:12 UTC 2009


Except then software companies could only charge their consumers *once* 
rather then charging them over and over again for the various upgrades. 
If win98 was open-sourced then people would be more likely to keep their 
older computer around and use the open-source updates to keep their 
system running rather then buying new computers. Also if hardware 
drivers and applications maintained better backwards compatibility then 
there wouldn't need to pay $100 or so to upgrade to vista for people 
capable of upgrading their systems individual components and using old 
OS's forever. It's called systemic planned obsolescence and corporations 
love it. Thats what a lot of controversy about DRM is about, 
corporations claim it's to prevent piracy however many people (myself 
included) believe it does nothing to stop piracy, it's only purpose is 
to force people to pay when it expires, and actually *encourages* piracy 
because people get so frustrated by all the restrictions and the need to 
'buy' the same product over and over again. I've believed for some time 
that the main reason most companies refuse to support linux has nothing 
to do with the number of users (though it is *a* reason) but because the 
more people use linux, the more they realize how stupid all the EULA's, 
activation requirements, DRM, copyright restrictions, etc. that you deal 
with daily on windows/osX systems really are. I've introduced many 
people to linux over the past few years and one of the biggest 'selling' 
points are the repositories (I usually start people with an ubuntu). 
Once I explain that although 'store-bought' software won't work I show 
them that just about anything they may want is just a simple repository 
search away. Click on what you need, hit install, you're done. Sure it's 
not for everyone, but most average users can get more from the 
repositories then they ever need. I've been digressing a bit here but my 
point is that many big name corporations make a *lot* of money holding 
onto copyrights and patents for forever minus a day and their not going 
to give that up without a fight regardless of whats 'right' or 'good for 
the public' or even 'best for the consumer'. I'm not one that believes 
copyrights should be removed entirely, with limitations they do some 
very good things and content creators *do* deserve compensation for 
their work, but the flip side of locking everything down (which is where 
we seem headed) is worse then having no copyright at all.



Michael Robinson wrote:
> A bit of an aside, when I bought a usb sound card from usbgear.com
> it was advertised as being Windows 98SE compatible.  It wasn't.  I 
> was told tough when I brought this up and it was suggested that I 
> should complain to Microsoft.  If Windows 98SE were open source, 
> there'd probably be an open source driver for it.
> 
> Microsoft has abandoned the dos/Windows 3.x combo, Windows 95 all
> versions, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows NT all versions, 
> Windows 2000, and Windows Millenium.  Sadly, none of these old 
> versions of Windows are open source or even freely 
> redistributable, although there are web sites that redistribute 
> them illegally.
> 
> Noone can support Windows 9x except Microsoft and Microsoft doesn't.
> This is one of the major problems with proprietary operating systems,
> yet it is more common and seemingly more popular to write software
> for proprietary systems than it is to write software for open systems.
> 
> There is a strong push to support proprietary software on Linux.
> ScummVM is part of that push, dosbox another part, virtualbox and
> other emulators play a part as well.  Trouble is, will only old
> commercial software get support and if that's the case, will it
> be legally available?  Changing copyright law to put a limitation
> of 10 years on proprietary software makes sense.  The copyright
> shouldn't be for the lifetime of the author or company that owns
> it.  The government could step in and pass retroactive copyright
> reform.  If you are profiting from a software program after 10
> years and want to keep it proprietary, you should be able to
> pay a nominal yearly fee to keep it that way.
> 
> There should be an exception for copyleft software.  Stuff under
> the GPL should never come up for renewal.
> 
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-- 
Do not be afraid to joust a giant just because some people insist on 
believing in windmills.



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