Thus I have the right to keep a lid on it as long as I want.
But the case, specifically, of abandonware is where it HAS already been published, and is no longer available.
And the original publication was not in a "limited edition" form; the only limited editions of computer software that I have seen state specifically that the packaging is what is limited availability, the software itself is the same as you'd get some other way.
There are a few DVDs and Laserdiscs where the content of the limited edition is, in fact, different--more special features, for example.
Keep in mind, if you NEVER published it, we cannot COPY it.
"A solution exists" was no help to me when I didn't know the objective.
Grab a copy of Vice, download the.d64 file, and realize that the puzzle fragments you have to find make up a punch-card that you will use to exit the facility.
Though I personally recommend Power64 for your retro gaming needs, it does kind of need a Mac.
(Well, the sticks weren't physically broken, probably the switches inside needed to be bent a bit.)
I had to repair the cable on my Wico sticks a number of times, but the leaf switches themselves never mechanically failed. Sometimes they'd gum up a bit, but a little extra-fine sandpaper on the contact surface fixes it up quick.
But those sticks lasted through the C64, Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000... I wish I could get new ones like 'em with a few more buttons or something.
Oh, and with a parallel port adapter, they work with MAME on Linux. modprobe db9 I believe.
You can send them the game and they will refund the purchase price.
Oh, that's just great. I have to trust this thing to parcel post, wait however long it takes them to process the return, and mail back a cheque. It takes 2-3 months for a mail-in rebate on something you bought and kept, why would I think a refund because you don't want it will be any faster?
Fortunately, I know about the issues so I won't be taking it home from the store in the first place.
On this product, anyway; something that doesn't make a big splash on the right parts of the 'web I might not.
Note the incorrectly unclosed <h1>. This went unnoticed in a page-generator for a couple of days, because Opera and the Gecko family realized that it MUST close before the </div>. MSIE left the <h1> open, causing the page to be in Really Big Text(tm). Even compared to its normal issues with thinking "points" means "pixels".
A quick visit to the W3C validator identified the problem, of course, and put "install local intranet copy of validator" onto the top of my to-do list.
I haven't allowed anything from Symantec onto any of my or friends' systems since I discovered their "Crash Guard" program was causing my Mac to crash regularly. And, near as I could tell, most of the disk problems were caused by their background disk integrity program. (As in, after removing it and getting my money back, the system didn't crash and I didn't get disk integrity problems any more.)
So I sure wouldn't trust their Windows programs to not wedge into parts of the system where they shouldn't and trash the service pack install.
It's not MS's fault that your students don't keep the systems clean...
So just who created the application- and user-interfaces that spyware and viruses use to propagate to Windows machines? Who created a system where you cannot revoke the C$ and ADMIN$ shares, without turning off all file sharing? Who created a system where RPC sockets are open and listening by default? Who created a system where you can have programmatic content in word processor documents, spread sheets, and e-mail?
Why should the user have to know about all of this? That's why they're called a "user"--they just use the system. They don't run it, they don't design it, they don't control it, and there is no way they can be expected to understand it.
Remember when we told people if you got a warning about a virus in e-mail it was a hoax? Remember when you could safely open a word processor file without worrying about your system?
People with decades of experience with other computer systems cannot anticipate the depth and variety of problems Windows has had. How is a mere user to even begin to understand all the issues?
I'm not intending to support the claim that the number of overwrites is infinite, or even large.
But I believe the basis of the claim is that, for any given "bit position" on the disc, the current magnetic reluctance of that position depends on its current state and some function of the previous state. And the previous state depends on itself and ITS previous state, and so on.
Also, the aligment of each recording cell does not precisely line up each time. There's very sophisticated circuitry in a modern drive to figure out what the bit was supposed to be. (Keep in mind that what is actually written to the disk is coded, so that you never get long runs of 0s or 1s.) All those probabilities are fed in to the decode logic to come up with actual, usable bytes.
So if you get to the magnetic surface and can assess the relative strengths of fragments of bits at each bit position, you can start to rebuild the history of that position. Then you have to re-run the decode to work out what the datablock contained.
Though I can only see this being feasible for a small number of overwrites... but I really must read some of Schneier's works.
There's a reason why we make backups; data recovery in that manner costs a fortune.
They've got you down on the ground at gunpoint; you might as well keep saying "no".
Just don't make any threatening movements, like trying to get up or shoot them first or something.
Permission granted under duress is probably void anyawy, just like any contract under duress. But it would be easier if you never said "yes" in the first place.
You do not need to agree to be granted more rights.
If you don't agree to the license, then you are bound by the usual copyright restrictions; you cannot distribute copies of the program and so on.
Further, End Users do not need a license to use copyrighted software. Copyright is more than permissive enough to allow an end user to use a program.
There are clauses in the Borland license that allow copying ("...to Educational Users and Evaluation Users...").
This is why the GPL and other OSS licenses work, and why end users do not need to agree to them. If you don't agree, you can't distribute it (but you can receive it and use it), because copyright says you can't. If you do agree to the rules, you get these additional rights.
I don't know any Apple fans that fret about other companies' activities.
All the fretting seems to come from non-Apple fans thinking about what Apple fans should be thinking about.
Most of us Apple fans kind of like being off in a little corner where no-one wants to bother us, except occasionally tell us that we'd be better if we just downloaded a copy of Windows XP like everyone else.
The popularity of the iPod is thus very confusing and disturbing....
Heck, next thing you know, they'll have Windows support on the iPod, and then where will it all end?
The point being, when the first PowerMacs came out, none of the software had been recompiled yet. So the 68K software emulator was critical. Particularly since the whole OS hasn't been ported to PowerPC yet.
Big CPU-sucking apps were quite quick to come up with... damn, I don't remember what the little stickers said now. It was some marketspeak that reminded me of "turbo" on XTs that could go faster than 4.77 MHz. All it really meant, for most apps, was they'd fed it to the new compiler.
If the auto industry had the gas industry put in additives that cause the engine to fail to allow the people who repair cars to continue to generate revenue, it would be a very similar (and equally unethical and hopefully illegal) situation. Not an acceptable option.
Well, it may not be collusion, but
Shell has been known to put stuff in their gasoline which results in increased repair costs for the motorist.
They did stop, and there are two class-action settlements... for people who kept all their fuel recipts for 3 years.
There's a reason why most cars need to have the key pushed in to turn to "lock". If you just grab it and turn, it should not go to "lock". (Though, these days, I'm not betting on anything, especially if it is important in an emergency.) Some even had a button that you had to press--which was really annoying if you'd never encountered one of them before.
I recall "de-clutch/shift-to-neutral" drill in my driver's-ed class, and it wasn't even the deluxe course. Ignition-kill was part of that well. Also, part of the in-car test for your license was how to do both.
Or do they not teach stuck-throttle recovery anymore?
Actually, given that many users ordinarily record audio onto their hard disks, hard drives certainly qualify--now. The first guy to do it might have been pushing the boundaries a bit.
That very definition means, if many people store audio on it, it's an audio recording medium.
Also, note the use of the word 'including' before the list of recognized media; this saves having to update the law when new media are introduced. (Or new uses for old media; but I've been storing music on computer tape and disk for 25 years now... it just doesn't sound like shit anymore.)
Finally, the definition you cited is for a blank audio recording medium; that is relevant for the levies. But the legality of a personal-use copy is not predicated on payment of the levy, nor is it required that you copy onto blank media.
The lane is yours
if there is more than one lane. Otherwise you (and I) need to be "as close as practicable" to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. (The roadway does not include the shoulder, paved or soft.) (And, I looked it up, practicable is a real word!)
There's a huge section of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act called "Rules of the Road" which is seriously under-enforced these days. Traffic flow and safety would improve a whole lot if it was. But you can't do it with a radar gun or a camera, so we probably won't see any improvements there.
Now, if something can be done about bicyclists which pass on the right of right-turning vehicles... I've never really understood what those people are thinking. "Let me ride into this truck's blind spot, he'll somehow just know I'm there and stop again"?
If you're talking to the mail servers directly, you don't even need to fill out BCC. As long as there's a To: or CC: header, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with the domain you're sending to, the mail will go through. That is, if you get the RCPT TO command right in the SMTP conversation.
And not all MTAs reject messages without To: or CC: (or Apparently-To: or...)
This is where the difference between "envelope address" and "header address" matters.
Despite marketing, Windows XP is not a successor to 95/98/ME. It is Windows NT 5.1, which follows Windows 2000 (NT 5.0), NT 4.0 and 3.*, and OS/2 2.2. Earlier versions of 2000 and XP would actually say "Windows NT Version 5...." when you ran "ver" in a command window. I see a recent service pack has changed that.
Though the NT 3.*s were as ugly as Windows 3.*, they were built like real operating systems, with actual pre-emptive multitasking kernels, memory protection, and all that stuff.
The predecessor to using (any flavor of) NT as a terminal to the store's app is using OS/2 with a 3270 emulator to access the store's app on the AS/400 or ES/9000.
Given IBM's prices, that probably was cheaper than a real 3278.
They aren't more than $10k, but you can pay about $25k for one of their AMD Opteron machines.
The point is, usually there's a discount for buying all the components already put together. You're buying more than just the parts when you buy a Sun machine--there's the software licenses, the support for a year, and so on.
But when you buy a TV, you just get a TV. It's a monitor and a tuner in one box. There's less cabling, only one power supply, and so on. Only one thing needs FCC and ULC approval. Only one manual needs to be printed, one shipping carton, and so on.
So paying more to have the two devices integrated is truly ridiculous.
Slashdot Mirror
But the case, specifically, of abandonware is where it HAS already been published, and is no longer available.
And the original publication was not in a "limited edition" form; the only limited editions of computer software that I have seen state specifically that the packaging is what is limited availability, the software itself is the same as you'd get some other way.
There are a few DVDs and Laserdiscs where the content of the limited edition is, in fact, different--more special features, for example.
Keep in mind, if you NEVER published it, we cannot COPY it.
Grab a copy of Vice, download the .d64 file, and realize that the puzzle fragments you have to find make up a punch-card that you will use to exit the facility.
Though I personally recommend Power64 for your retro gaming needs, it does kind of need a Mac.
I had to repair the cable on my Wico sticks a number of times, but the leaf switches themselves never mechanically failed. Sometimes they'd gum up a bit, but a little extra-fine sandpaper on the contact surface fixes it up quick.
But those sticks lasted through the C64, Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000... I wish I could get new ones like 'em with a few more buttons or something.
Oh, and with a parallel port adapter, they work with MAME on Linux. modprobe db9 I believe.
That one just screams "digital video files" to me. FireWire DV takes up a LOT of disk REALLY quickly.
Uncompressed formats take up more disk faster, of course.
Oh, that's just great. I have to trust this thing to parcel post, wait however long it takes them to process the return, and mail back a cheque. It takes 2-3 months for a mail-in rebate on something you bought and kept, why would I think a refund because you don't want it will be any faster?
Fortunately, I know about the issues so I won't be taking it home from the store in the first place.
On this product, anyway; something that doesn't make a big splash on the right parts of the 'web I might not.
It can render some very badly formed HTML. Some other constructs will do strange things.
One of its biggest failings is leaving nested elements open across outer closing tags:
<div><h1>Some Heading</div>
<p>Regular text...</p>
Note the incorrectly unclosed <h1>. This went unnoticed in a page-generator for a couple of days, because Opera and the Gecko family realized that it MUST close before the </div>. MSIE left the <h1> open, causing the page to be in Really Big Text(tm). Even compared to its normal issues with thinking "points" means "pixels".
A quick visit to the W3C validator identified the problem, of course, and put "install local intranet copy of validator" onto the top of my to-do list.
I hear the "reload" discs for new Macs are DVDs....
And the Myst, Riven and Myst III collection was done on 3 DVDs.
And there's all those PS2 games....
And all the other things other people have pointed out.
And it only works if you're using references and not pointers in the first place....
C++ is fun! Wheee! (core dumped)
I haven't allowed anything from Symantec onto any of my or friends' systems since I discovered their "Crash Guard" program was causing my Mac to crash regularly. And, near as I could tell, most of the disk problems were caused by their background disk integrity program. (As in, after removing it and getting my money back, the system didn't crash and I didn't get disk integrity problems any more.)
So I sure wouldn't trust their Windows programs to not wedge into parts of the system where they shouldn't and trash the service pack install.
Why should the user have to know about all of this? That's why they're called a "user"--they just use the system. They don't run it, they don't design it, they don't control it, and there is no way they can be expected to understand it.
Remember when we told people if you got a warning about a virus in e-mail it was a hoax? Remember when you could safely open a word processor file without worrying about your system?
People with decades of experience with other computer systems cannot anticipate the depth and variety of problems Windows has had. How is a mere user to even begin to understand all the issues?
Yeah, he was coding levels for a different developer in his spare time.
But I believe the basis of the claim is that, for any given "bit position" on the disc, the current magnetic reluctance of that position depends on its current state and some function of the previous state. And the previous state depends on itself and ITS previous state, and so on.
Also, the aligment of each recording cell does not precisely line up each time. There's very sophisticated circuitry in a modern drive to figure out what the bit was supposed to be. (Keep in mind that what is actually written to the disk is coded, so that you never get long runs of 0s or 1s.) All those probabilities are fed in to the decode logic to come up with actual, usable bytes.
So if you get to the magnetic surface and can assess the relative strengths of fragments of bits at each bit position, you can start to rebuild the history of that position. Then you have to re-run the decode to work out what the datablock contained.
Though I can only see this being feasible for a small number of overwrites... but I really must read some of Schneier's works.
There's a reason why we make backups; data recovery in that manner costs a fortune.
They've got you down on the ground at gunpoint; you might as well keep saying "no".
Just don't make any threatening movements, like trying to get up or shoot them first or something.
Permission granted under duress is probably void anyawy, just like any contract under duress. But it would be easier if you never said "yes" in the first place.
If you don't agree to the license, then you are bound by the usual copyright restrictions; you cannot distribute copies of the program and so on.
Further, End Users do not need a license to use copyrighted software. Copyright is more than permissive enough to allow an end user to use a program.
There are clauses in the Borland license that allow copying ("...to Educational Users and Evaluation Users...").
This is why the GPL and other OSS licenses work, and why end users do not need to agree to them. If you don't agree, you can't distribute it (but you can receive it and use it), because copyright says you can't. If you do agree to the rules, you get these additional rights.
All the fretting seems to come from non-Apple fans thinking about what Apple fans should be thinking about.
Most of us Apple fans kind of like being off in a little corner where no-one wants to bother us, except occasionally tell us that we'd be better if we just downloaded a copy of Windows XP like everyone else.
The popularity of the iPod is thus very confusing and disturbing....
Heck, next thing you know, they'll have Windows support on the iPod, and then where will it all end?
Big CPU-sucking apps were quite quick to come up with... damn, I don't remember what the little stickers said now. It was some marketspeak that reminded me of "turbo" on XTs that could go faster than 4.77 MHz. All it really meant, for most apps, was they'd fed it to the new compiler.
Within months at worst, a year or few at best, it's going to be peeling off.
Get the adhesive-foil tape for your ducts, and use "duct tape" for all your emergency repairs--which is what it was really made for.
Well, it may not be collusion, but Shell has been known to put stuff in their gasoline which results in increased repair costs for the motorist.
They did stop, and there are two class-action settlements... for people who kept all their fuel recipts for 3 years.
There's a reason why most cars need to have the key pushed in to turn to "lock". If you just grab it and turn, it should not go to "lock". (Though, these days, I'm not betting on anything, especially if it is important in an emergency.) Some even had a button that you had to press--which was really annoying if you'd never encountered one of them before.
I recall "de-clutch/shift-to-neutral" drill in my driver's-ed class, and it wasn't even the deluxe course. Ignition-kill was part of that well. Also, part of the in-car test for your license was how to do both.
Or do they not teach stuck-throttle recovery anymore?
That very definition means, if many people store audio on it, it's an audio recording medium.
Also, note the use of the word 'including' before the list of recognized media; this saves having to update the law when new media are introduced. (Or new uses for old media; but I've been storing music on computer tape and disk for 25 years now... it just doesn't sound like shit anymore.)
Finally, the definition you cited is for a blank audio recording medium; that is relevant for the levies. But the legality of a personal-use copy is not predicated on payment of the levy, nor is it required that you copy onto blank media.
There's a huge section of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act called "Rules of the Road" which is seriously under-enforced these days. Traffic flow and safety would improve a whole lot if it was. But you can't do it with a radar gun or a camera, so we probably won't see any improvements there.
Now, if something can be done about bicyclists which pass on the right of right-turning vehicles... I've never really understood what those people are thinking. "Let me ride into this truck's blind spot, he'll somehow just know I'm there and stop again"?
If you're talking to the mail servers directly, you don't even need to fill out BCC. As long as there's a To: or CC: header, and it doesn't have to have anything to do with the domain you're sending to, the mail will go through. That is, if you get the RCPT TO command right in the SMTP conversation.
And not all MTAs reject messages without To: or CC: (or Apparently-To: or ...)
This is where the difference between "envelope address" and "header address" matters.
Like Solaris kernel development?
Like trade-show floor Internet kiosks?
Like Lego robot control?
What else did Sun employees talk about doing with a Solaris x86 system at SunNetwork '03.... (Didn't get to go this year.)
Despite marketing, Windows XP is not a successor to 95/98/ME. It is Windows NT 5.1, which follows Windows 2000 (NT 5.0), NT 4.0 and 3.*, and OS/2 2.2. Earlier versions of 2000 and XP would actually say "Windows NT Version 5...." when you ran "ver" in a command window. I see a recent service pack has changed that.
Though the NT 3.*s were as ugly as Windows 3.*, they were built like real operating systems, with actual pre-emptive multitasking kernels, memory protection, and all that stuff.
The predecessor to using (any flavor of) NT as a terminal to the store's app is using OS/2 with a 3270 emulator to access the store's app on the AS/400 or ES/9000.
Given IBM's prices, that probably was cheaper than a real 3278.
They aren't more than $10k, but you can pay about $25k for one of their AMD Opteron machines.
The point is, usually there's a discount for buying all the components already put together. You're buying more than just the parts when you buy a Sun machine--there's the software licenses, the support for a year, and so on.
But when you buy a TV, you just get a TV. It's a monitor and a tuner in one box. There's less cabling, only one power supply, and so on. Only one thing needs FCC and ULC approval. Only one manual needs to be printed, one shipping carton, and so on.
So paying more to have the two devices integrated is truly ridiculous.