The good old days of tape players

From: John Foust <jfoust_at_threedee.com>
Date: Wed Dec 1 08:09:38 1999

At 01:26 AM 12/1/99 EST, Glenatacme_at_aol.com wrote:
>Unfortunately there are groups in
>the US which oppose this activity -- not because any of the program authors
>are objecting at this late date -- but because these groups propose that
>*any* form of emulation, or use of *alien* hardware, to run, store, or
>transfer these programs is illegal and should be stopped.

I think you're mixing two factions. Certainly a relatively great
number of people are opposed to the free distribution of someone's
copyright works without permission, and a much smaller (if any)
are opposed to the creation of emulators. I've never heard of
anyone complaining about the creation of an emulator. What
they complain about is the redistribution of some company's
ROM code to go along with the code that someone's written.

I think it's important to respect copyright. Certainly the field
of antique computers and the rapid evolution of this market causes
copyright works to seem abandoned much more quickly than books,
music or Mickey Mouse.

We might soon be in a situation where the market demand for old
software (running under emulation) exceeds the size of the original
hardware-based market, and the world would be a better place if
there was a mechanism for the creator of a 1980 game to be
compensated for present-day renewed demand, just as the author
of a book published in 1980 can still be paid for a new rush
of sales or a Penguin reprint.

- John
Received on Wed Dec 01 1999 - 08:09:38 GMT