Piracy was Re: HH drives

From: Bruce Ray <bkr_at_WildHareComputers.com>
Date: Thu Apr 17 01:06:00 2003

G'day Jeff -

Be aware that TLC Corporation in Uxbridge MA has the distribution rights
to -all- of the DG 32-bit MV software and still actively charges for use of
all DG (now EMC) software products and TLC must still pay royalties to EMC.
I am trying to work on a hobbyist along with more attractive "commercial
use" license arrangement for the 32-bit (and 16-bit) software, but all of it
is still covered by license requirements from TLC to EMC.

Bruce


----- Original Message -----
From: "SYSTEM MANAGER [VAX]" <technoid_at_30below.com>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:20 PM
Subject: Re: Piracy was Re: HH drives


> I agree wholeheartedly. If I'd not bought a set of original tapes for
> my Data General mini, I'd have a lump of recycleable metal instead of a
> functioning, neato computer.
>
> Now, I bought the tapes fair and sqare, but from a licensing standpoint
> they should have been either returned to DG or destroyed. They were
> really hard to find as a large percentage of DG customers complied with
> the license. The US Forest Service for instance destroyed all of thier
> media, documentation, etcetera. They also blanked the drives on the
> machines they sold to scrappers.
>
> So far as I know, I'm the only private person on the planet with a full
> install set for AOS/VS II v3.0 and TCP/IP. Those three tapes are golden.
> I also have several versions of thier ades/adex diagnostic software
> which contains microcode for ALL data general MV (Eagle) machines.
>
> These tapes are all completely illegal for me to own. Until a couple of
> years ago the OS and tcpip were available from DG, but they wanted
> $1300.00 for them. I told DG where to stick it and instead dropped
> $300.00 on a 9track, controller, and the golden tapes.
>
> I doubt any court in the world would convict me for this. Especially in
> light of DG's aquisition by EMC about a year after I got the machine up
> and running.
>
> I was totally floored that Digital had thier hobbyist license for VMS
> and layered products. I signed up right away! Data General might still
> be making computers if they weren't such tightasses.
>
> Regards,
>
>
> Jeff
>
> Lawrence Walker wrote:
> >
> > Yup, version 5 and it won't do MFM and RLL HDs. Can
> > any justification be made for any restrictions on the
> > dissemnation of old software such as this which in no way
> > cuts into the sales of his newest product ?
> > This is an on-going debate among classic computer
> > collectors and some formalistic posture as to the useage
> > of outmoded software is ludicrous. Most of the old
> > hardware we attempt to get up and running would be
> > consigned to landfills if we religeously held to that
> > position. This is not about stealing the bread from some
> > hardworking programmers table but should be about his
> > responsibility to the community that enabled him to
> > continue his type of work. If it's no longer a viable product
> > and is not supported, all deals are off. This would not
> > justify someone coming along and marketing his product.
> > That's a different ball of wax.
> >
> > I just checked my version of Spinrite 1.2a. Under
> > liscensing it says:
> >
> > o Consultant License --
> > Consultants who wish to repair and revitalize systems
> > belonging to others may do so by executing our
> > CONSULTING USE LICENSING AGREEMENT
> > and paying a $10 fee each time SpinRite is used on
> > another system.
> > SpinRite must not, of course, be installed onto those
> > drives.
> >
> > I hope those taking this position have religeously
> > submitted the $10 whenever they've used it on someone
> > elses machine.
> >
> > Lawrence
Received on Thu Apr 17 2003 - 01:06:00 BST

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