RE: SIMSON SAYS: Copyright and wrongs

Tim Byars (tbyars@earthlink.net)
Thu, 25 Feb 1999 12:44:15 -0800


On 2/25/99 at 10:55 AM -0800, Simson L. Garfinkel ran this line:

> The implications of this argument go far beyond Lotus and Improv. In recent
> years dozens of software publishers have gone out of business, and taken
> their wares with them. Just imagine what the world would be like today, if
> instead of killing their products, these companies had been forced to
> release their programs into the public domain. Today there would be more
> than a dozen free word processors and spreadsheets available for Windows,
> giving Microsoft a real run for its money. And if the companies had been
> compelled to release the source code for these products as well, then
> enterprising hobbyists would have ported these applications the Linux
> operating system.
>
> One of the prime offenders in this world of dead software is Apple, which
> has mothballed both the Newton and all but given up on the NeXTSTEP
> operating systems.

I've said this very type of thing for awhile now. My Quadra circa 1992
was a far more productive machine than what I have now. Granted Apple's
Sys 7.01 crashed like Win'95 crashes today (a lot) but the software
available for it was superior. Adobe has all but killed the plug in's
market for PhotoShop. Utilities like Suitcase don't work, many graphics
programs have fallen by the wayside. I still have a copy of Electronic
Arts Studio 32 on my drive. It run's shockingly fast on a PPC, still
does things that PhotoShop 5 doesn't, and takes up all of 350K...

Tim

--

Bring it on...

<>tbyars@earthlink.net<>