A-EON Technology Acquires Personal Paint

[buzz]

Looks like they have emailed everyone who hosted the files. I have an aminet mirror - and they of course emailed me to remove them.. doh.

I suggest everyone uploads lots of copies to their favourite hosting sites to avoid losing this software that has been freely available for years.

really stupid move.

[F0LLETT]

I suggest everyone uploads lots of copies to their favourite hosting sites to avoid losing this software that has been freely available for years.

So what your saying is, if cloanto decided to remove their software from Aminet. They are not allowed to? So you own the software?

So I think we can see that Aminet is finished now because one peice of software removed.
People in my opinion and just taking this opportunity to jump on the band wagon.
Bet half have not even heard of PPaint.

Obviously Im going over the top. This how crazy it all is.

[buzz]

So what your saying is, if cloanto decided to remove their software from Aminet. They are not allowed to? So you own the software?

no. i said it was stupid to remove it, and if people want access to this software that has been freely available for YEARS they should keep some copies around / available.

[wawrzon]

Not sure how layers would work in an 8bit gfx program, layers based programs such as ahen , SketchBlock, reply on alpha blending and other advanced pixel manipulations like multiply add subtract that do not translate well.

Do you have an example of a 8bit program using layers so I can see how it works in relation to them?

 I know ImageFX has alayers facility, but that as well only works for RGB buffers, with a 'frames' version for colourmapped, which is not the same as it's for animation not blending, and as such is covered by PPaint superior animation features.

grafx2 seems to have layers, have never used this feature though.

[F0LLETT]

no. i said it was stupid to remove it, and if people want access to this software that has been freely available for YEARS they should keep some copies around / available.

Fair enough.

However you really need to read the threads. It will be available in the future again.

[buzz]

Why not remove it when it is freely available elsewhere..

This was handled badly. I completely understand why users might be upset about it. You should have made a version freely available then updated the aminet version pointing to it. You would have probably got more sales that way for the updated version too.

[wawrzon]

Looks like they have emailed everyone who hosted the files. I have an aminet mirror - and they of course emailed me to remove them.. doh.

I suggest everyone uploads lots of copies to their favourite hosting sites to avoid losing this software that has been freely available for years.

really stupid move.

this sound like something that will be remembered as a really a bad publicity, even worse if there is no simple and honest explanation for this move. who has actually emailed you?

[buzz]

A-EON Technology Ltd

[Matt_H]

Just hypotetically; if a few other programs are taken out of Aminet to be updated; whats the problem with that?

The problem is that the principle/purpose of an archive is to be a safe place to store things in perpetuity. Once something is there, it shouldn't be subject to the whims and moods of whoever submitted it, especially after two decades.

Apart from gross copyright violations (e.g., someone uploaded a commercial product they don't have rights to) or other extremely rare exception, nothing should be removed from Aminet, even if subsequently (re)released commercially.

This current situation is like asking the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress to remove Casablanca or Star Wars. After all, much "better" versions of both have been released in the years since they were first inducted. Those original versions shouldn't be part of the public record anymore!

That would be absurd, right?

[Niding]

I do see your point, but I do think productivity software is a bit different.

As far as whoever submitted it; if Andy, zzd10h, Lyle or whoever made a piece of software they originally released on Aminet or allowed to be submitted there, we should be thankful they did so in the first place.

If they at a later point decides they want to make a updated version, and in the process make revenue off their work; I defintly dont see the problem with that.
With PP the rights where bought, but other than that, same applies.

[wawrzon]

whoever made a piece of software they originally released on Aminet or allowed to be submitted there, we should be thankful they did so in the first place.

we are thankful that cloanto released this software free of charge on aminet. but why should we be thankful, that another entity demands removing it even if they acquired rights to it.

[Niding]

Well, they are planning to update/develop the program futher, tho I dont expect that to resonate.

And again, its been available for aaaaaages, so anyone even remotely intrested in the program either already have it installed or got a file lying around somewhere.

[Matt_H]

I do see your point, but I do think productivity software is a bit different.

As far as whoever submitted it; if Andy, zzd10h, Lyle or whoever made a piece of software they originally released on Aminet or allowed to be submitted there, we should be thankful they did so in the first place.

If they at a later point decides they want to make a updated version, and in the process make revenue off their work; I defintly dont see the problem with that.
With PP the rights where bought, but other than that, same applies.

Oh, it's definitely fine and great if a developer wants to turn one if their programs into a commercial product. I'm saying just leave the old/previous version on Aminet as it was. This has been done countless times throughout Amiga history: v1 is shareware/freeware, v2 is commercial. v1 remains on Aminet, v2 gets something in docs/anno or biz/demo and the full version is available from the developer or retailer.

By putting something on Aminet, you're making a commitment to the community in terms to the distribution of (that particular version of) your software. Changing your mind later and asking that something be pulled goes against the spirit of that commitment. If you want to fully control the distribution of your software, don't put it on Aminet to begin with.

[Niding]

Well, I have a hard time to villify someone that takes the time to develop software (or in this case update), make it freely available for x years, and then removes it later on.
You make aminet sound like a eternal contract where you sign away the rights to your software.

As I said on AW.net;

So what entitles us to free stuff all the time?
I dont MIND getting free stuff, hell, I even appriciate it. But I dont feel entitled to it either.

[cunnpole]

When will A-EON stop shooting themselves in the foot? The correct way of handling this seems pretty obvious to most of us.

[amigakit]

The older 7.1c archive will be available to download from the official PPaint website:

http://ppaint.amistore.net

This domain is still in the process of propogating with DNS servers around the world so it wont be available everywhere until during the next 24-48 hours