Distribution Licence For Workbench...

[Fraggle1]

If memory serves, the copyright mafia started when the Amiga was still a popular home computer, citing "Piracy is killing the Amiga" as their cause, & while I believe that those still developing for the Amiga deserve our support I can't see how distributing 1.x - 3.1 constitutes piracy today. Who could claim to be losing revenue ?
All the same, I know it's not as simple as that because copyright law would still have been technically broken.

The problem here (as I see it) is that the period of time that copyright is granted for has been outstripped by the advance of technology & the "Digital Age", which has rendered obsolete a timeframe that seemed reasonable in 1709.
Today, Technology is obsolete often before it becomes mainstream, so it has a short lifespan & then the world moves on. It's time, I think, for the copyright mafia to get real & stop trying to tell us that we're taking bread from the mouths of Amiga developer's starving children.
I say Go For It, Franko.

[Fraggle1]

An interesting post, pwermonger. Thanks for the info.

So it appears that copyright law started as a highly reasonable construct, but was corrupted by big business who saw it as a licence to print money.
It rather raises the question of what happens when the businesses involved lose interest in the money they've printed ?
Seems to me that rather than give it away to the needy, they'll hoard it until it's no longer legal tender. Stupid, or what ? lol. ;-)

[Fraggle1]

Once again I feel I must speak up in Franko's defence.
What he's trying to do here is to bring some common sense to a community full of hot air & BS. A community that would rather argue forever than do something practical to claim what should be theirs by right if natural justice had anything to do with it.

And don't talk to me about "piracy" killing the Amiga. Back in the day, retailers supported the Amiga simply because of it's high prices, robbing both end users AND developers. (I know that a certain 'must have' application retailed for 7 or 8 times it's wholesale price)
Result ? Users copied stuff rather than pay ridiculous prices & developers found pastures new, where they got a better return for their efforts. You might also blame Amiga freeware, who's quality often made commercial products redundant.
When C= went belly up, ordinary users (as opposed to Amiga fans) dumped their Amigas & bought PCs, & the fast shrinking Amiga market (not piracy) was a major factor in developers abandoning the Amiga - They had mortgages to pay, dammit !

Are we now expected to listen to self-righteous babbling by a few people who seem to think that the Amiga will somehow be 'damaged' by Franko making WB disks easily available ?

The damage was done many years ago by those who made a fast buck & then ceased to care, & IMHO, Franko is trying to help this dwindling community by giving something back.

[Fraggle1]

@ Franko

You're welcome :-)

"and not be bothered with they armchair copyright/IP wannabe lawyers who's only interest in the Amiga is posting absolute blatant gobshite on these forums..."

The problem is lack of Amiga User Groups, where you met & made friends with other Amiga users, as opposed to here, where people can talk utter bullshit without risk of a 'Gleska Kiss'. ;-)

"Just checked and a search for Amiga.com, took me to the AmigaInc site, I've contacted them twice and never received one reply..."

I wonder if AmigaInc will be more eager to get in touch with you after you put the WB discs on your site ? - A few years ago I heard they tried to sue someone in this community for a large 5 figure sum just for having a couple of dozen "Boing Ball" case badges made & selling them for £1 each ! I assume AI had some lawyers bills to pay. ;-)

I'm confident you'll be equal to them, whatever they say, lol ;-)

[Fraggle1]

I really don't understand what koaftder & Fats hope to achieve. Maybe they think that if they stop people from copying Amiga software then the clock will turn back 20 years or so ?
Perhaps all those software houses that abandoned the Amiga in 1994 will change their minds & start supporting it again ? ROFLMAO ;-)

[Fraggle1]

@ bloodline

I appreciate what you're saying, though perhaps in your case it's a little more subjective than for others ? Most here have nothing of their own to lose, so have little interest in seeing that copyright law is respected, I think.
Good idea about the "special place", far too much 'copyright camping' happening today. Can't imagine that the legal profession would like it much - they make far too much money from things the way they are.

[Fraggle1]

"I don't think those manuals are something that wasn't intended to be copied around."

Completely wrong. If memory serves, the developer documentation was quite restricted in it's availability, & once rather expensive.

"Franko is saying, HEY EVERYBODY, COME AND DOWN LOAD MUH FUCKIN WORK BENCH WAREZ!!!"

No he isn't. He's challenging AI/whoever to prevent him from doing so.