Isn't it time for some Amiga software to become Public Domain

[runequester]

And why would that be a problem?

Maybe I'm an oddball since I actually have legal copies of the software I use.

The problem comes since a lot of those old disks are starting to die. So there's a finite lifespan on this stuff.

[Trev]

@kolla

Great, then you can tell the rest of us where to buy new copies.

It will be decades (around 6, at this point) before software written in the US enters the public domain. By that time, the original media may as well have been part of the collection at the library of Alexandria for all the good it will do software historians.

[kolla]

The problem comes since a lot of those old disks are starting to die. So there's a finite lifespan on this stuff.

For games this might be a problem, but for applications? No need to keep it around on floppies, really.

[kolla]

@kolla

Great, then you can tell the rest of us where to buy new copies.

Why do you need new copies? Where are your backups?

It will be decades (around 6, at this point) before software written in the US enters the public domain. By that time, the original media may as well have been part of the collection at the library of Alexandria for all the good it will do software historians.

So fix the laws.

[mdv2000]

If you have a physical legal copy of software you bought (I have original disks, manual, etc of Deluxe Paint III) then using an adf image of it in WinUAE should not put you at any risk.  Even if my original disk becomes unreadable - I have a legal right to a backup and can use that - my adf images.

If people who have disk that don't work and don't care to keep them - it would be nice to offer them up for free + shipping so those of us who care could have the originals.  Then we could then easily acquire working adfs and be "licensed". I never throw out old floppies or cds of stuff I purchased because obtaining a working backup/replacement is perfectly legal.

Or atleast it is for stuff we bought in the 80's and 90s.  The way license agreements on new stuff read - you really don't have those rights anymore.  Just like if you go to best buy and buy a PC with Windows on it.  Have it a year and then lightning storm runs in on it and blows it up. Guess what - if you don't replace the burned out parts - says a mobo or processor - with an exact kind from the original OEM provider - you lose your "license" and your oem copy of windows is illegal.(Even if the parts are twice as much as buying "equivalents" on newegg or ebay.

Your OEM OS license if for that hardware in that model with those parts.  That is why if you change out hardware on windows it may ask you to reactivate it once it reboots - it knows something changed and you may have lost your license.
 
Of course with the advent of digital delivery (ebooks, psp go, Xbox Live) we soon won't be able to buy and have physical copies of anything - it will all be licensed as service subscriptions.  We won't own anything so there isn't going to be anything to go into the public domain cause companies never sold anything - they just renedered services.

[ElPolloDiabl]

It's a bit screwy, a huge amount of software needs MS Windows versions that are no longer sold.

Make 'em use it or lose it. If they don't republish it say every 5 years people are allowed to copy it. They can keep all other rights.

[kolla]

Yes, let's turn this into a thread about windows software

[cecilia]

If you have a physical legal copy of software you bought (I have original disks, manual, etc of Deluxe Paint III) then using an adf image of it in WinUAE should not put you at any risk.  Even if my original disk becomes unreadable - I have a legal right to a backup and can use that - my adf images.

If people who have disk that don't work and don't care to keep them - it would be nice to offer them up for free + shipping so those of us who care could have the originals.  Then we could then easily acquire working adfs and be "licensed". I never throw out old floppies or cds of stuff I purchased because obtaining a working backup/replacement is perfectly legal.

Or atleast it is for stuff we bought in the 80's and 90s.  The way license agreements on new stuff read - you really don't have those rights anymore.  Just like if you go to best buy and buy a PC with Windows on it.  Have it a year and then lightning storm runs in on it and blows it up. Guess what - if you don't replace the burned out parts - says a mobo or processor - with an exact kind from the original OEM provider - you lose your "license" and your oem copy of windows is illegal.(Even if the parts are twice as much as buying "equivalents" on newegg or ebay.

Your OEM OS license if for that hardware in that model with those parts.  That is why if you change out hardware on windows it may ask you to reactivate it once it reboots - it knows something changed and you may have lost your license.
 
Of course with the advent of digital delivery (ebooks, psp go, Xbox Live) we soon won't be able to buy and have physical copies of anything - it will all be licensed as service subscriptions.  We won't own anything so there isn't going to be anything to go into the public domain cause companies never sold anything - they just renedered services.

Now that I have Amiga Forever (WOOT!) I would love to use Deluxe Paint again but I never made adf images out of my floppies. And my original Amiga has a dead HD.

wahhhhh.

where would I find adf images floating around??

[Trev]

Now that I have Amiga Forever (WOOT!) I would love to use Deluxe Paint again but I never made adf images out of my floppies. And my original Amiga has a dead HD.

wahhhhh.

where would I find adf images floating around??

Google seems to know.

[amigadave]

Now that I have Amiga Forever (WOOT!) I would love to use Deluxe Paint again but I never made adf images out of my floppies. And my original Amiga has a dead HD.

wahhhhh.

where would I find adf images floating around??

Buy a Catweasle floppy controller for your PC and read/write your own Amiga formatted floppy disks while using Amiga Forever.  

AmigaKit probably has them in stock as well as other Amiga dealers.

Edit:  2,500 Amiga.org forum posts!  Maybe I should quit and let others reach "Babble-on" status?  Kind of funny when I think back to the first couple of years I lurked here and had my membership canceled due to lack of activity (or was it because of a software upgrade?).  Anyway, some may be thankful for my reduced activity lately.

[cecilia]

Buy a Catweasle floppy controller for your PC and read/write your own Amiga formatted floppy disks while using Amiga Forever.  

AmigaKit probably has them in stock as well as other Amiga dealers.

Edit:  2,500 Amiga.org forum posts!  Maybe I should quit and let others reach "Babble-on" status?  Kind of funny when I think back to the first couple of years I lurked here and had my membership canceled due to lack of activity (or was it because of a software upgrade?).  Anyway, some may be thankful for my reduced activity lately.

i'd like a Catweasle but i'm not sure how it would fit in a laptop. i would probably have to get a case for it or something. anyway, it's not a simple solution.

it is on my list of possibilities. i just hope my floppies hold up

[Dandy]

Hi,
 
After seeing all of Amos becoming public domain, even with the source code becoming available I would like to see some other vendors of Amiga software to do the same approach on software they no longer sell or update for the past 10 years.
 
Eg  Deluxe Paint V, Vista Professional (landscape generator).
 
What other software would you like to see become public domain or freely available.  
 
With Deluxe Paint V we should write an email to EA and see if this can be done?

DynaCadd 3 from CRP Koruk
CNCTool to convert data from DynaCadd's 3d parts into CNC files (lathing, milling, drilling)
NewIO
LogicWorks
Digital Workbench
MathAmation (incl. all modules) by Progressive Peripherals
A&O v3.1
AmiGAL v1.0
AmiBURN v1.0
L100
ProNET / ProBOARD 2.0a
PLP V.2 by Maxon

[pyrre]

Scala MM400

[stefcep2]

DynaCadd 3 from CRP Koruk
CNCTool to convert data from DynaCadd's 3d parts into CNC files (lathing, milling, drilling)
NewIO
LogicWorks
Digital Workbench
MathAmation (incl. all modules) by Progressive Peripherals
A&O v3.1
AmiGAL v1.0
AmiBURN v1.0
L100
ProNET / ProBOARD 2.0a
PLP V.2 by Maxon

What the hell is this stuff?  Seriously, I've never heard of it.

[Dandy]

What the hell is this stuff?  Seriously, I've never heard of it.

 
O.K. - I try to explain:

- DynaCadd is the best CAD application the Amiga ever had. It is the only one on the Amiga capable of real 3d mode, AFAIK. DynaCadd
 
- CNCTool is a tool to convert data from e.g. DynaCadd's 3d part drawings into CNC files (for lathing, milling, drilling)

- MathAmation (incl. all modules) by Progressive Peripherals was an advanced math program and function plotter with modules for mechanical engineering, physics, electric engineering, mercantile calculations, ...  MathAmation


- NewIO is a PCB layout program with autorouting feature.  NewIO 3.5 - page 3 - sorry - German only

- about LogicWorks - an early version of it was available for the Amiga back in the late 80s/early 90s.

- Digital Workbench was a program to develop digital schematics

- A&O v3.1, AmiGAL v1.0, AmiBURN v1.0, L100, ProNET / ProBOARD 2.0a and PLP V.2 by Maxon were all programs for the Amiga to design electronics. Described here in an "Amiga Spezial" training course of 1993 (page 3 onwards) - sorry - German only.

[jsixis]

The only software that truly needs to become public domain is 68k AmigaOS itself.

yes that would have been nice back in the 90's when Gateway screwed everyone