DOS ain't dead

may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? (Developers)

posted by Ninho , 04.04.2011, 13:03

>>>> "(c) 1990, 1991 Ziff Communications Co."

>>> they forbid redistribution since a long time

> Well, most people aren't legally minded (nor me), which is why a lot of
> corners get cut. We shouldn't have to be so strict with each other, IMHO.

Totally agreed...but as you said, I nor you aren't, God forbid! /Lawyers/

>>> Garbo).

> BTW, make sure to read this link, though I'm not sure it's very definitive
> anymore. But it'll give you some background history, at least.
>

Very instructive, thanks. So Wasa Univ had got explicit permission, which was
later removed unilaterally (and rather rudely). Hmmm! Unless that prior
permission had explicitly written words that it could be retired at the
permitter's sole initiative, ISTM & IANAL ;=) that a gift is a gift, full
stop; or, after a French legal dictum, "donner et retenir ne vaut", you
can't give and then take back. Whatever, Garbo's and UWasa's prudence are
understandable...


> Yet people do still sell DOS software in plenty of places (e.g. Gog.com),
> just not as a primary source of income, usually.

Yes, but let's face it, utilities from the old collections - while many of
them may still be usefull, are often obsolete and want to be revised,
which Ziff or whoever won't care to do. They /can't/ just cash on the lot
without doing anything else, at least morally. There should be a
peremption date like on a bottle of milk :=)

.....

> "diff -c" is context (preferred by *BSD ??), "diff -u" is unified

Oh, right, O.K...

Supposing smallish diffs, I would try to argue they constitute NO infringement,
along these lines : (M.Justice, Your Honor...) in order to make
effective use of the provided "differences", a user would have to get a
(hopefully) legal copy of the original program, which I do not provide.
For tehnical reasons, the "differences" do contain limited exctracts or
quotationsfrom the original work, that do not exceed fair use etc. etc.

What do you (including CM) think of the reasoning ? ISTM much preferable
to give hints in source form, when we have the original source, than
binary patches (that evoke the devil of "reverse engineering" + could be
suspected of malevolence)...



> (preferred by GNU). Traditionally you'd use "diff" without either option
> for "normal" output, but it makes it harder if you have slight changes in
> the original or try merging several changes at once. (Actually, diff
> predates Larry Wall's patch by quite a few years. Originally I think it
> outputted a script for ed.) I mean, honestly, I don't personally think
> context diffs should be copyright infringement, but to be ultra
> conservative and cautious (since some people are extremely litigious), I
> would avoid it anyways.

Thanks again, Rugxulo, plenty for thought

---
Ninho

Complete thread:

• may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Ninho, 01.04.2011, 20:19 (Developers)
  • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Laaca, 02.04.2011, 09:29
    • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Ninho, 02.04.2011, 10:41
      • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Rugxulo, 02.04.2011, 20:11
        • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Ninho, 02.04.2011, 23:55
          • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Rugxulo, 03.04.2011, 01:22
            • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - ecm, 03.04.2011, 01:30
              • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Ninho, 04.04.2011, 13:33
                • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Khusraw, 04.04.2011, 14:02
                  • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Ninho, 04.04.2011, 17:56
                    • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Khusraw, 04.04.2011, 19:28
                      • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Ninho, 05.04.2011, 13:42
                        • diffs to non-free source code, copyright infringement? - Khusraw, 06.04.2011, 12:46
            • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Ninho, 04.04.2011, 13:03
        • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Arjay, 21.05.2011, 09:14
  • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Khusraw, 03.04.2011, 09:52
    • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - RayeR, 04.04.2011, 00:46
      • may I publish fixes to utilities such as PC Magazine's ? - Ninho, 04.04.2011, 18:03