🚀 go-pugleaf

Darren Blaine Day <S2BR@TRANSY.BITNET> writes:
[...]
>   I am not endorsing piracy. I am just reacting to the incredible
>disapproval when some poor soul asked for copies of the ROMs. I think,
>personally, that they should be included with the emulator, with the
>mentioned disclaimer.

Well, being the one that uploaded the emulator, I guess I should comment.

First off, the emulator was uploaded to oak.oakland.edu, the current 
"SimTel" site.  They have an extremely wide distribution, which I like.
Their FTP archive is also available on CD-ROM, so to avoid legal hassles,
they require not only that the software be public domain but the author
also give permission to distribute the code on CD-ROM *with a media printing
charge*.

Now, whilst Tandy/Radio Shack would be majorly wasting their time to go after
small sites, SimTel is big enough to attract attention.  So, the choice not
to include the ROMs with the emulator was, legal questions aside, made to 
ensure that it got the largest exposure.  I also don't want to step on 
anyone's toes.

Personally, I agree with the comment "who'd want it but someone who already 
bought a CoCo", but I also respect the copyright owner, and so wouldn't go 
distributing it with my software.  (This goes doubly for my shareware Model I
emulator, where I ask for a registration fee.  I'd be in a pretty dark grey
area if I asked people to send me money for a package which included code
copyrighted by someone else.)

- Jeff