🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Jun25.221511.15319@r-node.gts.org>, david@r-node.gts.org (Gerald Abshez) writes:
|> In article <BqCv0r.6Fr@watserv1.waterloo.edu> pwilson@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Pete Wilson) writes:
|> >In article <1992Jun23.174201.21401@r-node.gts.org> david@r-node.gts.org (Gerald Abshez) writes:
|> >>it. Many independent computer makers (NOT the biggies) will give away
|> >>or sell you DOS for a certain price
|> >
|> >Small quibble here.  What computer stores will do, if the customer indicates
|> >an unwillingness to buy DOS with their machine, is to format the hard drive
|> >and copy over the system files to make the machine bootable.  This does not
|> >violate any copyright and is not the same as giving the customer DOS.
|> 
|> While I'm not a legal expert, I do agree that many computer dealers do this.
|> It isn't giving a customer DOS, but is it violation of copyright?

Yes! This is and always has been a violation of the copyright law!  But, then
again there are an awful lot of questionable dealers out there....

|> 
|> > It has
|> >always been legal to copy the system files onto a disk to make the disk 
|> >bootable and back in the days before hard drives it was a common practice.

It has never been legal to do this.  That is the reason for the /b option
in the DOS version of format.  It allowed software vendors the ability to save
room at the start of the disk for the two hidden files required to boot the
disk (ibmbio.com & ibmdos.com in the IBM version)  Without this option the
disks could never be made boot-able.  A lot of the software as you might 
recall was also copy protected.  Things have come a long way.

>...
>but consider the fact that prior to DOS 5.0 the only way you get legally
>get DOS (at least MS or PC DOS) was to buy it with a machine, and draw your 
>own conclusions

It has also been legal to buy PC-DOS without a machine from day one.  On the
other hand MS restricted the sales of MS-DOS to OEM Vendors only.  I don't
know the actual details of this; but, I suspect that it has something to do
with their contract with IBM.  In the early days when the OEM vendor payed 
close attention to this, there were several work-arounds.  The easiest was
that some dealers would sell MS-DOS with a set of BIOS ROMs to be able to 
claim that the DOS was sold with a "system."

|> I'm not a big fan of the way DOS is distributed, but you *could* go back to
|> your computer seller and purchase the upgrade. However, the dealers that
|> will give you DOS (and other packages) "without" the manuals isn't just one
|> or two. 

You are right it was (maybe still is) rampent.

-- 

Eric S. Clarke                     INTERNET:  eclarke@ibmpa.awdpa.ibm.com 
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