🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <212@sas.UUCP> toebes@sas.UUCP (John Toebes) writes:
>
>Why am I Ticked?
>I put a great amount of effort into producing this program and making it right.
>As a result it has been well enjoyed by many people.  I made no attempt to
>make money off my work and do not wish someone else to profit from my work.
>They even advertised my work without consulting me.  (If it isn't so
>good, then why did they choose it as the feature programs?)
>
Actually, the person who should really be pissed is Andries Brouwer, the
original author of the program.  He must have put in at least the better
part of a year working on the thing.  I think you should send E-mail
to him and make this fact known.  He may be willing to take legal action.

Regardless, what they are doing is illegal, and I hope someone puts
them in their place.

Gonna thump you...

Nick
-- 
+ Disclaimer: The above opinions are my own, not necessarily my employers.
/ Nick V. Flor / ..hplabs!hp-sdd!nick / Hewlett Packard, San Diego Division
* "What's going down in this world, you got no idea.  Believe me."
-  The Comedian

In article <212@sas.UUCP> toebes@sas.UUCP (John Toebes) writes:
>Warning: Controversial Subject matter.
>
>First a little background:
>I opened up the latest issue of AmigaWorld to find an advertisement for
>a company in CA advertising HACK for sale.  Claiming to be 'The Public Domain
>Connection', they list 2 disks containing Hack:
>001: Hack. Incredible graphics version.
>002: Hack. Text version, for Connoisseurs.
>
[stuff]
>They even advertised my work without consulting me.  (If it isn't so
>good, then why did they choose it as the feature programs?)
>
>This company is not offering anything that isn't available elsewhere.  In
>fact, they are making the program LESS available by splitting it up. (A
>price tag of $18.00 for what normally is $6 or $7)
>

"They" is one person, Andrew Klineman (spelling may not be correct).
After reading John's article I decided to call this company and
complain.  It seems to be run by one person, a senior at Berkeley.
He assured me that he is not distributing Hack because John had
objected and because his version wasn't current.

I don't know this guy, but he sounded sincere in that he doesn't
want to take anyone else's deserved profits.  He'd like to distribute
shareware and include notices showing to whom contributions should be
sent.

He didn't have access to USENET, so I tried to send John's
article to his Amiga, but his modem was apparently not on
auto answer and I didn't have the time to wait for him to
look up new option settings.

Anyway, he said he'd call John, so I hope John will straighten Andrew
out on what he can and cannot distribute for profit, and under what
conditions.

After John's plea I had expected that this guy would have been
deluged with complaints.  I am quite dissapointed that I was the
only one who had complained.  We ought to stick together and help
each other on matters like this!

In article <212@sas.UUCP> toebes@sas.UUCP (John Toebes) writes:
>First a little background:
>I opened up the latest issue of AmigaWorld to find an advertisement for
>a company in CA advertising HACK for sale.  Claiming to be 'The Public Domain
>Connection', they list 2 disks containing Hack:
>001: Hack. Incredible graphics version.
>002: Hack. Text version, for Connoisseurs.
>

...
>What can be done:
>
>In my case it looks as if there are only a few choices:
>  1) Sue them!  This can get expansive for me and them (In their case, they
>can use the money they are making off my work!)
>  2) Stop producing freely redistributable software.  This is an extreme
>solution, but with AmigaWorld working against me it is a reasonable one.
>  3) Ignore the situation and let them walk all over me and anyone else
>who is working for the betterment of the Amiga.
>  4) Force them to stop selling it and make the situation so others do not
>attempt to do the same.
>
>I strongly lean toward solution #2 - unfortunately with my employment
>restrictions it means no more software on the Amiga.  Hence I request
>assistance on solution #4.

I hope that you do not choose #2, since that will be letting them destroy
the wonderful exchanges that happen here. We should probably take precautions
in the future in safeguarding our rights to our own work, without limiting
distribution.

I support the idea of a letter campaign, to both the company (probably a waste
of time), as well as to the magazines. Write them as letters to the editor,
see if they have the guts to publish it. If not, I would be willing to
contribute to putting in an open letter as an ad, they can't refuse that!

The only long term solution is probably to establish a distributor for
the free software, with the proper spirit (no profit - or as Fred Fish
puts it: low profit), and compete openly.


[There is free enterprise for you!]
-- 
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Godfrey Lee
Cognos Incorporated
3755 Riverside Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
CANADA  K1G 3N3
(613) 738-1440
decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!glee
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