Re: [NTLK] The Newton Shareware dilemma

From: Chris <abulafia_at_madgenius.us>
Date: Wed Sep 13 2006 - 21:48:36 EDT

On Sep 13, 2006, at 1:57 AM, newtontalk@newtontalk.net wrote:

> From: "xp" <xp@thirring.org>
> Subject: [NTLK] The Newton Shareware dilemma
> Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 00:54:26 -0600
>
> I've just recently become a member of the Newton community. I've
> noticed that alot of the shareware out there can no longer be
> registered due to the fact that some companies or people are no
> longer acticve or around.

*sigh* I'm new to the scene, too, and I have to admit to stewing over
this for a while now. Over the last couple of years, there appears
to have been a number of important apps that have fallen by the
wayside (the 802.11b Wave LAN driver being a good example), leaving
me in the lurch in terms of functionality.
>
> If shareware is abandoned, and the owners aren't reachable, then
> what are our options?

My question exactly. I've tried to hunt down Hiroshi Noguchi to give
him money (I really, _really_ want to be able to use the WEP
feature), but -- nothing.

> Is it ethical to try to crack the software?

Heh, ethical? No. But frankly, if you've made a good faith effort
to find the developers to pay them for the product -- to no avail --
one has to question whether maybe this shouldn't be done anyway. I
mean, come on guys, if you're going to drop out of the market
completely anyway, have the decency to open-source the code for us
late-comers, okay?

I am quite happy, nay, _ecstatic_, to pony up cash to support
developers who put in the time and effort to make apps that are
useful to me (especially for an "only _mostly_ dead!" platform).
However, if they provide no way to register and/or use the product
(especially if it's really the only app available for a particular
purpose, like wireless networking *ahem*), what else is there to do?

Incidentally, can anyone confirm that Scrawlsoft is still giving out
registration codes for YAZI? Their Kagi page is still up, but the
product site hasn't been updated since '04. Must... play... Zork...

Chris Cooley
abulafia@madgenius.us

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Received on Wed Sep 13 21:51:18 2006

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