From: edw@caligula.cts.com (Ed Watkeys)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2
Subject: Piraccy via BBSs (was: Re: Apple Awards)
Date: 13 Apr 92 12:51:33 GMT
Reply-To: edw@caligula.cts.com (Ed Watkeys)
Organization: Guerrilla Networking Project
X-Mailer: uAccess - Macintosh Release: 1.5v4


In article <1992Apr12.214208.2639@xcluud.sccsi.com> (comp.sys.apple2), gtolar@xcluud.sccsi.com (Glynne Tolar) writes:
> In article <da53023@pro-harold.cts.com> dcgreen@pro-harold.cts.com (David Green, SysOp) writes:
> 
> >[Very true statements about MD deleted for space...]
> >dcg
> >
> 
> I had to reply to this only because I have seen Morgan "reg" on other BBS
> software <generalized>.  When a few years ago a discussion on transfer
> protocols was going on and why Proline did not have it.  One of Morgan's
> remarks was that systems with a good transfer section pirate software <sic>.
> And that Proline's focus was as a message base system.  Personally I run
> a BBS with over 70 megs. of PD and ShareWare and have no pirated software
> on it.  So I naturally take offense to this statement.  We're not talking
> about St. Morgan here.  I'll grant you other then the above statement Morgan
> does a better job promoting & supporting his product then any other company.
> <don't like his pro-mac policies, but that's another subject>
> 
> -- 
> gtolar@xcluud.sccsi.com or uunet!nuchat!xcluud!gtolar

In my area, there are about five BBSs which don't steal software (I think
"pirating" implies a degree of Romanticism absent from most of the stealing
that goes on...), and about twenty that do. Now, I asked my friend what makes
a "pirate" board worth calling, and he said, "ZModem, of course!"

The fact is that Morgan is right. The "best" pirate BBSs have message sections,
too, but they often revolve around ninth-graders calling eachother names and
requests to upload the latest WAREZ. I know, I used to be one of them.

Any schmuck kid can start a BBS with some stolen software and get a transfer
section up. Personally, I don't think that these schmucks would choose ProLine
because it is a little too invloved for their needs... They used to just get
a copy of GBBS, (V1.3 if I recall...), get the SuperTac external, make all
of the menus k-Rad k00l, and put all of the stuff they've stolen on a HD.
Of coursde, back then, *the* thing was YMODEM...

If you run a non-pirate Apple II BBS, regardless of the protocols it supports,
then you are a novelty in the Apple II world, although all of the pirate ones
may be closing these days, since the Apple II scene has dried up pretty
completely...

IF PirateBBS THEN BBSHasZMODEM
IF BBSDoesNotHaveZmodem THEN NOT PirateBBS

It doesn't follow that all boards with ZMODEM have pirated stuff (I paid $15/mo.
for a Unix shell account with sz), but a lot of them do.

In any event, put yourself into MD shoes -- would you like to indirectly aid
in the stealing of software by improving your product? I think MD has made
a good job of making ProLine for serious BBSers.

Also, anyone who is "pro-Mac" is obviously realisitic. How about we make you
an Apple II software developer and say, "You can never make software for any
other computer, and in addition, you need to write vertical-market products
with a narrow appeal." I bet you'd love that.

Ed

--
Ed Watkeys (Drexel U. Comp Sci)  "Moral judgement and condemnation is
edw@caligula.cts.com              the favorite form of revenge for the
edw%caligula@phlpa.pha.pa.us      spiritually limited on those who are
ls.com!phlpa!caligula!edw         less so...." -- Friedrich Nietzsche