I will tell you this. I am not against abandonware at all. I actually support it. Every abandonware site advertises Dosbox. I also am in support of you not giving support to abandonware. That may sound like double speak but its like this. Dosbox was made for people who want to play their old games on their new computers. Abandonware sites heard about it and told everyone. Abandonware sites tell their patrons to download their games and get Dosbox. Thats why you people are getting are getting threads from people who downloaded their games from abandonware sites. Its not your fault, its the abandonware site's fault. Abandonware Sites have their own forums and I started this thread to let people know that if you got your game from an abandonware site use their forum instead of here. Technology has always been used for good and bad. Look at double cassette decks they are meant for you to make copies. Not entirely legal unless for personal use but they were still made anyway. I remember when vcrs came out and they were almost vanquished until the supreme court here in the US stepped in. We just got to make sure as to not answer any abandonware questions to cover our selves. People will do what they do , we don't have to participate. I know that my statement to support abandonware makes look like a hypocrite but I'm not. If someone lended me a movie and that I wanted to see and they recorded off of HBO technically they could not do that. I still would watch it anyway. The abandonware sites have people who can and do help with their games. I 'm just saying to keep their stuff and our stuff seperate.
This is all well and good, but do people honestly believe that all of the bug reports and entries in the compatibility list are entered using original software? I don't. I understand the support issues with abandonware, as some are too stupid to notice when files are just missing from an archive (and then swear blind that they're using an original). And yes, you're right, the abandonware sites (except Underdogs) have communities that help out too.
I often woder why gaming companies can't set up a small server and off 1 free download for every "new" game you buy off of them, or include popular CDs with a game, I mean 1 extra CD with a game wouldn't kill 'em...
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They think it would. Still, that's a great idea, as the Wii Virtual Console and XBox 360 Live Arcade has proven. That said, I wouldn't be too hot on the DRM. A system like StarROMs would be great, although it should be a non-profit exercise that directly passes on the revenue to copyright holders, and is funded by adverts.
If Dosbox is bundled in there for free and you have to buy the games then technically you are buying Dosbox. You are buying both the games and Dosbox. I f Sierra did not contact the makers of Dosbox then they are in violation of copywrite in my opinion. Does Sierra give anycredit on their game compilations?
No, but then again neither did Microprose when they released Transport Tycoon Deluxe. And I'm not sure who did the rather sloppy Rayman installer but by the looks of it that was one of Ubisoft's little hobby projects.
As DOSBox can be redistributed freely, it isn't really a violation of copyright per se, but I'm not sure how far what they (and Microprose) have done violates the GPL. The GPL, as opposed to the LGPL, forbids linking to non-GPL compatible libraries and programs, and it's really up for discussion whether Sierra violated the GPL by doing this, as it's pretty much the same effect, only no real code use was involved (just binaries).
