andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) (07/08/85)
> Since Infocom games are so relatively useless after you finish them, and > since there's quite a few of us who play them here, what about trading them? > It would be a way of beating the price for those of us who aren't rich > but are opposed to piracy. Would it contravene anything in the warranty? > I have Sorcerer and Enchanter. I've played several of the others. I'd > be interrested in especially in Suspect and Cutthroats. The Infocom games are licensed for a single CPU only. On a related subject, is anyone besides me upset that Infocom has dropped support for generic CP/M-80 games? If so, please reply to me via mail; I'll count the number of responses and include this figure in a pleading letter to Cambridge. -=- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew) [UUCP] (orca!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA]
jeand@ihlpg.UUCP (AMBAR) (07/09/85)
> > Since Infocom games are so relatively useless after you finish them, and > > since there's quite a few of us who play them here, what about trading them? > > The Infocom games are licensed for a single CPU only. Whoa. I didn't get that out of reading my warranty. I mean, once you buy the disk, it's personal property, isn't it? Like a book, which you can sell, trade, give away, destroy, or set on a shelf and allow to collect dust. I can understand that the warranty might only cover the original owner, but that's the same for a lot of other products. Should I have cross-posted this to net.legal, I wonder? -- AMBAR {the known universe}!ihnp4!ihlpg!jeand "You shouldn't let people drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance."
john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) (07/10/85)
>From: jeand@ihlpg.UUCP (AMBAR) >Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories >Message-ID: <775@ihlpg.UUCP> > >> > Since Infocom games are so relatively useless after you finish them, and >> > since there's quite a few of us who play them here, what about trading them? >> >> The Infocom games are licensed for a single CPU only. > >Whoa. I didn't get that out of reading my warranty. I mean, once you >buy the disk, it's personal property, isn't it? Like a book, which you >can sell, trade, give away, destroy, or set on a shelf and allow to collect >dust. I can understand that the warranty might only cover the original >owner, but that's the same for a lot of other products. I haven't looked at an Infocom license lately, but based on some others, the following can be said to apply: The software is licensed for a single CPU. This just means that the same game (or, rather, several copies derived from the same "original") can't be running on more than one machine at a time. If you take Borland's attitude, then it just means that you can only play your copy on one machine at a time. At the worst, it means that you have purchased the game to run on a specific machine- YOURS. (I suspect that this is what the first follow-up refers to.) Many licenses do, however, have a provision for transferring ownership. Usually this just means that you must transfer any documentation and any and all copies you have made of the product. I'm not sure how this would effect support on a product such as Lotus, but for an adventure game..... who cares? I am not a lawyer or even a legal expert, but I do have some trouble imagining serious problems with transfer of the software provided, as I stated above, that all copies of the program, documentation, etc. are also transferred. Whether I want to see this happening over Usenet is another question..... -- Name: John Ruschmeyer US Mail: Monmouth College, W. Long Branch, NJ 07764 Phone: (201) 222-6600 x366 UUCP: ...!vax135!petsd!moncol!john ...!princeton!moncol!john ...!pesnta!moncol!john Ingredients: Carbonated water, sugar, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavorings, caffeine
glen@intelca.UUCP (Glen Shires) (07/11/85)
> > Since Infocom games are so relatively useless after you finish them, and > > since there's quite a few of us who play them here, what about trading them? > > It would be a way of beating the price for those of us who aren't rich > > but are opposed to piracy. Would it contravene anything in the warranty? > > I have Sorcerer and Enchanter. I've played several of the others. I'd > > be interrested in especially in Suspect and Cutthroats. > > The Infocom games are licensed for a single CPU only. > > > -=- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew) [UUCP] > (orca!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA] So trade CPU chips too! :-) (Many are actually cheaper than the games themselves) ^ ^ Glen Shires, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca. O O Usenet: {ucbvax!amd,pur-ee,hplabs}!intelca!glen > ARPA: "amd!intelca!glen"@BERKELEY \-/ --- stay mellow -- ^ ^ Glen Shires, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca. O O Usenet: {ucbvax!amd,pur-ee,hplabs}!intelca!glen > ARPA: "amd!intelca!glen"@BERKELEY \-/ --- stay mellow
jeand@ihlpg.UUCP (AMBAR) (07/11/85)
> >From: jeand@ihlpg.UUCP (AMBAR) > >Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories > The software is licensed for a single CPU. This just means that the same > game (or, rather, several copies derived from the same "original") can't be > running on more than one machine at a time. If you take Borland's attitude, > then it just means that you can only play your copy on one machine at a > time. At the worst, it means that you have purchased the game to run on a > specific machine- YOURS. (I suspect that this is what the first follow-up > refers to.) I can understand that. I was trying to understand how they could 'force' you to 'keep' the disk, which is what the first followup seemed to be saying. When you think about it, there are many games which you can load in on your machine and then loan the disk to the guy next to you. But the Infocom games are so disk-dependent that this simply isn't possible. -- AMBAR {the known universe}!ihnp4!ihlpg!jeand "To those who love it is given to hear Music too high for the human ear." --Bruce Cockburn
sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey) (07/13/85)
Even if it is a single CPU license only, it would mean that you can run
it on only one machine at a time. I bought Sorcerer, and nowhere did I
agree to run it only on one specific machine. As the law goes, it is
my property, and the only way for me to violate the copyright law is to
make illegal copies.
Sean
--
- Sean Casey UUCP: sean@ukma.UUCP or
- Department of Mathematics {cbosgd,anlams,hasmed}!ukma!sean
- University of Kentucky ARPA: ukma!sean@ANL-MCS.ARPA bobh@teklabs.UUCP (Bob Hubbard) (08/09/85)
Having almost finished the Zork series I would like to get suggestions on the next games to try. --Enchanter and Sorcerer seem to be next in the series, but does one need E before S? Are they any good? --Starcross and Suspended seem interesting on the surface, any comments? By the way.....Hint please! In Zork III, is the broken timber from Zork I of any use? I notice it doesnt float! Can anything be accomplished by use of the time machine, pressurizer or the black machine? ( just a yes or no answer please )
gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (08/11/85)
> Can anything be > accomplished by use of the time machine, pressurizer or the black machine? Yes, there is a treasure available only with the aid of the time machine.