bruce@ccavax.camb.com (09/05/90)
In article <900901162055.000009F1@MARVIN.CTSS.CO.UK>, VERKADE@CTSS.CO.UK (Herman Verkade) writes: > In the DECUS US Chapter newsletters I have seen announcements of various > CD-ROMs with DECUS software. I have tried get hold of them, but the DECUS > office here (in the UK) tells me they are not available, because of `some > legal problem'. Does anybody know more about this? Don't know for sure, but some DECUS s/w has historically been restricted because of the export licensing of anything involving DES. I would also believe that it is internal DECUS politics to do with which Decus groups 'own' what. The CDROM contents are all public domain and anyone can legally make you a copy, the same as SIG tapes get freely copied. If you have friends over here, or ones going to the N.A. DECUS symposia, get them to buy the CDROMS for you. They are currently $99, but that is only because there are some that want to charge ~$400., and others that were threatening a revolt to sell them in the $5-25 range. Mastering is about $1500., copies with simple black and white labeling and in the flip top jewel case were quoted at about $1.85 whether one wanted a few dozen, or 20,000. If you have access to DECUServe (the N.A. DECUS BBS), there are many notes about CDROM production and DECUS CDROM pricing and ethics and on and on. Try the TALK_TO_THE_BOARD 12.*, and VMS 425.*. The war is NOT over, and we may well get CDROMS priced down where they should be. One of the proposed schemes was to let LUGs buy 10-packs of a CDROM for somewhere between $50 and $100, and let the local group do the relatively bothersome individual distributions. At those prices anyone with a CDROM reader would never want 9tk SIG tapes again. In the meantime, if you can read 4mm DAT or 8mm Exabyte, and ask nicely, you may well find someone willing to pop one in and let it spin for you.