joseph@panix.uucp (Joseph R. Skoler) (05/27/91)
I just got a flyer from Reliance Commercial Software Library. For $2.50 per disk (plus $4.00 shipping), they'll send you complete up to date copies of commercial software. Is this bogus, or are they for real? Anybody use them yet? Joseph R. Skoler UUCP: cmcl2!panix!kc2yu!joseph UUCP: panix!joseph BITNET: skohc@cunyvm.bitnet INTERNET: ak526@cleveland.freenet.edu AMPR NET: kc2yu@kc2yu.ampr.org [44.68.32.56] PBBS: kc2yu@nn2z.nj.usa.na
userAKDU@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (Al Dunbar) (05/28/91)
<1991May26.180844.5013@panix.uucp>, joseph@panix.uucp (Joseph R. Skoler) writes: > > >I just got a flyer from Reliance Commercial Software Library. > >For $2.50 per disk (plus $4.00 shipping), they'll send you complete >up to date copies of commercial software. > >Is this bogus, or are they for real? > >Anybody use them yet? > I don't have any hard information to back this comment up, but it does sound suspicious. What rights to this software do they claim to be able to deliver? Is there a time limit (i.e. is it a rental), or not (i.e. a "sale")? Is there someone out there working for one of the software companies who can shed some light on this? If I "purchase" a software package (or usually just the right to use it on a single machine), I don't think I could rent it out this way without violating some part of the licensing agreement. If the developers whose software is being used this way condone such practices, I think that would give those of us that prefer to stay ligitimate some cause to complain to them; if they don't condone it, why don't they go after them? Another point -- if they send you the "originals", I would be *VERY* suspicious about the contents. Who knows where these disks have been? -------------------+------------------------------------------- Al Dunbar | Edmonton, Alberta | Disclaimer: "not much better than CANADA | datclaimer" -------------------+-------------------------------------------
ralphs@seattleu.edu (Ralph Sims) (05/29/91)
userAKDU@mts.ucs.UAlberta.CA (Al Dunbar) writes: > >For $2.50 per disk (plus $4.00 shipping), they'll send you complete > >up to date copies of commercial software. > I don't have any hard information to back this comment up, but > it does sound suspicious. What rights to this software do they > claim to be able to deliver? Is there a time limit (i.e. is it > a rental), or not (i.e. a "sale")? A possibility is that they are claiming that shareware == commercial (and in truth, it probably is). You buy the shareware disk for $x and STILL need to register it. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. -- The 23:00 News and Mail Service - +1 206 292 9048 - Seattle, WA USA PEP, V.32, V.42 +++ A Waffle Iron, Model 1.64 +++
rfh3273@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com (Dick Harrigill) (05/29/91)
In article <1991May26.180844.5013@panix.uucp> joseph@panix.uucp (Joseph R. Skoler) writes: >I just got a flyer from Reliance Commercial Software Library. >For $2.50 per disk (plus $4.00 shipping), they'll send you complete >up to date copies of commercial software. >Is this bogus, or are they for real? I have not personally heard about this Library but I'd be very skeptical. If the business is "legit" they would have to be lending original diskettes. However, the only real use a "borrower" could get would be to permanently "borrow" a copy for his/her hard disk. These people are known as software pimps, and the users are simply in it to break copyright laws and try to get something for nothing. -- Dick Harrigill, an independent voice from: Boeing Commercial Airplanes M/S 9R-49 PO BOX 3707 Renton Avionics/Flight Systems Seattle, WA 91824 Computing Support (206) 393-9539 rfh3273@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com
jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann) (05/30/91)
In article <400@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com> rfh3273@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com (Dick Harrigill) writes: > I have not personally heard about this Library but I'd be very skeptical. > If the business is "legit" they would have to be lending original diskettes. > However, the only real use a "borrower" could get would be to permanently > "borrow" a copy for his/her hard disk. These people are known as software > pimps, and the users are simply in it to break copyright laws and try to > get something for nothing. I wouldn't go so far as to say the "only" use would be to steal a copy. I would love a service that would let me try software for a week before buying it. Does a word processor do what you need? Does it feel right? Is it easy to use? The only way to find out now is usually to plop down a couple of hundred dollars and, if you don't like the way the thing works, well, too bad, you're stuck. Granted, borrowing software is not the only solution to this problem. Microsoft is heading in the right direction with its working models. Jim Mann jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com Stratus Computer Not since Cromwell's troops, their puritan sensibilities offended by beauty, went around smashing decorative art in churches has there been an act of folly comparable to the abandonment and destruction of Forbes Field, the Pirates' home for generations. -- George F. Will, from Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball