Sale of "free" stuff on eBay

Dave/Sellam: Frankly, this kind of recognition is all that I wanted for the project from this person. In the end, all that I got was a link to my Web site and no additional recognition. As far as I can tell, the files on the CD are original. As a result of this, I may publish MD5 hashes for the distributions and develop a real "license" to go along with them. I appreaciated, and was flattered, that Dave contacted me, and I was more than happy to contribute to his project in any way that I could. I wasn't planning on flaming this person or hassling him through eBay. Now, if I were in this for the money and I was writing this software for profit, then, yes, I wouldn't hesitate to bust this person. I love the Altair32 project; it's been an enormous learning experience and has enabled me to make contact with some great people, including original hardware and software developers, Microsoft Fellows, and others. I play by the rules and ask permission when/if I want to use someone else's work (like Jim Battle...thanks); I expect the same treatment in return. Like I said in a concurrent post, I'm very happy that the Altair32 is being distributed to others because it, and projects like it, can only raise the profile of our hobby (for some and business for others). Who knows...maybe some rare computer will find its way to me because someone in Sheboygan, WI bought CD#5 and found my name on it. Who knows...stranger things have happened. Thanks for all of the input. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Rich -----Original Message----- From: cctalk-bounces(a)classiccmp.org [mailto:cctalk-bounces@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Dave Dunfield Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 6:42 PM To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Subject: Re: Sale of "free" stuff on eBay Hi Sellam, The auction I looked at (briefly) showed $10 - if he is charging $50, then this is out of the "reasonable return for the convienence" catagory, and I would agree that he should be putting a bit more effort into how he acuuires the material. My point would more apply to thing like the SIMTEL collection - the CD set has a HUGE directloty listing which is "single line per item" - adding even one line of acknowlegement would double this size, and would be negative in effect (IMO) - And most people don't look at or care about each package on the set - they read the desciptions and unpack the stuff they are interested in, at which point they get exposed to all of the authors original material, promotional or otherwise - It these cases, the CD really is not much different listing at $10 and placed it in this catagory... I am also assuming that Rich's material is included on the CD in it's original form, as he prepared it - if not, then that would also cause me to have a problem with the CD. I specifcally avoided mentining names, because I do not recall all of the details - this was intended as an example of how the "don't use my stuff" attitude has prevented me from obtaining some material, NOT as a flame on any particular person(s). As noted above, this is not directed to a particular person ... And I DO have a great deal of respect for Al and others like him. And no dispute that these people are preserving important documents. But, anyone who takes the attitude "only to be distributed by download from my site" is NOT making them available to EVERYONE - it prevents me from obtaining much of the larger material (and doc scans tend to be large :-) No matter how well information is preserved, it is of no benefit if it is unobtainable. Yes, sometimes - see the "notes on documents and software" on my site for more information. Btw: I do have some of Rich's scans in my Altair section, and I *DID* contact him for permission, and he *IS* listed in my credits. I even gave him some scans of docs he was missing during our correspondance. A lot of the documents on my site have been scanned by yours truly, there are some from other sources, and some I don't even know/recall where they came from. so far nobody has minded, and as described in my "notes", I will remove any material if asked to do so by the holder of rights to that material. Rich's simulator is a bit of a different case than most "vintage material", because he is still around and supporting it. But he DOES give it away, and hasseling the creator of a $10 "collectin" CD will probably only result in its being excluded BUT - the choice as to what to do is ultimately Rich's .. He asked our opinion and I gave him mine. to quote Spock, he is free to "give it all the consideration it is due". For the record: My original material from my site is welcome to be included on collection CDs and any other reasonable uses. I don't do this for money (in fact it's quite the opposite :-), I don't do this for fame/recognition ... I do it because I want people to be able to see and experience something of the era that we enjoyed, before computers became another appliance (see my FAQ for a better description of my motives and activities). Regards, Dave -- dave04a (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com com Vintage computing equipment collector. http://www.parse.com/~ddunfield/museum/index.html