operating systems

John Higginbotham &lt;higginbo(a)netpath.net&gt; wrote: Again, there must be a market for better emulation / slowdown software. There should be a way to put the Pentium in an 8008 compatibility mode. :-) Yes, the sales of old software might be a very small fraction of mainstream games, so small as to have no effect - but I don't like to play fast-and-loose with self-created and self-serving notions of "it's not hurting anyone" when it comes to intellectual property issues. Maybe the net and micropayments will help. Or in this case, a web site with do-it-yourself downloading of $10 bundles of 20 old games might satify both the developers and the funding of the site. Shareware is a *sure* way to gather no cash, especially with a dusty product like this. Being afflicted with entrepreneur's disease, I've toyed with the idea of this as a business: collecting up the distribution rights for old software, bundling them on CD, adding emulators, and selling for reasonable prices, etc. to recreate the old computer experience. As they say, they're not making any more "retro." :-) The hard parts would be finding the rightful owners, forging acceptable contracts with each, and without giving them the impression that millions are to be made. Or in some cases, if the companies that owned the products are truly *gone*, to be willing to take the risk they wouldn't sue you if you assumed you could distribute. Apropo the other thread about today's tendency to throw out 486s... as-is, they still run yesterday's games, word processors, educational apps, etc. for schools, libraries, senior centers, day care centers, etc. It's such a shame this stuff isn't being reused. A 486/33 with 8 megs and Linux makes a perfectly acceptable firewall. - John Jefferson Computer Museum <http://www.threedee.com/jcm>