Quothe chris, from writings of Sun, Apr 13, 2003 at 08:35:55PM -0400: Definitely! If software is needed and no longer available from the manufacturer or other "legal" sources, then, why should it be considered wrong to duplicate it for others who need it? To not make such software available, in many cases, would mean that many classic computers would become unusable and we couldn't preserve them properly. Which is further proof that you're correct in asking your original question and should not be flamed. I like the position that DEC, and some other companies, took on computers being used by hobbyists who had illegal posession of unlicenced operating systems, etc.: "just look the other way... those hobbyists, who aren't costing us anything, and who can't afford our software now, may grow to like our products even more and turn out to be paying customers some day when they work for, or have, a business that can buy our software and hardware." -- Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature & rdd(a)rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.