Re: Xy4 installation and upload files again

[Bill Troop <billtroop@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kari, just on the question -- does anyone have the legal right to
distribute XyWrite to new users? -- I appreciate that you are discussing
the issue from a general perspective. 

My belief is that in this case, there are particulars which make the
right of distribution indisputable. My reasoning is that for many decades
now, one or another of the people in this group have freely and publicly
made the program available on one or another websites. However, my
understanding of U.S. law is that the copyright holder only has
one year to file a complaint in such circumstances. The last known
copyright holder, TTG, has not filed a complaint or uttered a syllable of
protest. There is also the documented fact that some members of this
group have spent much effort over many years trying to contact the
principals of TTG. All such approaches have met with silence. Moreover,
all of this played out on a public and easy-to-find mailing
list.

Perhaps someone with greater knowledge of US law (at both the federal and
state levels?) can correct me. I believe it is clear that nobody
interested in using, having, or distributing XyWrite need have any fear,
ethically or legally, that they could possibly be in the wrong. Therefore
I think we can all in good conscience do whatever we can to increase the
user base. 

At 1/8/2022 11:40 AM, you wrote:
> Bill,
>
> You are right. An installer in this case would be a fancy copy-to-folder
> solution with some easy presets for beginners. The original installer is
> rather difficult to use and the current situation leaves us with no
> standard setup as there are different sets of files around.
>
> Ideally, the same installer should work in all environments: plain DOS,
> supported Windows versions, and virtual machines.
>
> Legal stuff is difficult: XyWrite is unsupported software, for which
> there may exist copyright/distribution claims. The last known owner has
> not shown any interest in the product for decades. Those who have bought
> a license have the right to install the product, others are in a gray
> zone. It seems that nobody cares, therefore it is abandonware. Legally
> speaking, there is no such thing, but it is a fact of life in
> computing.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Kari Eveli
> LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
> lexitec@xxxxxxxxxx
>
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