This discussion on the legality of sharing manuals, PDFs, etc. leads me to
think about the vintage computing hobby as a whole. While we all encourage the
hobby to grow, the downside is that as it does, the software copyright holders
may start to take notice. As a developer of modern systems who expects to be
paid for my work (except what I share with the community of course) I am in a
conundrum because the hobby cannot succeed without the large collection of
easily accessible vintage software available yet there is no way to “buy” most
of it today. But, we would also not expect or would we pay 1980s retail
prices. I know some generous copyright owners have allowed unrestricted use of
their old software, like Roy Soltoff from Misosys, but many others have not or
have disappeared. I’m fairly new to the hobby so maybe this has already been
hashed out years ago. Just wondering what the community thinks.
