Date : Wed, 06 Mar 1996 16:23:04 +0100
From : deweger@... (Mark de Weger)
Subject: Re: BBC ROMs
Let me also add my contribution to the discussion on free availability
of BBC ROMs. I think I heard a number of arguments, some of which are
valid, some of which are not.
1. "Acorn holds the copyright to all of its ROMs. You are not even
allowed to copy the contents of a BBC Rom and use it in an
emulator. You are also not allowed to use images distributed
with Acorn(-approved) emulators in other emulators."
This statement is true (at least I assume, though I cannot recall
agreeing to not copying the BBC Roms when I bought my BBC Computer),
but it misses the point. The point is not whether Acorn holds
the copyright to these ROMs, but why they should allow other
people to use the ROM images (in at least their BBC emulators).
2. "Some parts of the BBC ROMs still represent value to Acorn, even
though the BBC computer is not sold anymore. This holds in particular
for those parts of the OS which are "used" in the Risc computer
OSs and for BBC Basic."
I don't agree with parts of the OS still being of value to Acorn. Even
if some parts of the BBC OS are "used" in the Risc computer OSs, it
is only the "technology" that is used and not the actual code. So
the question is whether the "technology" (such as the VDU queue
that the Acorn employee subscribed to this list--sorry, forgot your
name--pointed out) is still of value. Well, to be honest, I cannot
imagine that 15-year old technology is still of strategic value
to Acorn, unless it has been patented (of which I have no knowledge).
Anyone interested in this technology can simply disassemble a
BBC OS on a BBC Computer. Making the BBC OS available in emulators
does not harm Acorn the slightest bit in this respect.
BBC Basic was one of the most advanced programming languages of its
time. However, nowadays people have access to full Pascal, C, or
Basic compilers and interpreters that are more advanced than BBC
Basic. BBC Basic is nowadays only of value to people using a computer
in which it was supplied on ROM (i.e. an Acorn computer), or people
with an extreme sense of nostalgia (like the emulator users). Nobody
is buying an Acorn computer anymore simply because it has BBC Basic.
So I don't think BBC Basic holds any value except for nostalgic
value. (If anybody wants to find out the real market value of BBC
Basic, ask the guy who sells BBC Basic for PCs. I doubt he has
sold more than a couple of copies during the last years.)
3. "Acorn are afraid of loosing control over their copyrighted software."
I think this is the real reason for not releasing the BBC ROMs.
The point is not an objective reason (as I pointed out above,
I don't think the ROMs have any value to Acorn anymore), but a
psychological one: managers are always afraid of loosing control.
We, as emulator users could therefore do two things:
- trying to convince Acorn they won't experience any harm by
"loosing control" (I tried to do that above, and many people
on the mailing list also tried to do so), or
- find a solution in which Acorn does not loose control. I think
James Fidell's solution belongs here: Acorn make the ROM
images available on their own ftp site under the restriction
that the ROM images are not modified and further distributed
and that they are only used in BBC emulators
I think we should pursue both points, but that, for the time being,
the second point is easier. I therefore support James' idea. A problem,
however, might be that the top-Acorn bosses might know very little
about use of making the ROM images available (which is pleasing
a community of nostalgic BBC-emulator users) and about not running
any risk by doing so. Perhaps we should ask somebody with some influence
within the Acorn community to put some pressure on the Acorn bosses.
One of the hot shots in the sw industry might not be a good idea
(they might start thinking of their own copyrights), but it might
be a good idea to ask the Acorn User editor (Steve Turnbull) for
some assistance. AU is objective, has no involvement in sw copyrights
(apart from the stuff in their magazines), is hopefully sympathetic
to Acorn users, and have some influence in the Acorn world.
So if anybody has good contacts with AU (I used to have, but that's
some time ago), please contact them on this.
As to the Acorn employee who wanted questions to ask his management,
I like to contribute the following:
1. Does Acorn want to make the ROMs available under the conditions
James Fidell stated?
2. If not, why not? If the reason is any of the above, please
also consider my arguments as to why these reasons are invalid.
Anyway, sorry for the amount of words I needed, but I am slightly
pissed off by the non-arguments or the lack of arguments for not
releasing the Beeb ROMs. I think that everybody who would consider
this matter objectively would conclude that it does no harm whatsoever
to Acorn to make the ROMs available. In my mind it is only
an unjustified scaredness of Acorn bosses.
Another Beeb-enthusiast who likes Acorn less than he used to ten
years ago,
Mark.
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