Confessions of a Software Pirate

For the Apple ][ platform by Stephen and Overbyte

The 202 Alliance had the opportunity to interview a self proclaimed Software
Pirate. Here's that interview.

The 202 Alliance: hello Pirate, pleased to meet you....You look a bit old to be
a software pirate.

Pirate: scuse me?  I'm only 54. Been a pirate now for over 20 years :)

The 202 Alliance: Well...Iıve thought that software pirates tend to be just 
teenagers. You look to be in your late thirties.  Like I said...I'm 54.  Piracy
is a good way to perserve your looks and appear much younger than you actually
are.  Much like the Apple ][ software I pirate and make available on the Net.
It always looks much younger than it really is.
;')

Pirate: True an awful lot of software pirates are teenagers. But, I know an awful
lot of folks who are well into their thirties and even forties who subscribe to
the Pirates credo.  And...in there fifties too, like myself ;>)  I even know a 
few in their sixties and seventies. Yes, they do indeed exist and are very active
on the Internet today.

The 202 Alliance: What is the Pirates credo?

Pirate: Simply...that we feel that software should be free and so we have no
problems sharing any and all software that we can share. The more the better. 
And, any software that is protected by dongles, serial number verification
schemes etc. is even more desirable. Many of us are still practicing crackers
when we find an Apple ][ title to deprotect, we deprotect it and provide it
with uploads to a public access Apple ][ site for the users needs.

The 202 Alliance: Why do you seek out software?

Pirate: I can't speak for anyone but myself. I see myself as a hunter and
collector, spreader an free provider to all users that want it. The hunting is
the best part of it. Some of the software I use but most of it I simply collect
and spread around for the needs and desires of others. I have a huge collection
of software. I think I'm up to around 24 gigs of Apple ][ stuff now. Most of it has
been made available to all freely and always will be.

The 202 Alliance: What is your most memorable pirated software?

Pirate: Ha (as in good old Apple ][ Chuckles)...that would definitely be the
time I went to Apple Expo and persuaded an Apple ][ software demo employee to
preview the then new release of Medley IIgs. He left me to mess around with it
on my own and while he was talking to some other folks, I pulled out my Photonix
disk copy disk and copied the ProDOS 800k disks of Medley. I was sweating
profusely the whole time....but I got away with it. God that was satisfying. I
uploaded it to one single Apple ][ BBS and in a week it was on all of them that
were online then.

The 202 Alliance: Wow....that was gutsy. Have you ever been caught illegally
copying software?

Pirate: Nope.  Never will be on the Apple ][ platform either.  Because nobody
cares and even if they did the legal system has no concern for an old platform
like the Apple ][ and piracy of it's software titles in this day and age. That's
the reason I still do it and enjoy it so much.  Giving the software needed by
the masses freely for them to use is what keeps this computer platform, active,
interesting, productive and alive.

The 202 Alliance: Do you differentiate between any software developers?

Pirate: Well not really. Sometimes I've been known to actually pay for
shareware. I know this sounds odd, but I'm inclined to admire small time
programmers who put their stuff out there for the world to use and ask for
nothing or a modest fee. I do not however cut slack on major corporate software
developers. I seek out software from giants like Apple Computer and MicroSoft,
as with the Applesoft basic. Look at how filthy rich Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
are now. They don't need anymore money. So I make a point of giving their Apple
][ software titles away. If people use it and need it, (including the original
source code I got last year from a friend at Apple) then so be it. Itıs my way
of saying #@%$ you Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I just can't see the logic or
sanity in offering commercial software at this point in time for the Apple ][
platform.  It should all be made available now as freeware or public domain.

The 202 Alliance: You are starting to sound like a modern day Robin Hood.

Pirate: Ha...maybe.  Many say that's just what I am.

The 202 Alliance: What is your favorite platform, why and exactly how do you
work with it now ?

Pirate: I dearly love the Apple ][ platform. But, my business and my online
hobby requires that I also use Mac, Win 95,98, NT and a bit of Unix. When it
comes down to getting stuff done for the Apple ][ platform at this point over
the Internet, I always turn to my Mac.  It's a really cool Apple ][ extension
device that I simply couldn't live without. My main Mac app. tools for doing it
all are Gus! and Bernie ][ the Rescue.  They are both fantastic Apple IIgs
emulators that really do turn the Mac PPC model into an Apple ][ powerhouse. 
They both get things done fast, with a high rate of accuracy and using Shrink II
with them both makes my free distribution of Apple ][ archives online today a
real breeze of enjoyment to do.

Our world population, its societies and communities are now on the verge of
electronic perfecting the common conversions of matter to energy and energy to
matter, in a way we can all use and understand thanks to the Internet.

The 202 Alliance: What is the upload and download of a material file from your
media storage device from your computer to another remote media storage device
if not the conversion of matter to energy and energy to matter?

Pirate: Exactly!

The 202 Alliance: Why then do we cling to past technologies when vastly improved
options are at hand for us freely?

Pirate: I think because we are skeptical and fear the advances technology offers
us and we love the usefulness and the memories that we still get so much
pleasure from with those past technologies like the Apple ][ platform offers.

You know, when AOL dropped support for access with the Apple ][, many Apple ][
enthusist had to decide if they wanted to keep AOL services and use a Mac and/or
PC or just cancel their AOL account.  But...not me, because I never accessed AOL
or the Internet with an Apple II model computer. That right, I've never in my
entire life used an Apple II model computer to access AOL or the Internet in any
fashion other than in my early years in the late 80's and early 90's when I
uploaded archives to Apple ][ BBS's with my Apple IIgs.

The Apple IIgs was, still is and always will be the best of the Apple ][ models
and could have offered everything for use with the Internet that the Mac and PC
platforms offers today.  Motivation and economic greed prevented that from
happening over the years. And, after fifteen years it's finally getting around
to that too.  However, for the majority of most Apple ][ users, hobbyist and
fanatics that just too little to late.  Woz and all of the other Apple IIgs
designers developed it to be used in conjunction with the Mac and not really
with the PC platform.  I have this cool Apple II extension device I call a Mac
that lets me access anything on any service or any part of the Internet with the
greatest of ease.

Use a PC for such?  YUCK and NO THANK YOU!!! The PC (IBM clone platform) just
doesn't work that well as an Apple II extension device. It's OK with simple
Apple II emulation and thanks to XGS even allows good use of Apple IIgs
emulation. but, that's about all I consider it any good for now.  Even with
those aspects for Apple ][ emulation use, I elect to use the Mac. Even if the
Mac eventually resulted in the end of Apple ][ models production, it is after
all an Apple ][ model today in the way I use it.

Some people in the Apple ][ community blame piracy and the Mac for the demise of
the Apple ][ models production, develoment and use.  But, I'm only one of many
that proving it all still exist and it all still supports the free needs of all
apple ][ users, be they users of a real Apple ][ model or Apple ][ emulator
users.

I'll leave the reader with these bytes of thought and wisdom. One space or  two
really makes no difference in the structure of getting the message out to the
masses.  A zero ond one need each other to make any software function as needed
by it's computer and user of said computer.  Its just that the semantics are so
slippery here...

while(true)    ==   while(true)      ==    Infinity   ==    1/0
  N++;                    N += 10;  == over and over and over again.

It's all an infinite loop in time and space anyway. What goes around comes
around eventually you know.  Like a dragon chasing it's own tail in an agressive
quest for dominance, such will never happen. The dragon needs it's tail and the
tail needs the dragon to survive. Piracy and emulator developers likewise need
each other to keep their efforts alive with the Apple ][ platform.  Every lock
ever made can be picked and opened by somebody at some point for the needs and
enjoyment of others. Eventually they all will be.  Give freely, share and enjoy.

Apple ][ Forever!
The 202 Alliance