Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!tjs From: tjs@cs.monash.edu.au (Toby Sargeant) Newsgroups: scea.yaroze.freetalk,scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: anti-mod chip / pirating / backups / etc. Date: 14 Feb 1999 23:07:10 GMT Organization: PlayStation Net Yaroze (SCEE) Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: <7a0a6u$714@scea> <36C40EC4.E4082468@datasys.net> <7a187m$o0v10@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <36C488C0.8DF59CF0@datasys.net> <7a2cd1$2i83@scea> <7a3pvs$7op11@chuka.playstation.co.uk> <36C5AEB2.BE73A768@btinternet.com> <36C6236E.D0B1F5B@manc.u-net.com> <36C6A344.67D0AF35@btinternet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: longford.cs.monash.edu.au X-Newsreader: slrn (0.9.4.3 UNIX) Xref: chuka.playstation.co.uk scea.yaroze.freetalk:1199 scee.yaroze.freetalk.english:3498 On Sun, 14 Feb 1999 10:19:55 +0000, James Duffield wrote: >BTW having been the owner of a Vic 20, a C64, an Amiga, >and an Atari ST, i also know how rife piracy was on all these >formats. But lets face it, in the history of computer games none of them > >have been killed of in such great style by piracy as the Amiga ( my case > >in point). > Many people will dispute the suggestion that the amiga was killed off by piracy. As I see it, a number of things killed the amiga: 1) Commodore started with a product that was lightyears ahead of its competition, and then didn't bother trying to keep it that way. 2) Cheap PC clones, the Intel juggernaut, and the business software world made the amiga a less than appealng option for anything other than home use. 3) Commodore mismarketed the Amiga so dismally that it was essentially doomed to failure. Yes, people stopped developing software for the Amiga, but I think you'll find that that was an effect, rather than a cause, of the Amiga downfall. The argument that free software will necessarily kill the market for proprietary software has proven to be, and will continue to be proven to be, a fallacy. Toby.