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From: ace@tidbits.com (Adam C. Engst)
Subject: TidBITS#201/08-Nov-93
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 93 22:01:09 PDT
TidBITS#201/08-Nov-93
=====================
Ever wondered what those dire-sounding software license agreements
mean? Check out Brady Johnson's article on just what you aren't
agreeing to. In the more agreeable department, we look at two
PowerBook books, including the essential PowerBook Companion,
glance briefly at the latest in viruses, peek through a keyhole
at the upcoming FoxPro for Macintosh, and reveal the shameful
truth about the low-end model of the Quadra 610 (well, OK, it's
not that bad).
This issue of TidBITS sponsored in part by:
* APS Technologies -- 800/443-4199 -- 71520.72@compuserve.com
New Seagate hard drives, new 10 GB HyperDAT, and new cases!
For APS price lists, email: aps-prices@tidbits.com
Copyright 1990-1993 Adam & Tonya Engst. Details at end of issue.
Automated info: <info@tidbits.com> Comments: <ace@tidbits.com>
--------------------------------------------------------------
Topics:
MailBITS/08-Nov-93
Quadra 610 Intro Error
FoxPro/Mac Rumors
The Flu Season Returns
The Second Coming, Cheap
Software Licensing: Reality Check
Reviews/08-Nov-93
[Archived as /info-mac/per/tb/tidbits-201.etx; 30K]
MailBITS/08-Nov-93
------------------
Recently, we've received several complaints about insensitive
comments in TidBITS. Unfortunately, it seems that every time we
stray from the facts of an article, or point out in a non-serious
way what we feel is an odd situation, someone writes to complain.
These letters disturb us because, in almost every case, it's an
issue with which we are completely cognizant, be it the plight of
meat packers or the concern non-Caucasians have with faux-flesh
tone beige gloves. We always respond to these complaints because
we dislike being misconstrued, whether or not it's our fault for
ambiguous wording. For the record then, if you're offended by
something you read, remember that it's probably not serious and
think for a moment before you send email. If we wish to rag on
something, it will be obvious.
Some might say that we should avoid touchy subjects, but we won't
self-censor TidBITS in that way. TidBITS is not a typical news
offering, with every phrase pre-sanitized for your convenience.
We've built a reputation for writing informally and will not stoop
to antiseptic prose. There are plenty of places to find bone-dry
writing, and we've always found that such writing makes excellent
tinder. We like to think that Macintosh users have and prefer a
bit more personality than that.
**Fred Showker** <afashwkr@aol.com> writes:
Color It has been in my tool box for some time, and I can report
from personal experience that it is a smooth operator. I have used
it in many projects for which Photoshop was too cumbersome. My
children's LC II (4/80) system would not even launch Photoshop 2.0
until I downgraded to System 6.0.8, and even then it would only
run on a skeleton set of plug-ins and small 16-bit color images.
Color It, on the other hand, opens and manipulates larger files
handsomely on the same machine.
Color It's airbrush and paint brush tools work more fluidly and
seem to run faster than Photoshop's on non-muscle Macs, as do its
virtual memory functions. Color It is also much easier to use in
terms of palette setups like blends and gradations - they're much
more intuitive and responsive. Magic wand, multiple-selection
tools, and selection feathering are all included for photo
retouchers. Color It also requires little drive space. The full
package, including tutorial files, occupies just over one
megabyte.
Keep in mind folks, that I'm talking about the previous version of
Color It - not the upgrade! I'm looking forward to tablet support,
expanded scanner support and the other features adorning Color It
2.3. Even though it's considered un-hip to chat about anything
other than Photoshop, for "the rest of us" (those of us who don't
have muscle Macs) Color It will be a welcome addition.
[Also note that a reader confirmed that the special offer on Color
It that we reported on in TidBITS #199_ includes the manual on
disk, not in printed form. -Adam]
Quadra 610 Intro Error
----------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder, News Editor -- mha@baka.ithaca.ny.us
Technical Support Coordinator, BAKA Computers
Apple shamefacedly admitted last week that its introductory
materials and data sheets for the Quadra 610 incorrectly stated
that all Quadra 610s have a floating point unit (FPU). In fact,
Apple changed the configuration of the Quadra 610 8/160 at the
last minute; it includes a 68LC040 processor instead of a full
68040, and therefore lacks an FPU.
Both other Quadra 610 configurations (the 8/230 and 8/230 CD)
provide the FPU within the 68040 processor, as do all
configurations of the Quadra 660AV. All configurations of Quadra
610 include built-in Ethernet.
Although Apple doesn't offer an FPU upgrade for the Quadra 610,
third parties have sold full 20 MHz 68040 chips for the purpose of
upgrading the Centris 610. It should similarly be possible to
obtain a 25 MHz Motorola 68040 chip to replace the 68LC040 in the
Quadra 610, but users should understand that this isn't an Apple-
approved or Apple-endorsed approach [and if I remember correctly,
it's expensive too -Adam]. Users who require the FPU capability
should purchase a Quadra 610 with a full 68040 or a higher-end
Quadra.
FoxPro/Mac Rumors
-----------------
Pythaeus writes that long after buying Fox Software, Microsoft may
finally release FoxPro for Macintosh, probably at Macworld Expo in
San Francisco for $495. Here then are some details about cross-
platform development work with FoxPro, which is rumored to be the
fastest Mac database when it ships.
FoxPro/Mac is cross-platform, so applications that you build can
be somewhat easily transported to DOS and Windows, and perhaps
next summer, to Unix too. Once you transport and adjust
applications for each platform, the code for both platforms exists
in the same file. In other words, you can have a Windows, a DOS,
and a Mac client all using the same program and data files on your
server.
Current FoxBASE+/Mac users will be far behind if they haven't
already started using FoxPro for Windows, since commands for
dealing with screens, menus, and so on have all changed
dramatically. Microsoft includes an application that attempts to
update your code from FoxBASE+/Mac, and it's fairly successful.
However, you lose the benefits of FoxPro/Mac's excellent screen
and menu generation facilities.
FoxPro's methods for handling platform differences are both useful
and disturbing, but understandable considering that Microsoft is
the developer. For example, pathnames can either be Mac style,
"HD:Foxpro:My Program:Program.prg" or DOS style,
"HD:\Foxpro\MyProgrm\Program.prg". However, all of FoxPro's
functions return only DOS-style pathnames. The trick here is to
avoid backslashes in your Mac filenames.
For developers who must ship their programs the day that Microsoft
releases FoxPro/Mac, consider moving your code to FoxPro for
Windows today to simplify porting back to the Mac and to possibly
increase market share. Be careful of font differences, and note
that FoxPro/Mac supports basic Apple event scripting (using the
doScript event to call FoxPro functions), but not DDE, Microsoft's
proprietary method of data sharing between applications in
Windows.
The Flu Season Returns
----------------------
The chill is returning to the air as autumn moves on (well, at
least in the Northern Hemisphere), and it appears that some Macs
have caught two new bugs, viruses actually. Mark Anbinder whipped
up these brief descriptions.
CODE-1
A virus called CODE-1 has been reported at several sites. Its only
explicit action, other than spreading, is to change the name of
the startup hard drive to "Trent Saburo" if the Macintosh is
restarted on 31-Oct of any year. Because it changes several
internal code pointers, this virus may lead to system crashes,
unusual application behavior, and other problems. All current
antiviral utilities should be updated to handle this virus.
MBDF-B
MBDF-B is a new variant of the MBDF-A virus, which was first
discovered in February 1992. It appears to be a slightly-modified
MBDF-A, changed and released by a person or persons unknown. Like
the original, this virus does not intentionally cause damage, but
may spread quickly and widely, and can cause problems. Some
existing Mac antiviral utilities detect this virus, but all
utilities should be updated to properly recognize and handle it.
Utility Updates
Macintosh antiviral developers have released the following
antiviral utility versions to handle the CODE-1 and MBDF-B
viruses:
* Central Point Anti-Virus 3.0a
* Disinfectant 3.3
* Rival CODE-1 vaccine
* SAM 3.5.9 and associated Virus Definitions file
* Virex 4.1
* Virus Detective 5.0.10
* Gatekeeper 1.2.9
You can find Disinfectant online in all the standard places,
including <sumex-aim.stanford.edu> as:
/info-mac/vir/disinfectant-33.hqx
For further information, contact the developer of the utility you
use. Please obtain an update immediately and scan for infections.
If you use both a scanning utility and a "suspicious activity
monitor," be sure to update both utilities. If you do not use
antiviral software, we highly recommend that you start.
The Second Coming, Cheap
------------------------
We're all used to purchasing updates to software packages since
the programmers add useful new features and fix bugs, right? The
more I learn about the publishing industry, the more I realize how
closely it resembles the software industry. Consider the second
edition of a book - the author covers the subject more completely,
makes corrections, and eliminates facts that have passed the way
of the Mac Plus and the carrier pigeon. The only difference is
that because books are usually inexpensive, publishers seldom
offer discounts to those who purchased the first edition.
The second edition of Rich Wolfson's (now co-authored by Sharon
Zardetto Aker) PowerBook Companion (Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-
62621-7) is now available, and in an unusual coincidence, there's
even a trick for buying it cheap. I first reviewed Rich's book in
TidBITS #152_, giving it the highest of marks, if I remember
correctly. I've read the second edition, and it satisfies the
requirements of an upgrade, offering new features and bug fixes.
Whereas the first edition covered only the PowerBook 100, 140, and
170, the second edition covers everything up to the 180c,
including the Duo 210 and 230 (but not the just released 250 and
270c). The sections on peripherals and software swelled to discuss
the many products that have reached the market since the first
edition, and in general the book feels fuller. The first edition
filled the need of the new PowerBook market starved for solid
information; the second edition comfortably covers the now-mature
PowerBook world.
One of the high points of the book is its charts. It has charts
outlining the features of every PowerBook model and a chart
detailing the power states of different components when the
PowerBook is awake, sleeping, or shut down (with a separate chart
for the 100, which is often different). Perhaps the most
noticeable addition to the book is a disk containing oodles of
freeware and shareware PowerBook utilities to monitor your
battery, fatten your cursors, toggle your AppleTalk, and so on.
There's nothing here you couldn't find online, but for those
without solid network access, it's a major bonus.
The personal tips and quirks remain from the first edition as
well. Rich and Sharon doctored several About This Macintosh
dialogs used in screenshots to identify the PowerBook in question
as an as-yet-nonexistent 190 running System 8.1. And then there
are the X-rays of Rich and Sharon's PowerBooks (to prove that
putting them through the X-ray machine at the airport is OK),
along with an X-ray of Sharon's metal-reinforced spine. Cute,
guys. They also recommend that if you don't have a protective case
for your battery (since a paper clip could theoretically short out
a loose battery and cause a fire) you can call Apple for a case,
or you can use a sock. It leaves me wondering if their editor
didn't at some time tell them to put a sock in it.
In any event, I'm pleased that Rich and Sharon didn't clam up
after the first edition, since the second edition improves on an
already-useful first edition in numerous ways. If you own a
PowerBook, sell PowerBooks, or support PowerBooks, you should own
a copy of this book. The cover price is a standard $24.95, but for
the month of November, you can purchase it from Mac's Place for
$10 (plus $3 shipping). That's cheap, but if you can't manage to
order in November, I'm sure your friendly local bookstore either
has it or can order it.
Mac's Place -- 800/897-0009 -- 76635.660@compuserve.com
PowerBook: The Digital Nomad's Guide
As much as I swear by Rich and Sharon's PowerBook Companion, I
also thoroughly enjoyed reading PowerBook: The Digital Nomad's
Guide (Random House Electronic Publishing, ISBN 0-679-74588-2,
$24, also available from APS), by Andy Gore and Mitch Ratcliffe,
news editors from MacWEEK. Mitch and Andy combined for an
extremely readable style that reflects the authors behind the
words far more than do most books. The book comes with a disk
containing various freeware and shareware applications along with
the commercial programs AgentDA (demo), QuicKeys for Nomads,
Spiral (demo), Dynodex, and Synchro.
My major quibble with the book is that Mitch and Andy have three
terms for different types of PowerBook users - the Intentional
Tourist, the Mobile Commuter, and the Road Warrior - each of which
uses a PowerBook in different ways. This distinction is not a
problem, but using the distinction as a way of organizing the
book's layout and calling out certain issues in sidebars confuses
things. PowerBook: The Digital Nomad's Guide has more information
than the PowerBook Companion about using applications on
PowerBooks and applications that PowerBook users would be likely
to want to use. It also covers communicating via the Internet,
which is always nice to see. Overall, it's a good book and a more
engaging read than most Macintosh books, due in large part to both
the authors' stories about using PowerBooks in airports around the
world and the brief introduction by Douglas Adams. Perhaps even
more interesting is that there is an electronic edition of the
book that was published simultaneously. I haven't seen it, but I
wonder how it has done in comparison to the paper version.
Software Licensing: Reality Check
---------------------------------
by Brady Johnson -- wizard36@aol.com
[Yes, Brady is a lawyer, and doesn't just play one on the nets.
Note that the discussion below applies in the U.S. and may vary in
your part of the world. -Adam]
A couple of months ago, Adam asked me to write an article about
software licensing, and asked Internet folks to let me know about
strange, weird, or merely incomprehensible software licenses they
had seen. Most of the responses noted the inconsistent and
sometimes bizarre restrictions on transferring software or
duplicating it even for personal use. It is interesting that
although these are arguably the most important features of any
licensing arrangement, they are the least intelligibly explained
by the most commonly seen licenses. In this article, I focus on
answering the one question that I have distilled from all the
reader input: Can they really do that? ("That" being whatever the
clause in question addresses).
The bottom line is that while federal copyright and other
protections certainly apply to mass marketed commercial software,
there is no legal authority upholding many of the additional
restrictions on transfer and copying often found in software
licensing agreements. Indeed, it is distinctly unclear at present
whether any license arrangement that does not openly and
specifically form part of the initial purchase would be upheld in
court. Interestingly, both Louisiana and Illinois have enacted
statutes attempting to extend traditional contract law to apply to
these so-called "shrink wrap licenses." Both laws were struck down
by the courts almost immediately and at present, there are no
statutes dealing with this issue.
To understand this issue it is important to understand some basic
law in the areas of "intellectual property" and contract. Let's
take a look at the basic rules in these two areas.
Software Protection 101
Software can be protected in five basic ways. Three of these take
advantage of specific, long-standing methods of protecting the
creations of one's mind, aka intellectual property. These are
patent, copyright, and trade secret protection. The general law in
these areas is well established, although there remain many
questions as to how the laws apply to software. The fourth method
is copy protection. This approach was popular for a short time,
but it rapidly became obvious that any bright grade school student
could beat any copy protection scheme before study period ended.
The rise of the hard drive also made copy protection impractical.
Today, few broadly marketed commercial products use this approach,
at least in the U.S.
The fifth approach to software protection is the "contract" or
"license" approach, which tries to apply traditional legal notions
of contract to software purchases. Mass-marketed products, such as
Microsoft Word and Lotus 1-2-3, come with a "Licensing Agreement"
threatening dire consequences to any who violate whatever terms
may be included in the small print. These licenses are invariably
printed in an obscure dialect known to linguists as "lawbabble" or
"legalese." Some of these "agreements" contain provisions that are
annoying, but quite enforceable. Many of these licenses contain
provisions that range from the impractical and impossible to the
just plain stupid. There is substantial debate in the legal
community as to whether all of these provisions are enforceable.
Another approach to software protection uses market forces rather
than law. The so-called "extralegal" approach sees marketers
offering additional incentives such as free upgrades, technical
support, rebates and the like to registered users while presumably
leaving the pirates out in the cold. The problem with using this
approach alone is that it is as easy for an unscrupulous end user
to pirate copies of updates and upgrades as it is to obtain the
original application. Technical support is freely available on a
variety of commercial bulletin boards and from user groups - the
thief need not rely on the publisher's own technical support. The
extralegal approach is commonly used in conjunction with the
contract method.
Contracts 101
A contract is nothing more than an agreement between two or more
parties, in exchange for something of value, called
"consideration." The agreement must consist of an offer that is
communicated to another, and a knowing and voluntary acceptance.
Consideration can be something tangible, such as money, or
something intangible such as a percentage interest in a money
market fund. A promise can even be considered consideration. So a
valid contract is formed where a promise is exchanged for another
promise. In fact, this is probably the most common type of
contract.
A license is a type of contract where one person "rents" a certain
right or item to another. The most common types of licenses are
bus tickets (well, most buses don't actually give tickets, but you
get the idea) and theater tickets. The only thing you buy is the
right to ride the bus, or to see the show. Your rights end when
the bus reaches its destination or when the show is over.
If A License Is A Contract, When Did I Sign?
What the software companies are trying to pass into law by
papering all of us with these "licenses" is the idea that when you
buy software, you aren't actually buying software at all - all
you're buying is the disk and certain limited rights to use the
software magnetically encoded on it. Considering the effort,
time, and expense that goes into good software coding it is no
surprise that vendors want to guard their product from piracy.
This is particularly easy to see with a product so easily
duplicated as a floppy (by contrast, try making multiple copies of
a paperback for your friends!). The very fact that it is so easy
to copy software makes traditional protections methods like
copyright inadequate to stop the problem.
So the software industry has increasingly turned to the idea of
licensing the use of their product to individual users, while
retaining ownership of the actual product. This approach is not
new. In the olden days - a few years back - most software was sold
in small quantities. Contracting with each purchaser made sense
since the numbers were smaller. In fact, this approach is still
used today with products that are sold to small group of buyers,
such as customized database products designed for mainframes.
But problems arise in trying to apply the contract approach to the
mass market. Let's say you buy a software package. It comes in a
flashy box with a lot of writing on the back about the neat stuff
that the software will do. You fork over some cash for it and rush
home to try it out. You open the box, and see the floppy disks in
a paper sack with the words "Important Licensing Information"
written on it. Totally ignoring this "important" information, you
tear into the sack and install the software (how many of you do
this? show of hands please?). Let's also say that the "Important
Licensing Information" started out something like: "This is a
legal Agreement between the buyer and the VaporWare Company. If
you do not agree with the provisions of this Agreement then you
must immediately return your VaporWare product for a full refund."
Well? Are you stuck with a contract even though you didn't read
it? Is the entire legal staff of VaporWare trying to pull a fast
one on you by sneaking this into the box so you don't know about
it when you purchase the product? Hmm. Let's take another look at
the contract rules we started out with. When you paid for the
product, you knew nothing about this "agreement" inside. In fact,
you couldn't have learned about it without opening the box, which
would mean paying for it. (Catch 22?) When you got home and opened
the box, you found this new "agreement" in which the good people
at VaporWare tell you that you are now party to a contract you
knew nothing about when you bought the software.
Under traditional contract analysis, this type of agreement would
not be enforceable since it was unknown at the time of purchase
and thus, could not have been negotiated or agreed to. In other
words (lawyers always have other words), the offer to buy the
product did not include the terms of this license, and you did not
accept the offer and pay your hard-earned money with the
understanding that this license would apply. Simply opening the
package does not mean that you have entered into a second contract
because not only have you not negotiated anything, but no new
"value" has been exchanged. That is, VaporWare has given you
nothing extra in exchange for your supposed agreement to the
second contract. Ironically, this analysis is even stronger if you
didn't read the agreement, since you certainly can't be forced to
agree to something you know nothing about. There is no legal duty
to read everything in a package.
Even if you read every word of the license agreement, and mentally
assent to it before opening the package, the question is not
resolved. With respect to consumer sales most courts follow a line
of cases holding that one-sided contracts created in conditions of
clearly unequal bargaining power are not recognized to the extent
that they impose unreasonable or "unconscionable" conditions on
the consumer. There are numerous additional difficulties presented
by the current approach to these license agreements under
traditional contract law, as well. Fortunately for you, dear
reader, Adam won't let me go into all the gory details (it would
only be a few dozen pages!)
Well now, wait a minute. Does this mean that you can ignore all
that licensing stuff and make all the copies you want, hand them
out to your friends, or even open up shop and start marketing
copies of VaporWorks - the leading VaporWare product? Nope.
Federal copyright law still applies, and prevents you from legally
"publishing" (e.g., copying and distributing) any copies of the
software without authorization from the copyright owner. In fact,
copyright law makes it a criminal offense to do this, punishable
by fines and prison time.
At least one software publisher has decided against using the
licensing approach in one of its products. Purchasers of Prince of
Persia, a Broderbund product, may notice that the package contains
no license. Instead, the manual contains a brief statement that
the software is protected by federal copyright law and that
"copying the software for any reason other than to make a backup
is a violation of law. Individuals who make unauthorized copies of
software may be subject to civil and criminal penalties." Despite
all of the fancy wording and restrictive language of other
publishers' licenses, under the current state of the law, I
believe that Broderbund's simple, two-line statement most likely
accurately reflects all of the legal protections actually
available.
The Bottom Line
Although a couple of cases have addressed shrink wrap license
issues, none has decided the issues of greatest concern to us:
whether the restrictions on archiving, personal backups, use on
more than one hard drive, etc. are valid or just so much smoke.
Although several states are actively considering shrink wrap
license legislation, only two have passed laws on the subject and
in both cases, they were promptly struck down by the courts.
Neither of those cases addressed these issues either - the
statutes were stricken on constitutional and other grounds not
related to their substantive provisions.
Though existing contract law does not support the restrictions
contained in many licenses, it may be tempting fate to wantonly
disregard them. After all, who wants to become the defendant in
the first test case? It is one thing to say, "they can't win -
they're full of hogwash" and quite another to be confronted with
the prospect of paying legal fees and costs to assert your
defenses.
One thing is clear - duplicating commercial software for
distribution is a violation of existing law. Ultimately,
distribution of any unauthorized software that deprives the
rightful owner income, profits, or any other benefits is probably
a violation of the federal copyright laws (and hence, a crime) and
may also constitute certain civil torts, such as interference with
business or contractual relations. In some states, punitive
damages are available for this conduct. It is not necessary to
sell the product to run afoul of these laws. ANY distribution will
do - including gift, sale, rental, etc.
The best course is, as always, common sense. We may quibble about
whether we can be prevented from making two backups instead of
only one, or whether it is all right to have VaporWorks on both
the office and home Macs at the same time, but everyone knows that
it is wrong to distribute someone else's software without paying
for it. That is known as piracy and in addition to being a
criminal act, it is also as immoral as any shoplift or theft.
Reviews/08-Nov-93
-----------------
* MacWEEK -- 01-Nov-93, Vol. 7, #43
Quadra 605 -- pg. 1
VideoVision Studio -- pg. 45
upFront 2.0 -- pg. 45
Redux Deluxe 2.0 -- pg. 48
Personal MacLan Connect 3.02 -- pg. 50
Snap Mail 1.0.1 -- pg. 51
Liken 1.3 -- pg. 52
* InfoWorld -- 01-Nov-93, Vol. 15, #44
Coactive Connector -- pg. 113
$$
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