49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
49 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
THE SOUTH POLE..........[312] 677-7140
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-DATELINE MAY 14, 1983
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-FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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"PUBLISHER PIRATES PUBLISHER?"
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AVANT-GARDE, THE EUGENE, OREGON-BASED PUBLISHER OF SOMETIMES OFFBEAT APPLE
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SOFTWARE, WAS EMBARRASSED RECENTLY BY THE DISCOVERY THAT THEIR MOST RECENT
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CREATION, "TRIPLE ARCADE INSANITY", CONTAINS CLEAR EVIDENCE THAT THE PROGRAMS
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WERE WRITTEN USING PIRATED SOFTWARE. THE DISK CONSISTS OF THREE ARCADE-STYLE
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GAMES WRITTEN WITH A COPYRIGHTED GAME-WRITING UTILITY PROGRAM CALLED "THE
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ARCADE MACHINE" FROM BR0DERBUND SOFTWARE INC, OF SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA.
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ALTHOUGH AVANT-GARDE'S PRODUCT PACKAGING STATES THAT THE PROGRAMS WERE DESIGNED
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USING BR0DERBUND'S UTILITY, EACH OF THE THREE GAMES CONTAINS A MENU WHICH IS
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PART OF AN ALTERED VERSION WIDELY CIRCULATED AMONG APPLE "PIRATES".
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THE UTILITY'S NORMAL MENU CONTAINS EIGHT OPERATIONS TO BE PERFORMED ON THE
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GAME UNDER DEVELOPMENT. APPARENTLY DISSATISFIED WITH THE RESTRICTED MENU,
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WHICH ALLOWS THE GAME TO BE SAVED ONLY ON A DISK WITH A COPY-PROTECTED FORMAT,
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A WELL-KNOWN EXPERT IN SOFTWARE "UNPROTECTION" (OR "KRACKIST", AS THEY PREFER
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TO BE CALLED) MADE SUBSTANTIAL ALTERATIONS TO THE PROGRAM. NOT ONLY WAS THE
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COPY PROTECTION REMOVED FROM THE DISK, BUT A NINTH MENU ENTRY WAS ADDED WHICH
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ALLOWS THE DEVELOPED GAME TO BE STORED AS AN APPLE DOS BINARY FILE ON A
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NORMALLY-FORMATTED DISK.
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WHAT THE GAMES' AUTHOR, BRAD POSEN, APPARENTLY DID NOT KNOW WAS THAT WHEN A
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GAME IS STORED, OR "SAVED", WITH THE ADDED FEATURE, THE INCRIMINATING
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NINE-CHOICE MENU IS SAVED WITH IT. THUS, EACH COPY OF THE DISK DISTRIBUTED BY
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AVANT-GARDE ADVERTISES THE ILLICIT SOURCE OF ITS GENERATION. PROBABLY EQUALLY
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EMBARRASSING IS THE PRESENCE OF AN APPLE II "SCREEN" IN ONE OF THE PROGRAMS
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WHICH CONTAINS A CATALOG LISTING OF SEVERAL "BROKEN" AND PIRATED APPLE PROGRAMS
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SUCH AS GEBELLI SOFTWARE'S "HORIZON V", SIERRA ON-LINE'S "CANNONBALL BLITZ",
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AMONG OTHERS.
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IT WOULD APPEAR THAT AVANT-GARDE, IN A RUSH TO CASH IN ON SOME RELATIVELY
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UNIMAGINATIVE ARCADE GAMES, COPIED AND DISTRIBUTED THE ENTIRE DISK SUBMITTED BY
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WHAT MUST BE A YOUNG, NAIVE AUTHOR. IN SO DOING, THEY HAVE INADVERTANTLY
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EXPOSED AN AMUSING IRONY--ONE PUBLISHER GAINING VIA THE ILLEGAL USE OF ANOTHER
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PUBLISHER'S COPYRIGHTED PRODUCT. IT IS WIDELY KNOWN BY MAJOR SOFTWARE
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PUBLISHERS THAT PIRATED COPIES OF SUCH DEVELOPMENT UTILITIES ARE WIDELY
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DISTRIBUTED, AND PROBABLY FREQUENTLY USED FOR THE GENERATION OF COMMERCIAL
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SOFTWARE, BUT THIS EPISODE MARKS THE FIRST PUBLIC CONFIRMATION OF THE FACT.
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