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Blackwell Idealist
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Posted by satis
May 22, 2025 at 01:32 PM
Individuals should not be sharing commercial software because even abandonware has copyright protection.
Some sites have DMCA exemptions as a recognized library to distribute abandonware.
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary
Posted by Lawrence Osborn
May 22, 2025 at 03:21 PM
I take the point that even abandonware remains under copyright. But I think Idealist is a special case. Blackwell Scientific sold the rights to Bekon in the late 1990s. They attempted to develop it but made a pig’s ear of the job (Version 4 managed to crash and corrupt Windows! Version 5 did work after a fashion but was very buggy). The last stable version (3.1) was (temporarily?) released as freeware by Bekon and distributed through various computer magazines to tempt people to but into version 4 (which I did – and had to reinstall Windows as a result).
Since the version of Idealist I have was issued as freeware, I am happy to make it available. But note that the exe file will not work on 64-bit machines. (Idealist itself was available in a 32-bit version, which was pretty good for 1999, but the exe file is only 8-bit.) I have managed to keep it working by copying the entire program file across whenever I have upgraded my computer. If you are still interested in playing with it, I could put a copy of the directory on Onedrive together with notes on how to set it up on Windows 11 and then post the link here.
Posted by Lucas
May 22, 2025 at 08:50 PM
Note that a post ostensibly from Richard Nunn, original author of Idealist, states the following:
As the original author, I’m calling it: Idealist is now abandonware.
The Wikipedia definition is: “Abandonware is a product, typically software, ignored by its owner and manufacturer, which can no longer be found for sale, and for which no official support is available and cannot be bought.”
If the IP owner, if one even exists, wants to make a claim then let them. They will be unable to prove a loss on their part in a court, because they have shown by their (in)actions that the product has no commercial value. In the meantime, use it whenever and wherever you like.
https://groups.google.com/g/idealistdb/c/WPUeVx-hPoA/m/k8O8-Fd2AgAJ
There are also further comments about this from Richard in various threads in that group.
There are also recent discussions there that appear to include working download links for installations files, such as the following:
https://groups.google.com/g/idealistdb/c/W3589hSxdlo/m/gPCCn_0jBQAJ
Posted by tightbeam
May 23, 2025 at 03:45 PM
Why not? It’s abandoned. Is it supposed to sit in a bin somewhere until 95 years - or however long the period - passes? Copyright reform is long overdue.
satis wrote:
Individuals should not be sharing commercial software because even
>abandonware has copyright protection.
>
>Some sites have DMCA exemptions as a recognized library to distribute
>abandonware.
>
>https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary
>
>
Posted by Dormouse
May 23, 2025 at 06:57 PM
tightbeam wrote:
> Copyright reform is long overdue.
No need for copyright reform. It’s real life use is far more subtle than banned without express permission. Which is why Google, Facebook et al have felt free to slurp it into AI and argue about it later.
The copyright owner holds the rights, but it’s their responsibility to enforce them.
Platforms want to steer clear of any risk so they tend to ban anything where a doubt has been raised about copyright. YT takes down videos because some entity has claimed them without even requiring evidence - the video makers have to argue it out with YT (it’s common with music, where a piece has long been in public domain but entity has rights to a particular performance of that piece).
In this situation there is no realistic risk. If someone comes forward, proves they hold copyright, than as said they can’t evidence any loss from it being made freely available. But we all know that noone is likely to come forward and that there’s evidence of the owner making it freeware.