MacGUI Downloads gone

[Snial]

I come across MacGui from time to time. There's a great set of articles and I was looking forward to the development of the seemingly impossible http parser and web-browser that might fit in a 128kB Mac. Astounding! Also, I think they were working on an email client with SSH support.

However, recently he seems to be in a bit of a funk:

https://macgui.com/index.php

Maybe he needs some encouragement? It doesn't probably matter IMHO if people make a commercial profit out of writing a classic Mac app (which I think is impossible now, though, amazingly there are companies that still produce retro games and get people to pay), but to contribute to a knowledge base is worthwhile.

 

[ccmac]

check here:

Downloadbereich: tools/mac/allerlei

 

[Unknown_K]

The only new software for vintage machines that might sell these days are probably tools to interface with newer systems or newer hardware. And even those will be nothing but pocket change generators. If you are lucky some coder at a large company might find your application cool and try to hire you.

 

[NJRoadfan]

See here: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.apple2/c/OXFST-0Uqfw

 

[Skate323k137]

I didn't realize he was the guy who wrote 'The new apple II users guide.' Speaking as someone who actually bought his book, his behavior here is both confusing and disappointing; if you don't want to host things then stick them on archive.org yourself. And this is coming from someone who purchased physical tangible goods from the guy (and I also donate server space for obscure software mirroring, but that's for another day).

I hope whatever has him riled up settles down. His book is a solid tangible good in its own right, no need to cry over bits and bytes.

 

[joshc]

Hopefully if it goes back up a few of us can mirror it. If that’s his attitude it’s likely to disappear again in the future.

 

[cheesestraws]

See here: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.apple2/c/OXFST-0Uqfw

Perhaps someone should gently point out to him that if he’s trying to make a point then he needs to communicate clearly what his point is…

 

[nightingale]

If your modern software that you write for vintage computers isn't selling because there is an old free alternative available, then why did you write your modern software? If there is already some old abandonware available that serves the purpose, it seems like a wasted effort to recreate that. Most of the software written today for vintage computers is to allow old computers to do things that people didn't or couldn't do back in the day. Their TeleDisk software for example -- I'm not aware of any old software that does that exact thing. Sure, there are other ways of transferring files to old computers, but if this is the way that is most convenient for you, and you're willing to pay $18 for it, then the fact that there is older software that doesn't do that same thing seems irrelevant.

I'm not against people charging money for software they write -- it is a labour of love to create something new for old computers today, and the market is insanely smaller than it would have been at the time these computers were still in regular use. I'm all for people trying to make a few bucks from their hard work, I'm just glad they're putting in the work to create new things.

But I'm fairly confused by this protest.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

The torrent archive that was uploaded to archive.org is incomplete, but the best we have of a “mirror” today.

However, I have brought this up with someone who is working on uploading a recent archive of the site, hopefully soon.

If I hear more about the status of that I’ll repost back with a link. Hopefully the downloads can be salvaged from more recent than 2013.

 

[joshc]

The torrent archive that was uploaded to archive.org is incomplete, but the best we have of a “mirror” today.

However, I have brought this up with someone who is working on uploading a recent archive of the site, hopefully soon.

If I hear more about the status of that I’ll repost back with a link. Hopefully the downloads can be salvaged from more recent than 2013.

Fingers crossed. The 2013 archive is the most recent I have access to so I felt uploading that was better than nothing. Please keep us posted on this.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

If it does end up going back up I’ll go ahead and back it all up on my 14TB DataVault drive in case something were to happen again, could also do a mirror on the internet archive.

 

[Byte Knight]

From D Finnigan on CSA2 newsgroup:

After hearing some people talk this past week I got the impression that they
consider it my obligation to distribute software for free on my web site for
perpetuity. :-0

I wanted to make a statement, and then it'll be back.

 

[Skate323k137]

Perhaps someone should gently point out to him that if he’s trying to make a point then he needs to communicate clearly what his point is…

Agreed

 

[joshc]

Another post from the Google group:

Yes, that's a good one; thanks for the reminder. I just stopped a guy who
had been running a scraper continuously against the site for the past
several days. Almost a million HTTP requests, and I was wondering why CPU
load and bandwidth was way up.

:-/

Some people had asked for the Vault DVD set, and I'll be mailing those out
ASAP. I ran out of DVD-Rs and I have to buy more.

So it's probably best to avoid scraping his site, as he'll just stop it. Sounds like he's still open to sending out DVDs of the archive if asked, so not sure why he felt the need to remove the online archive.

 

[Phipli]

Another post from the Google group:



So it's probably best to avoid scraping his site, as he'll just stop it. Sounds like he's still open to sending out DVDs of the archive if asked, so not sure why he felt the need to remove the online archive.

It wasn't me I considered it gone.

You can set delays though... It takes longer, but will get it done eventually.

You can also make it only download changes, so if you work out the folder structure, you could move the 2013 files into the structure and skip things that haven't changed.

 

[Skate323k137]

All he did by taking it down is ensure a bunch of people will scrape it when it comes back up. On the surface, it makes it feel like he can't be trusted to maintain an archive in the best interest of the community anymore, so he brought this on himself IMHO (though people should pace their crawling...).

I'm not saying I expect him to host it for free; he chose to. I'm just pointing out the inevitable backlash from an action like this. Again, I spend a lot of money yearly on server space for hobbyists, it's a choice. Not an obligation.

If he's selling the DVDs (he mentioned sending them out but not charging, so I'm not asserting he is) that would seem opposite of protesting commoditization, just saying.

 

[Daniël]

I don't get his whining about people supposedly "whining". You pulled downloads, apparently temporarily... to make a statement? OK? So, deal with statements made by others on your statement then!

If retro software devalues modern software... well, I think the statement has more to do with the lackluster world of modern software development than anything. If thirty year old software suffices, then indeed, why spring for modern stuff that gets more bloated with the second, and oh so often tears away ownership from its users by requiring monthly fees for the privilege of using software, at the behest of the not-so-benevolent corpo overlords? And even then, it's mostly ten-ish year old software, released right before the advent of wide SaaS adoption, that devalues the modern stuff, thirty year old software generally isn't a suitable replacement due to archaic OS requirements.

I'll stop while I'm ahead, but the statement is just seemingly nonsensical, and I don't think it's entitled to think that pulling a valuable community resource to make a nonsensical statement is stupid. If it was a matter of hosting costs, well, there's solutions there, I put my money where my mouth is when it comes to 68kMLA for instance!

 

[Skate323k137]

If it was a matter of hosting costs, well, there's solutions there, I put my money where my mouth is when it comes to 68kMLA for instance!

Agreed, and some things can just go on Archive.org. Offloading an archive there and donating a few bucks a month to them instead is a lot cheaper in the long run.

 

[Phipli]

We don't have to agree with his reasons, but he can do what he likes with his site. I'd feel bad if/when he read this thread. He's a real person, and people don't always act logically... but thats their choice.

 

[Skate323k137]

We don't have to agree with his reasons, but he can do what he likes with his site.

I agree regarding his site, or anyones, but it would be nice if his reasons were clearly stated or made sense. There will always be entitled people.

I'd feel bad if/when he read this thread.

I wouldn't, personally. We are adults here and I don't feel like this has gotten disrespectful. The theme is mostly confused from what I gather.

He's a real person, and people don't always act logically... but thats their choice.

It's also other people's choice to point that out, especially respectfully. For me, true friends are the ones who ask you the hard questions or tell you what you might not want to hear when you aren't acting logically.

I'd love to have a real talk with him regarding his reasoning, but for now I've withheld from posting in the google group. I walk by the guys name on my bookshelf multiple times a day, it's not like I have a personal dislike for him. I'm just confused as to why he did this and what he thought could happen as a positive result (if that was thought through).