On Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 6:29 PM, Ivan Zaigralin <melik...@melikamp.com> wrote:
> Of course there are holdouts. You know of one. But they are > disappearing, while the historical use of such emulators becomes more > and more relevant. So while you are probably more right at this moment, > my points are becoming more and more valid every day, and MAME is > turning from overall malicious to useful in the near future. > > I mean, even your b.i.l. seems to be motivated by the retro and d.i.y. > aspect of it all, not the ads. And the non-free software in question is > not even utility software, it's pure entertainment, and it's perfectly > safe. It is true we cannot study, improve, or share it, but that does > not make _using_ it either dangerous or unethical. It makes absolutely > no sense to protect anyone from running these games, especially if that > results in people building cabinets and inviting friends over, instead > of paying micro$oft or $ony to install a $500 audio/video bug their your > house. > > Consider also that the software component of these things is becoming > ever more trivial by today's standards. For an apt analogy, just think > of these games as interactive books, and MAME as a viewer. These games > are works of art and art historians must be able to view them. There > will never again be a non-free software ecosystem there, but thanks to > MAME a free software ecosystem may yet develop. > I think everything you presented here makes sense and I agree with it. Take 10 internet points and have a great weekend.
