The pirates of today sail no ships, fly no flags, and don't engage in swordplay or muder; but plunder they do.
Their thievery is still theft; but their booty is not diamonds and doubloons, it's plastic--in the form of floppy disks and cassette tapes loaded with popular computer programs. To those who buy their goods, software pirates are great money savers; to their victims in the industry, they're thieves.
-From Pirate, Thief: Who Dares to Catch Him?
Softalk, V1N2, 1980
Their thievery is still theft; but their booty is not diamonds and doubloons, it's plastic--in the form of floppy disks and cassette tapes loaded with popular computer programs. To those who buy their goods, software pirates are great money savers; to their victims in the industry, they're thieves.
-From Pirate, Thief: Who Dares to Catch Him?
Softalk, V1N2, 1980
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This website showcases the software piracy debates appearing in Softalk magazine. In 1980, when Softalk debuted the average Apple owner possessed over $100 worth of pirated software. Using letters-to-the-editor and other 1980s artifacts appearing in computing magazines, the primary themes of the piracy debate for Apple II users are presented below.
Softalk (1980-1984) was a monthly publication exclusively for users of the Apple II microcomputer. While there were many computer magazines produced in the early 1980s, Softalk stands out for its level of reader engagement. Margot Comstock Tommervik, the magazine's founder and president, published all letters-to-the-editor in the "Open Discussion" section, and within this section the transformative impact of microcomputing is captured. Here readers offered praise and critique of products, companies, and the magazine itself, and shaped the burgeoning computer culture. Though many topics were discussed, the issue of software piracy, or codebreaking, became a relevant and central point of debate.
Debates about codebreaking especially standout in Softalk because the magazine was funded exclusively through advertising--the magazine was sent free of charge to owners of the Apple II. Unlike magazines such as Hardcore Computing, which were explicitly hacking magazines, Softalk discussions about piracy often appear alongside advertisements for the very products being pirated.
Softalk (1980-1984) was a monthly publication exclusively for users of the Apple II microcomputer. While there were many computer magazines produced in the early 1980s, Softalk stands out for its level of reader engagement. Margot Comstock Tommervik, the magazine's founder and president, published all letters-to-the-editor in the "Open Discussion" section, and within this section the transformative impact of microcomputing is captured. Here readers offered praise and critique of products, companies, and the magazine itself, and shaped the burgeoning computer culture. Though many topics were discussed, the issue of software piracy, or codebreaking, became a relevant and central point of debate.
Debates about codebreaking especially standout in Softalk because the magazine was funded exclusively through advertising--the magazine was sent free of charge to owners of the Apple II. Unlike magazines such as Hardcore Computing, which were explicitly hacking magazines, Softalk discussions about piracy often appear alongside advertisements for the very products being pirated.
codebreakers
& code control
The letters-to-the-editor about computer piracy appearing in the Open Discussion sections of Softalk can be categorized into four types: readers championing the hacker ethic, readers discouraging software codebreaking, readers discussing an evolving hacker logic or justification for hacking in the new software economy, and those sharing hacker strategies and community.
TYPE 1 : Hacker ethic
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TYPE 2 : code Police
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