About everything - anti-commentary or Hackers are not only people - 2 (response to a letter to Spectrofon).

 And one more new section in which we
                                          
we will express our opinion on controversial
                                          
questions raised elsewhere in SPECTRUM
                                          
press. The reason for the occurrence of this rub-
                                          
ki became the complete reluctance of the editors "ZX-Re-
                                          
vue"  and SPECTROFONa at least sometimes reviewed
                                          
texts included in the number and check
                                          
check them for truth.                    
                                          
 This time we bring to your attention
                                          
our thoughts class='RGB4'>comments
                                          
SPECTROFONa to our letter to their editor.
 Well, that's what happened. In the 18th issue-
re "SPECTROFON" our letter has been published
(only one of the two we sent), and
exactly after it there is a comment
magazine tary.  As we have already said, the idea
creation"OBERON" was born among us during
writing this first letter, and almost
three-month silence"SPECTROFONa"
It was time to start releasing it.                   
 So, we are of course grateful "SPECTROFON"
for the fact that he published our letter
face (having allocated a whole section for it) and
without distortion (not counting the clipping of one
"k" in the word "hacker", and lack of date,
although she was), but here’s a comment... Howsince now comment "SPECTROFON" and we and
Let's comment (pun intended).               
                                          
══════════════ ════════════════════════════
                                          
          ANTICOMMENT or             
      HACKERS ARE NOT ONLY PEOPLE - 2.         
 Let's immediately say that we are not against
"SPECTROFON" and in general, we are against some
his statements. All of the following is
We did not write this to discredit
this magazine, but in order to understand
with how the editors understood our letter,
and what conclusions did she draw?               
 One more caveat. We will write the word
"hacker"with two "k". And for lovers of or-
phographic debates, let us add that this
word, like the words "upgrade", "coding",
"debugger", are not "new computer
language", and specific computer jargon
nom, and thereforeRussian "spelling"
subject to great difficulty, because in general
have a tangential relationship with non-conversation
new Russian language. So, for example, they
some “purely Russian” phrases
like a "block diagram" (yes, yes, this is also hot-
gon) PROHIBITED  to be used in official
papers, for example in documentation.        
 Now let's move directly to the
comment box.                         
 A small quote: "so you can
exclude all HACKERS from our discussion,
who are programmers, 'special-
addicted to hacking and modernization
programs' ... no one ever accesses them
there were no complaints."                  
 We would like to know how "you can exclude-
read" hackers, who by definition and
areREAL HACKERS? Besides that-
wow, something was done too quickly by the editors
changed her point of view. In issue 15
they literally "gnawed" OLDMANa for
what he said, or rather meant the following:
y thought: "hacker who upgraded
program, has the moral right to at least
to his little INTRO, where he will write about
the work he has done." So there are some complaints
were, no need...                          
 Let's move on. As already written on the page
tsakh  "ON LINE", if "SPECTROFON" "closed"
some topic, this does not mean that
everyone else closed this topic, and that it
ceased to exist at all - "thus
together we will consider the topic 'Hacker - too
man' closed, because the swords are crossed
fell over hacker traders [trader-
mi, approx. OBERONa],those who deal
distribution of pirated copies."        
 Again  substitution of concepts.  Any hacker
hacks  for  that   so that   then
distribute (the first consequence is determined
nia"hacker"), otherwise he is not a hacker, but simply
then a person betting "purely for himself"
INFINITs into programs, and no one likes them
showing Completely agree: "man,
broke the proprietary protection and remade
code to your liking, not pirated yet", he
just...  HACKER,  because.  heALREADYhas "hacked"
proprietary protection - if you hack someone else's
door, then no one will be interested,
were you going to steal something there, or
We just decided to take a look.  The analogy, of course,
but far-fetched, but still, it seems
successful.                                  
What about  "sales twenty meters from
author", so are we, and everyone is against it, so
only BUYERS for, if the pirated version
This one is more efficient (for information
"beginning programmers" - for IBM exactly
the pirated version is less efficient than
branded, and not like ours, on the contrary)!!!
But we weren’t talking about this, but about
what is opened to distribute in DRU-
GIH  cities, as was the case with "UFO", and with
many  others, about which "INFORCOM"
"suddenly remembered" when almost everything had already
but they passed and were safely forgotten.       
 "So, finally, with the help of our readers
lei, ...we managed to understand what we were up against
but the editors spoke all the time."We
just one thought: in one of the classic
of which literary works the hero recognizes
Well, it turns out he’s been saying this for many years
and writes in prose!!!                        
 "It is necessary to develop network  regional
distributors and dealers... However,
How realistic is this under current conditions?
                                          
 Of course not real!!!  3a legal
distribution  "SPECTROFON" and "INFORCOM"
in January 1996 it was necessary to pay
90000, andThis is only for one number! And about
opening a representative office (at least in
our face, or in the face of our Samara
"ZX-Club") and there was no talk!!! Speech is usually
is about the licensed sale of some
(!!) programs!!! But about the authors, you can’t
worry - for them the program is like
"UFO-2"  or "PRINCE" brings at least 500
thousands, if not more, "purely".      
 "Authors need good advertising, brands
ting, and buyers - a desire to support
authors in rubles." We will talk about advertising
We’ll talk a little later, let’s just say that we want
good advertising and marketing should be
swear   "INFORCOM", because it is "le-
galny, branded distributor", but
as you can see, he did neither one nor the other -
no   (as mentioned in our first
letter). So what do we have to do with this? And the buyer
Are you already fed up with "support" "INFOR-
COM"ov's programs, they are much cheaper and
it is more profitable to buy a normal restored
bath program"on the side" what are they talking about
repeatedly mentioned  on   pages
"SPECTROFON"a. So think for yourself.        
 "The lion's share of Western software has moved to
FREEWARE category, years ago..." Mi-
Just a minute, how old are we talking about this?
There is no “years ago” in this issue
YET,this is not your criminal code. And even
if so, four years (1992 program
years), is this already “old”? Moreover,
Moreover, copyright lastsLIFE
- throughout the author’s life.            
 "In England there are still companies that
there are still people writing programs for SPECCY..."
That's exactly what FIRMS, and not "beginners"
programmers", like ours!!!              
 Regarding copyright. We agree,
that we are not lawyers and maybe something is wrong
understood, but... First of all. We are actually
"they poked their nose" (and we responded to this,no matter how the country
but no offense) in the 1st issue "PC-REVIEW"
(something like IBM'ovsky"ZX-Review"), here
just forgot to say what year this is for
number.  Although, they were better suited for this purpose
professional publications such as "MONI-
TOP", "ComputerPress", "CompuTerra", or
the likes of which, excuse me, we have reached
We believe more, but oh well.               
 Secondly...   An article dedicated to the
Torsky right cited okay,
however, its author is lame on all 4 legs
terminology and he is clearly at odds with the tele-
oria of information, not at all with any of the
special theories of cybernetics, that's just
The conclusions drawn are somewhat incorrect. When
mention of the possibility of filing a lawsuit
(by the way, either in arbitration or civil
Danish court, and no other), and the author
articles (who talked about copyright
in a completely different context), and "SPECTROFON"(which brought it in this context), for-
were to mention that the user (pot-
children) also have their rights. Which
are HIGHER PRIORITY when considering
resolving the matter.                               
 Now about "just put a sign
'(C)'".  By the way, this icon is mainly
only gives the right to call itself "auto-
rum". Putting something is enough, but it’s still
doesn't mean you'll prove you're right, and
that you don't need a lawyer to represent you
you in court, which is what we meant.        
 In addition,  NOT A WORD is said about
what is copyrighted i.e. 100% protection
my law recognizes ONLY that program
ma, WHICH IS MADE IN LICENSED PACKAGES-
TAKH,regardless of whether it contains "(C)"
or not (we are telling you this as people, TES-
BUT related to this field of activity). 
  Further.  "It is not possible to prove the losses incurred
simply, because we...recommend the requirementspay compensation in the amount of 5000 to
50,000 minimum wages, ... violator
copyrights can be prosecuted
responsibility".  Well, pray tell,
how can you demand "from 5000 to 50000
minimum wage" unless you prove
what damage has been done to you???!!! At best
In any case, your claim will simply be rejected, but
the worst - YOUwill pay for moral damage.
In the end, the final amount decides
the court, not you. By the way, since the arbitration court
(or civil), then about no “criminal
"there is no question of any responsibility"
unless in case of malicious violation of the regulations
of this court!!!                     
 Yes, we completely forgot, the author of the article is
says that the law he is considering has entered
in force October 20, 1992, at that time
as we know for certain that the action
current -January 1, 1994,although there is
chances are we're talking about the same thing
same law. But let's not talk about it anymore
him.                                     
 About the fact that "change 31 bytes in
no one will tell you about the STS programprohibits...
but it is prohibited to distribute it...".
First, one question: why "INFORCO-
MU"  you can  (after all,  he got   right
DISTRIBUTE,  and not MODIFY) ???
Our words “thank you very much” are dedicated to
published in "ZX-Review" bytes
for  "cure"  TASM,  should
viewed as irony, which is what they are
lis, and not as gratitude.             
 In addition, if everything instead of
write off "cured" to your friends STS will
tell them: “I have no right, go, ku-
put STS in "INFORCOM"and redo it yourself
it", then our SPECTRUM very soon WILL DIE.A
if they buySTS and we will tell them these
bytes, then we will actually distribute
take our version: any program is
a set of information separated from
media, and it doesn’t matter whether it is recorded on a disc
kete, or on paper (you need to know the theory,
dear gentlemen). Which, by the way, is what was done
in "ZX-Review" 4-5 for 1996 - published there
forged letters A. Solovyov and M. Torgunova,
dedicated to fixing STS 3.3 and TASM
(it’s actually amazing how these programs
will work normally after published -
POKE).                                
 Moreover, in the same issue "INFORCOM",
in general, to put it mildly, he is being impudent, announcing STS
4.2: "purchase through illegal channels
previous intermediate versions (4.1 and
etc.) does not allow the owner to count
for normal operation of the program". Not only that -
go,  that  "INFORCOM",  having   right to
distribution STS 2.6 and STS 3.3, PROHIBITED
SEEKwe need to buy version 4.1 (but he himself
it does not extend it and HAS NOT on it
NO RIGHT,and which channels when
this is considered “illegal” is unclear),
so it still does not guarantee “normal
work", if you suddenly have STSCH.1 !   
 By the way, STSCH.2 now costs... as much as 25,000
rubles! And also it "it is advisable to use
use  together  with assembler
ALASM 2.5",which costs another 15,000 rubles -
lei, read below about such advertising.
Having made some small calculations, we get,
that a normally workingSTS 4.2will cost
you 40,000 rubles without postage.
  And who, one wonders, would buy one?
program, which, by the way, is only five -
six (!!) times cheaper than normal, branded
no, full-CD (i.e. the entire CD)
IBM programs (at least in
Samara from dealer companies)!                 
 When we wrote these lines, we received
and  STS 4.2  and ALASM, so, in the description
The first one says  that it is with
ALASM SINGLE PACKAGE, hope a comment about
why  "INFORCOM" separated them, not well-
women... As well as the mention that
"INFORCOM" on the pages"ZX-Review" almost
does not preach hacking (at least
in every possible way encourages  this), they say, study
open, but not our programs, but
programs of our competitors (which they have
all over Russia “they’re just overwhelmed”). Yes,
we bet that "INFORCOM"and concepts
does not have information about the "author's" STS 4.3, in which
in the words of Stalker himself even less
glitches (well, when will the programs finally
will be tested first, and only then
for sale ???!!!).                      
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
                                          
 Next.  The term "program purity" is for you
not clear, let's introduce another concept
"suitability of the program for operation from the point of view
from the user's point of view."  [By the way, worduser,
which  so   love   many  use
Well, in the mouth of any programmer is
"soft" curse, more "strong"
the shape of which  "lamer" - "militant
user-teapot" (this is a lyrical digression
for the "general development" of readers).] Now
It’s clear what the errors in the programs have to do with it?
  As for "uncleanness" in the sense of "blowing away"
vaniya", then we did not mean the same
user interface, which, by the way,
on IBM has been standardized for a long time. We had in
view of the so-called  conceptual model
del,as in the case of"UFO".               
 If the editors "SPECTROFON" and do not know,
Let’s explain so that later there will be no misunderstanding again
mania - any program is an embodiment
tion of the conceptual model in a specific
formal language, and as far as we know,
still protected, at leastthrough fur-
Low licenses for porting to other platforms
forms.  Of course it sounds abstruse, but it’s true
describes everything.  That's exactly the conceptual one
the model is in "UFO" and "blown away" from IBM, and nowhere
there is no sign "(R)", meaning license
new right to adaptation.                   
 So we come back to where we started
began - the rights of domestic authors are protected
Hey,  a  rights  foreign   (at least
IBM'ovskih)  no.  Do you want an experiment?
Let someone try to do it for
"SPECTRUM" and IBM'sov's "TOTAL CONTROL", by
reactions of the Moscow company "DOKA" (which to
has nothing to do with pizza), created
gave this game, we'll see whose conclusions
correct - ours, or "SPECTROFON"a.          
 Next come the “wise” sayings regarding
that "if someone can resort to
services of a hacker programmer [ again confused
concept: a hacker is a programmer,
just like oil is always oil ]  so that
reanimate the game, then he will resort to his
services...",and that the author "should keep
finger on the pulse." So, we’re talking about the same thing
said:  (1)  if the user sees,
that it’s cheaper to buy pirated ones, but for-
then normally working versions, then he
will buy: and (2)neither "INFORCOM", nor the majority
programmers don't have their finger on the pulse!
For the same reason, we said that -
would like to introduce a new category in "SPECTROFON"e 
for feedback from programmers (who
swarm, by the way, they still don’t have it)! And co-
comment on us, with our own thoughts,
thread... (you understand).                 
 Well, we got to advertising. "Rec-
lama -the engine of trade and it is necessary to
rush around condescendingly."  But how many people because
it is known that in Russia it has been adopted for six months already
advertising law?  This lawprohibits
advertising in which:                       
1. Those who do not resort to
advertised goods or services. Example:
gel "Clerasil" - "Pasha walks with Dasha, and
Sasha in a helmet."                            
2. The advantages of this are greatly exaggerated
war or services, or their non-
wealth,  i.e.  product does not match
(!!!) advertising. Example: PANADOL advertisement,
where  is overestimated its advantages, and not
disadvantages and side effects are mentioned.
3.  Silent about related products and
services without which the advertised product
cannot function normally. When-
measures: sorry, biotoilets are not in advertising
said aboutspecial biofiller, co-
which must be purchased monthly.           
   So it has been in the legislation for a long time
a line has been drawn between the "trade engine"
whether" and an administratively punishable act.
We will not go into details and explain
understand which of the two categories is often
refers to  "INFORCOM"ovskaya advertising  
price lists.                             
 Further, to be honest, it’s generally
some kind of insanity (sorry for the harsh word) with
with a fountain pen as an analogy. The general meaning is like
we get it, it comes down to this: before
than  buy program y "INFORCOM"a
weigh your financial situation and the necessary
purchase price!!!                     
 "Although the price list doesn’t lie, ... but the description
tion is designed with the expectation that you
interested in the program."  They're not lying???
Let's not talk about it, it's too sensitive
question. Although perhaps we are unfair -
they don't lie. They don't finish speaking. For example
measures that "STS" does not work on SCORPION,
PROFI,...  - you can learn about this from the magazine -
catches, conversations, but not from the price list:
that  FWORD FOR GENS  has a size of 21 kilo-
bytes, and therefore not for serious work
suitable:  what  "LAND OF MYTHS" is
a terribly half-thought-out, crude idea: what
MagOS 6.3с  is applicable only in rare cases
teas, and not as a universal addition to
service monitor, which also often
itself is buggy: what THE REGENERS is
is   simply  more  one  program
"LIFE", and nothing more: what VIRUS - raw
untested program:... and much more
other. In the case of REGENERS we generally have
There is a strong difference between advertising and itself
program.                               
 How many people know why it is untimely
such a wonderful game as "COUNTRY" died
MYTHS"  ? Yes, because the authors don’t care
It seems that they included in their program
contradictory conditions, as a result of which
When your winnings become purely random,
a matter beyond your control. Not counting all
some imperfections such as shipment to disk,
lack of self-tuning for the computer type,
or just purely mocking mashing
status file. And "INFORCOM" "rips off" the
30,000, describing it as completely
a complete, "awesome" game.             
 What happens if the remix version of some
some hacker, with "brought to mind" al-
gorithms and rules, and even working
at 128K, and not just at 256, will take first
places in the charts?  Will he be dragged to court?
3a the fact that on"SPECTRUM"emore appeared
one full-scale, "global" game,albeit a pirate one?                       
   Well, we've reached VIRUSA here. "We are a game-
whether it takes more than two weeks, and for the most part
they did not pay attention to the shortcomings
ki program, although they are visible to unarmed
". So what is this if not advertising?
(and prohibited) - see the shortcomings
programs and not mention them, instead
this is to entice people to buy this
"buggy" program? By the way, our rubric
ka "REVIEW" is just intended for review
ra software quality and exclusion of such situations
ations. This is first.                      
 Secondly.  We are simply surprised by Christ's
Tang's humility of the editors, since already
after half an hour of play, these "shortcomings" are already
literally drove us crazy, and didn't
only because they exist, but also because
even after the most superficial testing
they could easily be removed. It was
If only I had a wish, and not the same mother
laziness.                                     
 "It’s just that the game turned out to be gambling, and
tatelyam  our  she  liked it, because
how many people responded to the ad
about the championship". By the way, many magazines about
lead their  game charts, anyone,
ever seen thereVIRUS,at least on
10th place, not to mention first ?      
 When the championship was announced, it was not
not a word was said about the quality of the software
we, so no need for “responses”. A
If the program has already been purchased, then why not?
do not take part, by the way, in psychology
This syndrome is known - “I suffered,
let others suffer" (this is not a hint). 
  Of course, many people really like her
I was wondering, but here it is: an idea
or the program (i.e. directly itself
game) ?  So we like the idea, and the program
ramma... Now the ideas will begin, as we already
they said that the idea taken from T. Ray was, mildly
speaking, somewhat perverted, and not just
converted   to  "SPECTRUM". Not to mention
that the virus is generally EXTRACELLULAR  form
life.                                    
 If you read the one we mentioned
article in "Technology-Youth", you will understand
what kind of “candy” could you make?
(which has already been done on IBM by one of our
whom, after familiarizing yourself withVIRUSomand
our comments to him), even with
the same quality of the program (i.e. glitchy)
ity), if Mr. Kukovyakin cannot do otherwise
gomu.  And as for gambling, perhaps through
two weeks if we finally sorted out
learned about the behavior of viruses, it showed us too
I would get into gambling.                       
 But only the battles between our viruses,
our friends' viruses lasted only a couple
evenings, and then everyone got tired of randomly
half an hour to select the parameters of viruses, so
how no one ever understood the laws of interconnection
zi parameters, and we had a lot of others
more interesting and less glitchy games. A
after our detailed review ofal-
it became immediately clear that there was no thought
There can be no talk of lazy play, in view of
imperfections  last  (gentlemen
"STEP" sheep,  admit it honestly, because you
held a championship, didn't you?
did you notice? Besides, youCOMPLETELY LOSE
We normalized our words that "during battle
two completely identical viruses due to
incorrect algorithmALWAYSwill be
kill the virus with the lower number", i.e. we
  questioned  RELIABILITY  re-
championship results!!!). That's it.     
 Next. VIRUS-2. But, at least God
well Kukovyakin  (author VIRUSob), "dear
the editors" could talk about the discovered
"glitches",  if "INFORCOM" succumbed to
flattery "official distributor" (quote from
most  games VIRUS-2 ), and not games
VIRUS-2,as stated in the price list and
splash screen, and the program "VIRUS, version 2.0
[!!!]" (again a quote from the game itself)? And not
would have turned out  VIRUS-2  even worse
gesture.                                  
 But no. It almost came to this
championship in VIRUS-2, in   which even
curse words were deliberately inserted and
useless anecdotes and gags, instead
either working normally, or even just...
existing procedures. So much for "support"
ruble for beginning authors."               
 But to be honest, personal attacks
regarding the fact that “not everyone studies at
programmers" we did not expect at all. Although
because WE ARE NOT PROGRAMMERS, WE ARE SYSTEMS
THEME TECHNIQUES - developers of processing systems
ki information (hardware + programs), -
but we can work as simple programs
you.  And it is even possible that a person is not half-
who, for example, had a medical education
nia, knows and can do more than a certified
doctor, but no one sees his patients
won’t let you get close, you know the responsibility
those...                                  
 Then we will allow ourselves a little personal
nostal attack - cybernetics, subsection
which programming is, has long been
already independent, not having a mathematical background
nothing to do with technical science.
And in general, PROGRAMMERS are by no means
scientist  title or  profession, this
POSITION. This is us to broaden your horizons
readers  and  editors "SECTROFON" 
in particular.  As for "comparable to writing
programs from scratch." So, we didn't send
only   "remakes of  popular Western
programs",  by the way, among these "alterations"
there is one reanimated (SILENT SERVICE,
the normal version of which has been used for a long time
almost half of Moscow), but really “from scratch”
in the full sense, or rather in the sense in which
how programmers understand this - starting with
development of a conceptual model of the algorithm
(we apologize to those who “do not study at
programmers" - there are some specific
technical terms and definitions that are not
amenable to   translation   "to normal
Russian"), as for example inTRACK DOCTOR,
which is only for general purposes - to treat
disk drive - similar toDCU, ADS, ..., but
has its own unique (we're not afraid
this is to say) information rescue algorithm
from "broken" sectors and completely different
interface.                                
 Our  AFT (Assembler Format Translator)
is one of the first, if not the most
the first (it was written in early 1994) prog-
ram,  carrying out transformation
texts of assembler programs from one form
mat in another. Or ourZEUS128,with built-in
disassembler (though not a debugger)
com), allowing you to view and create
transfer source texts as programs from RAM,
and such ROMs as 48th, 128th, TR-DOS,
EXPANSION (for SCORPIONa). ZEUS is made on
based on the "basic" cassette version and in it
the original plays only the role of the core - edit -
torus + translator.                         
 In addition, in OCEAN CONQUEROR  (our
a version of which was described in one of
numbers  "ON LINE"  and at the moment
distributed by "INFORCOM") came to us
elk re-develop  develop the architecture
programs to “hang” our re-
resident menu.                           
 And in general, without getting inside the converted
program, it is impossible to say about the work done
work.  This is what we are all about so that we are not
considered braggarts "from scratch".                
 But in general, we (yes, and not only
us) has been formed   such  opinion, what
"SPECTROFON" picked more about words and
phrases and read notations instead of answers
"essentially" on the topics raised.         
 And in conclusion, we want to repeat the thought,
red thread passing through our first
letter, and addressed to readers (and not to
editors, as they thought): Gentlemen, os-
stand up: the flood of amateurism has already flooded
SINCLAIR-current in the country, the computer is already
began to die from substandard programs
ramm and "smart"iron modifications: user-
They are already wary of buying software for him.
frames!!! Understand: a computer is one of the most
our most complex devices ever
invented by Man, and for normal operation
it requires KNOWLEDGE, not just TALENT and
desire to express yourself!!!                
                                          
P.S. While these lines were being written, he came to us
new "INFORCOM" price list. So,
there is a whole section of floppy disks "prepared
created by the CODE BUSTERS group, in particular
MAX IWAMOTO".  We think it doesn't cost much
to say that all the creations of this sa-
myIWAMOTOto put it mildly, leaves much to be desired
the best, and that the group CODE BUSTERS persistently
does not want to make programs that run on
on all computers, and not just onPENTAGON.
About such "love" "INFORCOM" and nothing either
let's not talk, they do it themselves
I've already told everyone everything a long time ago.                         
                                          
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