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Older Is Better, But Is It Legal?

For reasons that are far too complex to go into here (and that make me look far too stupid) I needed a copy of Paint Shop Pro 8 today. I know I've got my install CD around here somewhere, but it's hiding. So naturally I went hunting in Google, and somehow (I'm not exactly sure how, exactly) ran across the trail of www.oldversion.com. It had it and I downloaded it. I was ecstatic. But I also was suspicious.

I had the install disk for PSP Version 10, but I installed that once and was so appalled I immediately uninstalled it and will never install it again. (What was Corel thinking when they trashed the UI of the best little graphics app in existence after buying the company that made it, JASC?)

So after tearing up my office (which already was so thoroughly torn up you couldn't tell the difference) I turned to the Internet, and it took me precisely no time at all to find OldVersion.com's download of PSP V.8. And it not only had V.8, it had V.8.01, which fixed problems so bad that JASC had to send new disks to every V.8 buyer, and V.8.10, as well. So my problem was solved. I could run the version of PSP that I wanted. But, still, I was troubled.

I mean, can this be right? Isn't there some legal issue here? Wikipedia says OldVersion.com been around since 2001, so obviously nobody's going after the site, and that's fine by me. I have advocated that once any software company stops supporting a package it should automatically lose copyright protection and enter the public domain. (If you've been reading my blogs lately you know how mad I am at Microsoft over its treatment of Windows 2000 customers.)

In any case ,I'm licensed to use PSP 8 and I can prove it -- just as soon as I find my install disk. (Note to Corel legal beagles: If I can't find V.8, would you accept disks for 5, 6, and 7 as a sort of three-for-one equivalent?)

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