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From: Simon Clubley <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP>
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: VMS Pascal article
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2025 18:19:19 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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On 2025-01-08, Dan Cross <cross@spitfire.i.gajendra.net> wrote:
> In article <vln5d0$318c0$2@dont-email.me>,
> Arne Vajhøj  <arne@vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>
>>The problem will likely be that even if it would financially
>>be positive, then the amount would be very small. If the copyright
>>owner is an individual, then a plus of a few hundred or thousand
>>dollars will be OK. But if the copyright owner is
>>Big Mega Publishing Inc, then they will not do anything
>>with an expected profit under hundreds of thousands of dollars.
>
> Many technical books that previously cost rather tidy sums are
> now available for free, as authors and publishers realized that
> the audience had dwindled to negligible and there was no longer
> a financial incentive to holding on to the IP.
>
> It's kind of weirdly fascinating how thing that used to cost
> staggering sums are now available just for free.
>

Indeed.

About 20 years ago I found the VMS device drivers in C book in
a local large bookshop (either York or Leeds, I don't remember).

Such a thing would be utterly unheard of these days.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.