capricorn1971ad: whats wrong with abandonedware sites? they aren't illegal or unethical.
when you consider what planned obsolescence is and how it factors into what GOG does it is a look in the mirror is it not?
especially considering "debt" is used as currency through it all..
how do you pay debt with debt?
so in other words those programmers that got paid but were still paying for it..
today.. the public, not the government.
slavery is not legal, but that's what capitolism is in truth.
that's whats being practiced, slavery and idolatry.
lets be open and honest.
can we do that?
whats the problem with "abandonware" when you understand how debt works and also "Planned obsolescence"?
adaliabooks: I won't pretend to understand half of that, but yes 'abandonware' is very much illegal. It is a term used to give a semblance of legality to what is essentially piracy.
Some of the better sites will only host games which are not available anywhere else and will remove games if they appear on places like Gog or Steam, but most just claim that anything old is 'abandoned' and fair game even if they are actively being sold by the current rights holders.
Considering that advertising and linking to abandoware sites that probably host for free a lot of the games Gog sells, could conceivably harm their business it's not really unreasonable for the staff to ask you (nicely) not to.
Where would archive.org stand. This site has some games that are sold on gog & steam or do they have some special agreement with the rights holders.