Will The Emulators Be Free?

[WizardStan]

It's preposterous to call people "dicks" for exercising their rights under whatever license an author chose.

Even when the only reason they're doing it is to avoid paying someone for the work? Not because they want to look at or modify the source, but just because they don't want to spend money on something that someone else has worked hard on? That may be valid under the license, but it does not seem to be in the spirit of it is what I've been saying. And it's not even the person exercising their rights that is necessarily the dick here (although my arguments make it seem so), it's the third person who is trying to obtain the source from the person with the rights to it that is, in my opinion.

 

[aesir911]

It's preposterous to call people "dicks" for exercising their rights under whatever license an author chose.

Even when the only reason they're doing it is to avoid paying someone for the work? Not because they want to look at or modify the source, but just because they don't want to spend money on something that someone else has worked hard on? That may be valid under the license, but it does not seem to be in the spirit of it is what I've been saying. And it's not even the person exercising their rights that is necessarily the dick here (although my arguments make it seem so), it's the third person who is trying to obtain the source from the person with the rights to it that is, in my opinion.

that's deep...

 

[laurencevde]

You still need to get your software distributed. Without any users, you won't be seeing any money anyways. No publicity, no-one knows you, no money...

The most effective way on linux to get your software distributed is getting it into the distro's repositories. You'll only be able to do so with a freely redistributable version, and several distro's practically refuse to distribute anything that's not open-source.
Result: on linux, you'll need an open-source version, or you'll be operating in the margins...


As for downloading roms of games you know: the us-copyright contains an article that can be read as making doing so legal, but IANAL. I'll just quote myself:

As for copying games, here's a part of the US copyright law (source):

(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.— Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided:

(1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner, or
(2) that such new copy or adaptation is for archival purposes only and that all archival copies are destroyed in the event that continued possession of the computer program should cease to be rightful.​

I need to copy the rom in order to be able to play it on the pandora (or any other pc for that matter), so (1) applies.
It's also allowed to authorize someone to make the copy, IF you have the original, and you can just as well ask so over the 'net (hey, I've got game X, can you make me a copy? Sure, here you go). It doesn't actually state that the new copy has to come from your copy...