Interest check Windows NT 3.1 July 93 Beta CD

[Timo W.]

hence [...] selling these old beta CDs has completely nothing to do with legality

Wrong. A no-longer valid NDA only means that you can possibly talk about it or show it to the public. It does not remove any copyright Microsoft has on that stuff. You were never allowed to sell these betas, and as long as MS owns the copyright, you are still not allowed to do so. Why do people even think they can or try to discuss about it? There are laws, period.

If you don't believe that, Microsoft even has a contract with eBay for example to make sure beta software from MS is pulled from eBay listings if someone tries. And you may get reported to VeRI, too.

 

[Agent Orange]

Did not know that@Timo! I guess to be legal I should not sell it. And yeah beta software can be very rough. Ok sale offer withdrawn to be legally in compliance. Feel like an idiot now.

Just give it away and then ask for a "go fund me".

 

[hunterjwizzard]

But who would even be interested? Most of the betas and RCs have expiry dates, so unless you want to play time machine with your rig checking out buggy software, I don't see the value.

I'd be interested. I love to collect bizzare things. But it'd be more along the lines of "for the cost of shipping if you were otherwise going to throw it out". I feel like that stuff needs to be preserved.

 

[Chuck(G)]

I'd be interested. I love to collect bizzare things. But it'd be more along the lines of "for the cost of shipping if you were otherwise going to throw it out". I feel like that stuff needs to be preserved.

I'm sure there are several RCs and betas in the 500+ MSDN CDs that I sent for archiving. You need only search.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

I'm sure there are several RCs and betas in the 500+ MSDN CDs that I sent for archiving. You need only search.

I don't mean archiving of the data, obviously thats been done. I mean actual preservation of the physical media.i know it doesn't need to be in a museum but I feel like we shouldn't simply say 'eh, its on archive. ORT, we don't need to save the disks'.

 

[Chuck(G)]

When you've got bushels of the things and you're looking at how to dispose of things that have no relevance to the remainder of your life, it's a choice between discarding the things wholesale or archiving the contents for others.
I did post here that I had this problem a couple of times. Fortunately, someone eventually came forth and did a good job of taking them off my hands. As far as I can recall, you weren't that person.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

I did post here that I had this problem a couple of times. Fortunately, someone eventually came forth and did a good job of taking them off my hands. As far as I can recall, you weren't that person.

I was not. But I am really glad the stuff didn't just get thrown away.

 

[Chuck(G)]

That was the point of it all. You would not believe how difficult it is to give stuff away.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

That was the point of it all. You would not believe how difficult it is to give stuff away.

Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much!

 

[Chuck(G)]

Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much!

At the peril of going off-topic, my own experience in another (non-computer) area is that you get people who want to pick through what you have, but not take the entire collection. That, of course, leaves you with the same problem, just with an inventory that's been picked over and worth less to any potential taker.

 

[TerminatorII]

I'm sure there are several RCs and betas in the 500+ MSDN CDs that I sent for archiving. You need only search.

Unfortunately these are publicly available and easily obtained, thus less value they hold, unlike for instance this NT CD, which was sent to ISVs and tester participated in the closed beta testing program.
I have about the same count of MSDN and Select CDs - a lot of betas involve Whistler (Windows XP), server components like SQL Server and BackOffice 2000, as well as Office XP and 2003, which float around ebay from time to time.. At least yours went for archiving. I still have no idea what to do with these lots that I have.

 

[hunterjwizzard]

Yeah. That can be a problem. Personally I'd happily take the whole lot and go through it at my leisure, but that's me. I've had a few friends bring me piles of old crap and declare "no backsies!"