Reply to post: Re: Times change

A floppy filled with software worth thousands of francs: Techie can't take it, customs won't keep it. What to do?

Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward

Re: Times change

"Spice source was free - just the cost of the medium and transport"

The concept of free software was not widely known or understood ~30 years ago.

Back then, a customs goon at LHR was keen to charge me duty on a box of Minix floppies I'd picked up in the USA. He decided the amount to charge me was going to be a penalty plus some percentage of the price he'd pay for Minix in the shops. It took a lot of explaining that (a) he couldn't buy Minix in any shop; (b) the software was free - in all senses of that term. It eventually dawned on him it was more bother than it was worth and the import duty on a handful of notionally blank floppies wasn't enough to matter.

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