Hi all.

I used to frequent these groups around a year ago (Andy Cocker), but sadly I
became computerless.
Unfortunately, this happened just as I had had a POV article and tutorial
published in a national UK mag (PCReview). The article invited readers to
mail me. If you did so, then please accept my apologies for not replying. If
you saw the piece, I hoped you liked it (it was extremely basic, and the
only one I'd ever written).

I had a scare half way through the project, thinking that I wasn't gonna get
paid for it. Why? Well, the mag is part of the Future Publishing Group,
mentioned in the POV legal docs and banned from distributing POV. So my
tutorial went out without the accompanying files on the cover cd..but I got
paid!

Lastly, I eagerly visited www.povray.org as soon as I got back online,
hoping to see POV4, but never mind..it just seemed like I was away forever.

Cheers then,

BigCeef

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Hey, welcome back, whoever u are...
What's this FPG banned from distro'ing POV? I must know more...

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

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In article <39B9890D.86454E91@faricy.net>, David Fontaine 
<dav### [at] faricynet> wrote:

> What's this FPG banned from distro'ing POV? I must know more...

It is mentioned in povlegal.doc. Specifically, this part of the 
"REVOCATION OF LICENSE" section:

"In this regard, "PC Format", a magazine published by Future
Publishing, Ltd. in the United Kingdom, distributed incomplete
versions of POV-Ray 1.0 in violation the license which was effect
at the time. They later attempted to distribute POV-Ray 2.2
without prior permission of the POV- Team in violation the license
which was in effect at the time. There is evidence that other
Future Publishing companies have also violated our terms.
Therefore "PC Format", and any other magazine, book or CD-ROM
publication owned by Future Publishing is expressly prohibited
from any distribution of POV-Ray software until further notice."

-- 
Christopher James Huff
Personal: chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

<><

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sounds like the typical shit people do
i'd put an lol here but it's more sad than funny

--
David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/

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"David Fontaine" <dav### [at] faricynet> wrote in message
news:39B9966C.4D2DDA04@faricy.net...
> sounds like the typical shit people do
> i'd put an lol here but it's more sad than funny
>
> --
> David Fontaine   <dav### [at] faricynet>   ICQ 55354965
> Please visit my website:  http://davidf.faricy.net/
>

PCFormat brought it upon themselves I suppose, though it was that issue of
the magazine that introduced me to POV. I feel it's a shame that POV isn't
'promoted' a little more, so that more people can 'stumble across it', as I
did.

BigCeef

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"David Fontaine" <dav### [at] faricynet> wrote in message
news:39B9890D.86454E91@faricy.net...
> What's this FPG banned from distro'ing POV? I must know more...

They caused us a heap of trouble. The version of 1.0 that they distributed
without our permission was chopped up (by them) so it would fit on their
1.44mb cover floppy disks. It was therefore missing some important files,
which WE got the blame for when it wouldn't work properly. Basically it was
a support nightmare (that was back in the days when we didn't mind if folks
emailed us personally and stuff like that).

Then they tried to put v2 on a cover disk, again without getting our perm
until the last moment when the author of the article in question contacted
us. We said no, they said 'well the disks are already being made and we go
to press in three days ...'.

Working through a middle-man (someone at compuserve) we reluctantly agreed
to the publishing (making best of a bad situation as they were going to go
ahead anyhow) on condition that they provide us with copies of the mag in
question (they never did), and provide us a write-up in the next issue or
so of the magazine, explaining who we are and what we do (they never did
that either). There might have been some other things they promised but never
came through on as well, but those two are the ones that stick in my mind.

We also know that FP has bundled our software on other magazines, also with
no permission (the Amiga version comes to mind).

Basically, in my personal opinion, all FP saw POV as was something that helps
them sell more mags ; there was no other incentive for them to bundle our
software, and once they had achieved that, we heard nothing more from them.

So we banned them permanently, and they deserve it, it's that simple. Other
magazines and books often get permission, so folks get exposure to POV from
them. FP doesn't own the publishing world (fortunately) though to some it
may seem as if they do.

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"Chris Cason" <nospam@noemail> writes:

Wow, I didn't know the extent and consequences of their behavour. PCFormat 
introduced me to Pov, so I've always thought of them as not-so-bad-after-all 
in this matter. 

--
ICQ 74734588

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> > What's this FPG banned from distro'ing POV? I must know more...
>
> They caused us a heap of trouble. The version of 1.0 that they distributed
> without our permission was chopped up (by them) so it would fit on their
> 1.44mb cover floppy disks. It was therefore missing some important files,
> which WE got the blame for when it wouldn't work properly. Basically it
was
> a support nightmare (that was back in the days when we didn't mind if
folks
> emailed us personally and stuff like that).

Yes, I recall the issue myself... left me frustrated at the time with POV,
however I did not have Internet access at that stage so getting help was
very difficult, at the time I gave up on POVray for lack of help (and those
files, obviously)

And similarly with version 2.2 as it happened, but fortunately by that
stage, numerous Bullitin Boards also had the archive, so getting the
complete version was no particular struggle.

Done properly  it could have done both parties some good... but as it was it
made me turn to the other package that was supplied FP, that being Imagine,
which, when all said and done was a nightmare to try to use, particularly
without the benefit of documentation...

$0.02
Chris O'Donnell

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