Apple IIGS French programming super-group announced that their DeluxeWare CD-ROM has been reclassified as freeware.  The text of their press release follows.

Paris, September 11st, 2012 – Brutal Deluxe’s DeluxeWare CD-ROM now available 

Antoine Vignau and Olivier Zardini are proud to announce that DeluxeWare, their CD-ROM released in 1996 in partnership with La Pomme Illustrée, is now available for free download.

It contains 650 MB of public domain software for the Apple IIgs. It can be download from http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/products/apple2gs/deluxeware/ and is available as a .dmg image which can be directly used on a modern Apple computer and may be translated to .iso for other platforms.

Stay tuned for more and best regards,

Antoine Vignau & Olivier Zardini
Brutal Deluxe Software
http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/

Further details from the original release:

DeluxeWare is the first French cd-rom dedicated to the Apple IIgs. The disk was entirely created by Olivier and was sold in January 1996. It was priced FRF 200 or EUR 30. It contains 650 MB of public domain software:

• Apple programs
• Documentations
• Creative visual
• Hypermedia
• Games
• Music
• System
• Utilities

The required configuration is:

• Apple IIgs ROM 01 or 3, cd-rom 1x or 2x speed with the associated extensions. Some software require the use of System 6.0.1.
• The disc is in HFS and can be played on a IIgs or a Macintosh computer.
• The shareware on this disc must be paid to their respective authors.

From Ewen Wannop’s posting earlier this morning:

As my contribution to KFest ’12, I am reclassifying all my commercial software. From now on, all my commercial titles that have been sold by Syndicomm are now Freeware, and can be downloaded either from Syndicomm at no cost, or from my own web site:

http://www.wannop.info/speccie

The titles include:

Spectrum 2.5.3 Deluxe disk image
Spectrum 2.5.3 floppy disk set
The original SAM script set for Spectrum
The Bernie ][ The Rescue Starter Kit
The TABBS CD File Archive

If you require Spectrum, or the other titles on disk, Syndicomm will still be able to supply you with shipping costs only. Check out the Syndicomm web site for further details:

http://store.16sector.com/

Ewen Wannop

Apple ][ Forever – Spectrum does everything else!

Kim Howe, author of several popular Apple IIGS applications, wrote in to let us know that all of his titles have been reclassified as freeware.  From his email to a2central.com:

“Just wanted to advise anyone who was interested that my programs have now all be reclassified to freeware. The new versions with updated status and contact details are available at: http://members.optusnet.com.au/appleiigs/index.html.  There are no actual modifications to the function of the programs at this stage.  The programs are: Arachnid – the stand alone GS web browser, TelnetNDA – a Telnet new desk accessory which runs with Marinetti, YahtzeeNDA – a dice game for one to four players, and Shipwrecked – a Hypercard IIGS based adventure game.”

That’s great news for IIGS fans and users of Kim’s products, and we thank him for his generous decision.

Dave Ottalini of the Washington Apple Pi user group announced today on Facebook that their Apple /// DVD, which formerly sold for $45, is now reclassified as public domain.  Here’s the text of David’s announcement:

Folks – I’d like to let you know that I’ve decided to put the old Apple /// DVD into the public domain so that the information there can be freely accessed. If Mike or anyone cares to upload that material they are welcome!

Note that the video DVD of using the Apple /// in ten EZ Lessons can also go into the PD as far as I’m concerned.

The DVD .iso is currently being uploaded to apple2scans.net and should be available later today.  This is great news from Dave and we thank him for his generous decision.

UPDATE: The 4.5GB image has been uploaded and is available now.  Get it here.