Found Beautiful Tropical Aquariums - Are They Jim Sach's Work???

Jeremy · 10-19-2002, 12:22 AM

While browsing the net, I came across the following aquariums. Are they works that Jim Sachs has created and sold to the Russians, or has his work been imitated? The Russian directions are to use the registration information we have from the older serenescreen aquarium to register some of them, and the newer serial for the rest. Does this mean they are Jim's???

Would someone explain what is going on?

Please take a look:

Username: aquapark
Password: password

http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv11.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv20.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv30.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquaparkv40.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquapark_v5_0.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquaparkv_5_1.rar
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AquaSvValentin.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2001.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2002v10.zip
http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2002v20.zip

feldon34 · 10-19-2002, 12:56 AM

Beautiful is not the first word that pops into the mind!

Someone has translated the Aquarium into Russian. In addition, they have replaced the fish with new textures. I have to tell you, I don't think there's a single fish in there I'd want swimming in my tank. They are all freshwater species that I have been able to determine.

Obviously you and maybe others have a differing opinion?

It is important to note that all of these downloads still require a registered copy of SereneScreen Aquarium. The protection was not circumvented. Actually "TESTFISH" was removed.

Some of the fish can be seen here:

Swede · 10-19-2002, 03:59 AM

The 5.1 version with freshwater background have a nice Discus fish to choose from. They also have some other nice species in that one, but the problem is that they all swim in marine water fish speed, which just looks stupid on a Discus. Not even while waiting for Jim's long lost freshwater aquarium is this worth using.

Jim Sachs · 10-19-2002, 10:30 AM

That Russion ripoff has been around for about 18 months.

Jeremy · 10-19-2002, 02:26 PM

Thank you for your response.

Since I started this thread last night, I had a chance to install and take a look at all of the versions. They're mostly a mish-mash!

How has this happened?

Have they mixed your beta tropical versions with the salt water aquarium, and added their own textures, as was pointed out in the previous post?

Don't you have legal recourse to stop them from doing this, or at least stop them from distributing these corrupted versions of your very excellent work?

I can't imagine anyone with any intelligence, appreciation for art, and scruples, liking what they've done, and wanting to have these on their PC!

Jeremy · 10-19-2002, 03:21 PM

I logged back onto the site. If it's of any help in tracking them down, the best I understand is that two of the users of the site, "HJ" and "Piton" (which means Python) run the site. You may have already noticed that the downloads (where you enter the username and password) are by the invitation of "HJ".

"Piton" refers to the site as "my site".

On every page a screensaver is listed, they also list directions and a link to their forums, where they distribute registration information for your works and those of all other screensaver and program maker.

These are the forums they have specifically for screensavers:

http://homejungle.ru/cgi-bin/ikonboa...ms.cgi?forum=5

http://homejungle.ru/cgi-bin/ikonboa...ms.cgi?forum=4

I hope class action could be brought against them.

Tiny Turtle · 10-19-2002, 03:47 PM

There are no beta freshwater versions. Filing a class action across nation borders is difficult to say the least. Doing it in Russia just makes it even more so.

Still sad of course...

/Tiny Talent

Jeremy · 10-19-2002, 04:06 PM

Sorry if I'm being naive, but, are there no laws governing these acts of piracy?

Even if such people can't be brought to justice, can't their websites be at least shutdown?

If at least that can't be done, maybe it's time to somehow force the law makers to come up with effective internet legislation!

feldon34 · 10-19-2002, 04:13 PM

There are no grounds to file any kind of lawsuit, class-action or otherwise.

Legally (although probably not morally) it falls under the "fair use" doctrine. Your argument that this is piracy is not true. They have actually made it HARDER to pirate the Russian aquarium by removing TESTFISH. You need a genuine keycode to run the Russian versions just like the regular ones.

My complaint is that the fish are not particularly attractive and certainly don't fit in a saltwater tank.

All the fish they have added, they scanned/photographed/created themselves. The right person working with true saltwater species could do much much better. Hopefully I get the chance some day to prove that we're not all graffiti people.

Jim Sachs · 10-19-2002, 07:27 PM

There is no recourse when dealing with someone in Russia, so we just don't deal with them. Nearly all the pirated versions and illegal Key Codes come from there, but I doubt if we have ever had a real sale using a legitimate credit card which actually belongs to the purchaser. After so many years of Communism, their only rule seems to be "Grab whatever you can and to hell with everyone else".

Poland is a different story. They really seem to be trying to shake off the shroud of Communism and join the rest of the international economic community. People are taking pride in purchasing merchandise instead of stealing it, and most of our dealings with them have been very pleasant.

Enigma · 10-19-2002, 09:19 PM

Any idea of how many key codes and printed copies of the aquarium have been sold world-wide to date?

feldon34 · 10-19-2002, 09:47 PM

Hundreds of people sign up for e-mail notifications. There is only one address in Russia that I will e-mail to because I know he purchased it.

Enigma,

I don't have any numbers on the Japanese version of the Aquarium. And I don't have any sales projections on the UK and German versions of the Aquarium going on sale next month.

The Windows version of the Aquarium in the US had sold about 75,000 copies as of May. The Mac version is selling pretty fast.

Yellow Tang · 10-21-2002, 02:34 AM

A german version? This is great news! Is there a web site already?

James · 10-21-2002, 03:31 AM

not great at all......it's a pirate version which looks really sucks...the fish I mean.....don't reckon u try it....and that site should be shut down.....

Tiny Turtle · 10-21-2002, 04:39 AM

James, try and read the posts before replying. German, – not Russian. Check out Morgan's post abobe YT's.

Morgan also mentions a UK version so it can't really be a translation. – Perhaps it's a CD version available in shops in Germany & the UK?

/TT

feldon34 · 10-21-2002, 10:53 AM

Exactly. There are retailers in Germany and the UK who are going to get behind the product.

hpman77 · 10-23-2002, 03:59 AM

I doubt any retailer in spain will ask for the product, as most ppl here who saw the aquarium thought it was GREAT, but they wanted it for free. I gave them the demo version, and I know there's a lot of ppl using it now, but none of them wants to "pay for just a screensaver". I think that most of them will be searching for cracked versions like mad now (if they didn't find one already)

It's a shame, I know

Tiny Turtle · 10-23-2002, 04:05 AM

Don't think that's overly specific for España, I'm afraid...

10-19-2002, 12:22 AM	#1
Jeremy Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 77	Found Beautiful Tropical Aquariums - Are They Jim Sach's Work??? While browsing the net, I came across the following aquariums. Are they works that Jim Sachs has created and sold to the Russians, or has his work been imitated? The Russian directions are to use the registration information we have from the older serenescreen aquarium to register some of them, and the newer serial for the rest. Does this mean they are Jim's??? Would someone explain what is going on? Please take a look: Username: aquapark Password: password http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv11.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv20.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AQUAPARKv30.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquaparkv40.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquapark_v5_0.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquaparkv_5_1.rar http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/AquaSvValentin.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2001.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2002v10.zip http://www.homejungle.ru/Aquarium/Aquarium2002v20.zip Jeremy

10-19-2002, 12:56 AM	#2
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Beautiful is not the first word that pops into the mind! Someone has translated the Aquarium into Russian. In addition, they have replaced the fish with new textures. I have to tell you, I don't think there's a single fish in there I'd want swimming in my tank. They are all freshwater species that I have been able to determine. Obviously you and maybe others have a differing opinion? It is important to note that all of these downloads still require a registered copy of SereneScreen Aquarium. The protection was not circumvented. Actually "TESTFISH" was removed. Some of the fish can be seen here: "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

10-19-2002, 03:59 AM	#3
Swede Registered Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Karlskrona, Sweden Posts: 172	The 5.1 version with freshwater background have a nice Discus fish to choose from. They also have some other nice species in that one, but the problem is that they all swim in marine water fish speed, which just looks stupid on a Discus. Not even while waiting for Jim's long lost freshwater aquarium is this worth using. 4x / F C Am G F C Am G // Chorus: 3x /F C Am G F C Am G//

10-19-2002, 10:30 AM	#4
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,788	That Russion ripoff has been around for about 18 months. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

10-19-2002, 02:26 PM	#5
Jeremy Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 77	Thank you for your response. Since I started this thread last night, I had a chance to install and take a look at all of the versions. They're mostly a mish-mash! How has this happened? Have they mixed your beta tropical versions with the salt water aquarium, and added their own textures, as was pointed out in the previous post? Don't you have legal recourse to stop them from doing this, or at least stop them from distributing these corrupted versions of your very excellent work? I can't imagine anyone with any intelligence, appreciation for art, and scruples, liking what they've done, and wanting to have these on their PC! Jeremy

10-19-2002, 03:21 PM	#6
Jeremy Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 77	I logged back onto the site. If it's of any help in tracking them down, the best I understand is that two of the users of the site, "HJ" and "Piton" (which means Python) run the site. You may have already noticed that the downloads (where you enter the username and password) are by the invitation of "HJ". "Piton" refers to the site as "my site". On every page a screensaver is listed, they also list directions and a link to their forums, where they distribute registration information for your works and those of all other screensaver and program maker. These are the forums they have specifically for screensavers: http://homejungle.ru/cgi-bin/ikonboa...ms.cgi?forum=5 http://homejungle.ru/cgi-bin/ikonboa...ms.cgi?forum=4 I hope class action could be brought against them. Jeremy

10-19-2002, 03:47 PM	#7
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	There are no beta freshwater versions. Filing a class action across nation borders is difficult to say the least. Doing it in Russia just makes it even more so. Still sad of course... /Tiny Talent Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

10-19-2002, 04:06 PM	#8
Jeremy Registered Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 77	Sorry if I'm being naive, but, are there no laws governing these acts of piracy? Even if such people can't be brought to justice, can't their websites be at least shutdown? If at least that can't be done, maybe it's time to somehow force the law makers to come up with effective internet legislation! Jeremy

10-19-2002, 04:13 PM	#9
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	There are no grounds to file any kind of lawsuit, class-action or otherwise. Legally (although probably not morally) it falls under the "fair use" doctrine. Your argument that this is piracy is not true. They have actually made it HARDER to pirate the Russian aquarium by removing TESTFISH. You need a genuine keycode to run the Russian versions just like the regular ones. My complaint is that the fish are not particularly attractive and certainly don't fit in a saltwater tank. All the fish they have added, they scanned/photographed/created themselves. The right person working with true saltwater species could do much much better. Hopefully I get the chance some day to prove that we're not all graffiti people. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 10-19-2002 at 04:18 PM.

10-19-2002, 07:27 PM	#10
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,788	There is no recourse when dealing with someone in Russia, so we just don't deal with them. Nearly all the pirated versions and illegal Key Codes come from there, but I doubt if we have ever had a real sale using a legitimate credit card which actually belongs to the purchaser. After so many years of Communism, their only rule seems to be "Grab whatever you can and to hell with everyone else". Poland is a different story. They really seem to be trying to shake off the shroud of Communism and join the rest of the international economic community. People are taking pride in purchasing merchandise instead of stealing it, and most of our dealings with them have been very pleasant. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

10-19-2002, 09:19 PM	#11
Enigma Registered Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Huntsville, Alabama Posts: 435	Any idea of how many key codes and printed copies of the aquarium have been sold world-wide to date? ?

10-19-2002, 09:47 PM	#12
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Hundreds of people sign up for e-mail notifications. There is only one address in Russia that I will e-mail to because I know he purchased it. Enigma, I don't have any numbers on the Japanese version of the Aquarium. And I don't have any sales projections on the UK and German versions of the Aquarium going on sale next month. The Windows version of the Aquarium in the US had sold about 75,000 copies as of May. The Mac version is selling pretty fast. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

10-21-2002, 02:34 AM	#13
Yellow Tang YT Join Date: Jan 2002 Tournaments Won: 1 Location: Germany Posts: 729	A german version? This is great news! Is there a web site already?

10-21-2002, 03:31 AM	#14
James Principal Engineer as SDET Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Was in Auckland, New Zealand, Now in Taipei, Taiwan Posts: 1,406	not great at all......it's a pirate version which looks really sucks...the fish I mean.....don't reckon u try it....and that site should be shut down..... James C Chen Principal Engineer as SDET, Connected Services HTC Corporation 88 Section 3. Zhongxing Road Xindian District, New Taipei City 231, Taiwan www.htc.com

10-21-2002, 04:39 AM	#15
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	James, try and read the posts before replying. German, – not Russian. Check out Morgan's post abobe YT's. Morgan also mentions a UK version so it can't really be a translation. – Perhaps it's a CD version available in shops in Germany & the UK? /TT Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

10-21-2002, 10:53 AM	#16
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Exactly. There are retailers in Germany and the UK who are going to get behind the product. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

10-23-2002, 03:59 AM	#17
hpman77 Blue Angel Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Santander (Spain) Posts: 285	I doubt any retailer in spain will ask for the product, as most ppl here who saw the aquarium thought it was GREAT, but they wanted it for free. I gave them the demo version, and I know there's a lot of ppl using it now, but none of them wants to "pay for just a screensaver". I think that most of them will be searching for cracked versions like mad now (if they didn't find one already) It's a shame, I know .:: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ :: 512MB SDRAM :: Windows XP SP1 :: shappire ATI radeon 9600 PRO :: Soundblaster Live Player 5.1 :: Directx 9.0 :: (Always latest drivers for everything) ::.

10-23-2002, 04:05 AM	#18
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Don't think that's overly specific for España, I'm afraid... Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.