The story of X-Copy on the Amiga
13 hours ago
- #SoftwarePreservation
- #RetroComputing
- #Amiga
- X-Copy was the most popular Amiga program, allowing users to copy entire disks, including those with non-standard AmigaDOS formats.
- Originally developed by Frank Neuhaus and Hans Georg Berg, X-Copy was marketed by Cachet Software after initial poor sales under Vesalia Computer.
- Cachet Software, led by Claus Peter Lippert, expanded X-Copy into a suite of tools, making it user-friendly and maintaining disk protections.
- Christian Bartsch joined Cachet at 16, contributing to X-Copy's development and support, marking the start of his career in software preservation.
- Despite its commercial success, X-Copy was widely pirated, leading Cachet to offer legal upgrades and a subscription service to encourage legitimate use.
- Cachet Software also distributed other products like the Mark II Sound System and games such as Battle Chess II, and was involved in software preservation.
- KryoFlux, a modern project by Bartsch and others, focuses on preserving floppy disk data, becoming a standard in archives and museums worldwide.
- Moonstone, a game banned in Germany in 1992, was automatically removed from the banned list in 2017 after the 25-year ban period expired.