Old version.com

[3DModelerMan]

Is this place even legal?, it has the older versions of terragen and I don't want to by terragen, would I be able to use it from there?.

[JP]

I wouldn't have thought hosting older versions of things that were freely available to the public could be considered illegal...

But as far as Terragen is concerned... you don't need to get an old version of it, just use the latest version, it's free for non-commercial projects...

[rogerborg]

They have no rights to host or distribute those versions. Rights don't lapse simply because the rights owner stops distributing a particular version. Their argument would have to be that their duplication and distribution was fair use. I don't think they have a very strong legal argument there.

Whether it's ethical or not depends both on your opinion, and on the software, on a case by case basis. There's a reasonable argument in favour of preserving genuine abandonware, but some people just enjoy Sticking It To The Man whenever The Man releases a version that they don't like.

Swiping an old version simply because you don't want to pay for the new one is neither legal, nor ethical. There's a Realpolitik argument that if you simply can't afford it now - which I accept is probably true in your case - it's better for the rights owner for you to freeload on their product until you've enriched yourself enough to be able to pay them for it.

However, Terragen is already free for personal non-commercial use, and you are trusted to choose to pay for the right to use its output in a commercial product, as and when you're ready to go commercial.

I can only surmise that you have yet again not taken two minutes to read and understand the plain terms of a very fair and reasonable license that offers you the opportunity to reward the creators of a tool if and only if you find that using it has enabled you to make money yourself.

I really, truly, wish you all the success that you deserve.