>Ironically, Tetris’s success began because the totalitarian Soviet regime did not recognize what we take for granted in the West: the freedom to publish. After Pajitnov adapted Golomb’s geometric discoveries for the nascent digital world, he had no choice but to distribute his game as a samizdat
Samizdat very specifically refers to censored texts and vinyl records. Yeah sure various versions of Tetris informally circulated around on floppies/tapes just like all other games and software, but that's not samizdat and had nothing to do with freedom of publish or censorship, there just weren't many viable ways to distribute it. It was way too long ago and I don't remember if any Soviet magazines like Radio had actual listings, but Tetris was a popular game in them. I wouldn't be surprised if it could be ordered by mail like the extra software for MK-52 and BK series.
A sort of oddly opinionated article despite having little citation to it and being rather vague on events and timelines compared to some other pieces out there. I’d love to know why for example, the author finds it so clear that Pajitnov should not have won a copyright. I don’t have any stake in it myself, the claim just isn’t supported in the article. I think this is the 4th or 5th retelling of this story I’ve come across now.
Samizdat very specifically refers to censored texts and vinyl records. Yeah sure various versions of Tetris informally circulated around on floppies/tapes just like all other games and software, but that's not samizdat and had nothing to do with freedom of publish or censorship, there just weren't many viable ways to distribute it. It was way too long ago and I don't remember if any Soviet magazines like Radio had actual listings, but Tetris was a popular game in them. I wouldn't be surprised if it could be ordered by mail like the extra software for MK-52 and BK series.
And the copyright on tetris pieces is just ridiculous given the Colomb's publication and probably others.
I personally appreciated the write-up as it presents an alternative to glossed up candy narrative that I have read and seen more than once.
Didn't know about Gerasimov either (who single-handedly coded up the DOS version it seems).