On Tue, 2009-04-21 at 09:21 +0100, Srdjan Todorovic wrote:
Do you think they had to scrub it because earlier versions infringe on some patent or copyright? :O </conspiracy theory>
I am going for the theory that the ISO's mostly replicate what is in the package archive anyway and that somebody wanted the space..the mirrors have then synchronised the deletion. If you trust the parent folder modified stamps this all appeared to happen some time ago.
It's not uncommon for this stuff to vanish once it is no longer supported. At least the package archive is still there..Ubuntu ISTR have shut down the repositories for some older versions and just try and get Windows 2000 SP4 as a full package (not the online installer) from Microsoft's site.
It does however raise Adam's point that in terms of computer history, these old distros might just vanish into obscurity. If we can't get an ISO for what was at the time the most popular distro then it doesn't bode well for the others.
Linux distro preservation archive anyone ?