Steve, thanks for allowing me to help with this issue. Nipplespanner, I really salute you for your love of the classic games.
Go ahead and post your.exe file installer for AOD+Addon.
Yes, historically Subsim has been very careful to honor copyright and intellectual property rights of game makers. I'm sure you understand how important it is to be on the right side of that. The rules here do not allow linking to or discussing unlicensed games and programs, it's been that way since 1999. I think if you were to ask, people would say, "Oh, yeah, Subsim has been a stickler for standing up for game makers and not allowing the forum to become a hive for illegal download activity."
However, PC games were still relatively new in 1999. Today, a game like Aces of the Deep is 20 years old. You are correct, the game has not been for sale new by Sierra for many years. The company that owned the rights to the game, Sierra, was absorbed by Vivendi, and that company taken over by Activision. Both of the former brands have disappeared. As Wikipedia states:
In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright revoked and some company or individual still owns exclusive rights. Therefore, sharing of such software is usually considered copyright infringement, though in practice copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights.
I honestly do not know the true legality of allowing an .exe file installer for AOD+Addon to be available here. I can say sincerely,
I do not think it is a problem. I do not think there is a concerned party who would be injured by it.
I would like to amend the rules to state that "Abandonware: games that are over 10 years old and are no longer available for sale commercially by the IP owner will be exempted on a case by case basis. An inquiry may be made about the status of a particular game in the Classic Subsims forum. Subsim will make a good faith effort to clear the use of the game with the last known copyright holders. If we were to receive an objection or legal challenge, we would reverse our position is regards to the game in question."
Time change. I've been told even the Constitution of the United States has been amended a few times. Subsim's rules regarding piracy, illegal game downloads, cracks, and other similar contrivances for current, recent, and commerically games that are widely available; and non-abandonware, will remain in effect.