I think his excuse is bunk for not releasing them. He'd make his money back on restoring them. I just feel like he wants them to be forgotten because the new trilogy is what he's wanted all along, just the technology wasn't there.
I bought his so called original trilogy for $49.00. I don't feel the least bit bad about owning bootlegs because I didn't get what I paid for. In my view, his decision has forced people to bootleg his product. In the end, though, he'll probably release them so people pay double the price since they weren't given the choice when he first released them on DVD.
-Seiji