charlie@cca.UUCP (06/30/83)
The proposal of sending software as foreign aid has some problems. The one I would like to point out is the assumption that it has no cost. The original article contained a disclaimer that the software owner would "only" be losing potential revenue from sales to third world countries. The potential revenue from potential customers is all that a software owner has. If potential revenue from third world countries is negligible, it is because the software is of negligible value to them and you are doing them no favors by giving it to them. The only time you can get a win-win situation in foreign aid is when the product you are giving away has value but for political reasons you will not sell it at home (such as agricultural "surpluses"). We certainly do not have the problem of a surplus of good software. Sorry, but there's no free lunch.