reid%Shasta@Sumex-Aim (04/19/83)
From: Brian Reid <reid%Shasta@Sumex-Aim> The way that software rots is not so much being in the public domain; the original Emacs and TEX are good examples of software that is in the public domain and is not rotting. The way that software rots is to lose central maintenance, or more precisely centrally-coordinated maintenance. If James were willing to spend a lot of time maintaining Unix Emacs and distributing it, then its being in the public domain or not would not be terribly relevant. But he isn't, and it is a true fact that the lack of central maintenance causes software to rot. I believe that it will benefit a larger number of people to have it become a commercial product. Though the set of people who will get access to it might change somewhat, and perhaps lose a few current members, I claim that the total number of users in the universe will increase, not decrease. My only complaint was about the price.