kenny@uiucdcsb.CS.UIUC.EDU (06/25/86)
I have on several occasions bought ``freeware'' from Workman & Associates. While Workman has been accused of profiteering on the labours of others, I see him as providing a real service, for which I am willing to pay. For example he is providing o Configuration management. He has consistent, documented versions of the programs he sells. The source matches the object. Both are of the same version as the documentation. o Selection. There is a whale of a lot of public software out there. Most of it is trash. Some of it is invaluable. I'm willing to pay someone else to find out which is which. o Packaging. I can get a version which is configured for my machine and written in my disc format. o Testing. I can get a version which (usually) works. I have some confidence that it is free of Trojan horses. o Integration. I'm reasonably sure that the software won't break anything else when it's installed. Anyone who has used a lot of PD software and shareware has run into problems with all of these points. You can spend many hours tracking them down. I have better things to do with my time. Of course, there will always be people who flame useful services for being operated to make a profit. Sorry. Welcome to the real world. If they weren't profitable, people would do something else. [Of course, there are profits other than money. I have released some public domain software for limited distribution; my primary motive was that my name would be recognized in the community in which that software circulated. It was almost worth the maintenance headaches that I suffered.] /* Flame off. Thank you. */ Kevin Kenny University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign UUCP: {ihnp4,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!kenny CSNET: kenny@UIUC.CSNET ARPA: kenny@B.CS.UIUC.EDU (kenny@UIUC.ARPA) "Yes, understanding today's complex world is a bit like having bees live in your head, but there they are."
ddrex@gorgo.UUCP (06/27/86)
Re: selling shareware/pd software... > I bring the community's attention to the advertisement in the lower > left-hand corner of page 372 of the June issue of "PC World" magazine, > in which a company calling itself Soft/Plus Research (operating out of > a P.O. box in California) is selling (?) for $6 *each* such popular > shareware/freeware as PC-Write, PC-File III, QModem, PC-Calc, > DeskMates, and various and sundry PC games. "All orders please > include $3 shipping & handling." They accept Visa and MasterCard and > even have a toll-free order line. They also advertise such quantity > deals as 6 programs for $34.95 and 10 programs for $49.95. > > Any comments as to the legality/ethicality of this venture? If the copyright notice in those packages forbids it, the authors should have plenty of recourse, and I hope they take those jerks to the cleaners. Unfortunately, there are an awful lot of people out there who don't know about freeware/shareware/public-domain, nor bulletin boards where they can obtain those for the price of a phone call. Many users groups will copy those for just the cost of the disk.