WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Frank J. Wancho) (04/01/85)
What's this? Are you all really passively standing on the sidelines accepting as gospel the "fact" that free is inferior? Certainly there is alot of trash in the public domain. But, there are a few gems, too! And some of those gems are the reason why the equivalent commercial versions don't exist, and where they do, they're overkill so that you'll get the warm fuzzy feeling that you've got your money's worth over something that is free. Does that make the commercial version "superior"? Is it superior because it's "bsupported"? Just what does "supported" mean? Does it mean bugs get fixed? Well, some of those gems are supported too, and perhaps better, particularly the popular utility programs. So, let's not accept blanket statements such as "free is inferior". The fact of the matter is there are a handful of gems whose value far out weigh their cost. In most of those cases, they are more than free; they're priceless. If I didn't believe that last statement was true, I wouldn't have bothered to make the space available here for those gems and other diamonds in the rough as well as the "trash". As for the "trash", that's only someone's perception of usefulness, and so is inferiority. That is why what is available here is everything that we can find, as-is, and leave you to find something that suits you. In many cases, that alone is sufficient, and certainly better than nothing. --Frank
BillW@SU-SCORE.ARPA (William Chops Westfield) (04/02/85)
The major problem with Public domain software is that it is hard to get ahold of. It lacks a distributer network. What I think of as support (with respect to PD having less than boughten software) is that you can go down to your friendly neighborhodd computer store, say "I need a program that does XXX for my YYY computer", and have them give you a disk that fits YYY's disk drives, and a manual that tells you how to use the program. Hopefully, there will be several programs that do XXX, and the salesperson will be able to let you try them out, and/or give you advice on which one would be better for you... KERMIT is probably one of the best communications programs around, but have you ever tried to bring it up on a system that you didn't already have a communications program for? (or a friend who could give you a disk?). Remember that for a typical $200 program, less than 20% goes back to the programmer (for programs written by an individual and marketed through a publisher). The publishers and distributers have profits too, but I would guess that the actual cost of distributing a program are close to 40% of the final price. The program will still cost $80 even if written by RMS and his friends for free... Another thing to note is that PD programs like Kermit frequently have a "distribution fee" to cover the costs of making the tape and sending it out and so on. This is usually $100-$200, more than many micro programs... BillW
werner@ut-ngp.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (04/02/85)
now, Brad, you asked for this. I would like to know what software you have written and are asking money for, so I can compare it's quality and support with what RMS has done and will be doing in the future. and if I can, I will try to make you eat your words. PHHHHeeet. ))-:
jpm@bnl.ARPA (John McNamee) (04/02/85)
Date: 1 Apr 1985 13:07-PST Subject: Re: Free is inferior -- by definition? From: William Chops Westfield <BillW@SU-SCORE.ARPA> The major problem with Public domain software is that it is hard to get ahold of. It lacks a distributer network. What I think of as support (with respect to PD having less than boughten software) is that you can go down to your friendly neighborhodd computer store, say "I need a program that does XXX for my YYY computer", and have them give you a disk that fits YYY's disk drives, and a manual that tells you how to use the program. Instead, you go down to your friendly neighborhood computer club and ask for help. You will get a much more honest opinion of which package is best by asking other users than you will by asking a salesman, and if the best package for you happens to be public domain you should be able to get a copy from the club. Another thing to note is that PD programs like Kermit frequently have a "distribution fee" to cover the costs of making the tape and sending it out and so on. This is usually $100-$200, more than many micro programs... The $100-$200 fee seems to be the going rate for tapes. In the microcomputer world, the going rate for a public domain disk is around $10. If you have an oddball format it might cost a bit more to get the disk converted, but this is less and less of a problem as the industry standardizes itself. Only the CP/M world still has major disk format problems, and that world has become a non-issue since no new CP/M software is being written (anybody who cares to debate this point should move the discussion into Info-CPM).
SY.FDC@CU20B.ARPA (Frank da Cruz) (04/02/85)
EMACS, Kermit, and some other packages form a special category of "public domain" software (Kermit is not in the public domain, but it is free and unlicensed, and may be copied and redistributed freely, but not sold). These packages are unlike other free software in that they are generally distributed not to individuals, but to organizations which in turn provide the software to their individual users. In the case of EMACS (at least TOPS-20 EMACS), the computer center gets the tape and does the installation, and then all the users benefit immediately without having to cope with the procurement, space allocation, mapping of TOPS-20 terminal types to internal TECO terminal types, etc etc. In the case of Kermit, the computer center gets the tape, installs the mainframe Kermit programs on its timesharing systems, and then computer center staff goes through the agony of bootstrapping the microcomputer versions from the timesharing systems on to the various micros that are important at that site, so that ordinary users can obtain Kermit for their PCs on disk from the computer center. Granted, if the computer center does not do this, then the user has a hard road to hoe -- but most are eventually able to cope. To ease the pain, organizations and individuals are coming forth who are willing to distribute specific Kermit programs on various kinds of diskettes for a small reproduction fee (generally 5 to 10 dollars). Columbia is not the sole source for Kermit -- it can also be obtained on various user group tapes (DECUS and SHARE for example), as well as over several computer networks. However, the demand for Kermit tapes from Columbia is so high (many per day) that a distribution fee had to be instituted. Presently it is $100. For that, one receives a new 2400' reel of tape containing about 120 Kermit programs with source and documentation, over 300 pages of printed material, and a shipping container, postage paid. Deducting just the cost of the tape and the box (which you may keep and reuse) from the $100 fee leaves about $80 -- which works out to about 67 cents per program. That $80 goes to pay the part time workers who process the orders, make and pack the tapes, and answer innumerable written and telephone inquiries each day, and also to pay the shipping, printing, telephone, supplies, and related costs. When an organization takes one of these 67 cent programs and distributes it to 500 of its users, the cost of the software to the user has dwindled to nothing. -------