ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi) (10/05/90)
In article <2022@sixhub.UUCP> ibmbin-request@crdgw1.crd.ge.com writes: >Posting-number: Volume 08, Issue 108 >Submitted-by: rxcob@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au >Archive-name: checktd/part01 > >As nearly as I can tell, this is intended to be used in a batch file. >There is no documentation. It is called with a date and time, and >returns ERRLEVEL set to values for before, at, or after the time given >on the command line. Shareware $20. I have taken a slightly closer look at some of the wares distributed in the binaries, admittedly partly because I have written and distributed a similar programs myself in a couple of instances. Here are some of my observations on four programs all by the same author. Perhaps I'm too harsh, but in my opinion (with one exception) they fail to reach a fair quality limit for comp.binaries.ibm.pc. ALARM A simple, but useful TSR alarm to remind the user at times prerecorded in a text file. Slightly inaccurate, because wakes up only once in a minute. When I set two alarms go off at minute intervals, I only got one, but might have made a mistake in my experiment. One of the nice features is that alarm can remove itself from the memory. I would rate this definitely useful. CHECKTD Is one of many potential a batch enhancer commands. It returns an errorlevel to make a comparison whether we are at, before, or past a given date/time. This is potentially useful as a part of a batch package. But distributed as a standalone program I fail to see any merit in it. CURSOR Can be used to change the cursor size and location, or hide the cursor temporarily (that is it is not a TSR). I've written the same utility to work with the additional TSR and size-selection options myself. It is in my /pc/ts/tsutld18.arc package that was recently distributed in the binaries and is also available from chyde.uwasa.fi. ENCRYPT Here is yet another program with a great number of precedents including mine in /pc/ts/tsfcom23.arc. I can't find anything novel in this new addition to the bunch. It is always nice to have new programs available, but I would definitely have tied these utilities together in a single package. With the positive the exception of ALARM the utilities are either far too trivial or too common to warrant a separate distribution. These programs are simply not yet up to what shareware is about. But this is just my opinion. ................................................................... Prof. Timo Salmi (Moderating at anon. ftp site 128.214.12.3) School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun
magnus@THEP.LU.SE (Magnus Olsson) (10/05/90)
In article <1990Oct5.103423.8051@uwasa.fi> ts@uwasa.fi writes: >In article <2022@sixhub.UUCP> ibmbin-request@crdgw1.crd.ge.com writes: >>Posting-number: Volume 08, Issue 108 >>Submitted-by: rxcob@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au >>Archive-name: checktd/part01 >> >>As nearly as I can tell, this is intended to be used in a batch file. >>There is no documentation. It is called with a date and time, and >>returns ERRLEVEL set to values for before, at, or after the time given >>on the command line. Shareware $20. > >I have taken a slightly closer look at some of the wares distributed >in the binaries, admittedly partly because I have written and >distributed a similar programs myself in a couple of instances. >Here are some of my observations on four programs all by the same >author. Perhaps I'm too harsh, but in my opinion (with one >exception) they fail to reach a fair quality limit for >comp.binaries.ibm.pc. [stuff deleted] >Prof. Timo Salmi (Moderating at anon. ftp site 128.214.12.3) >School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland >Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun I can't judge the quality of these programs (the original poster's, not Prof. Salmi's), since I havn't tested them. But let me just add my own, rather arrogant, opinion: (Mild flame follows) I see it as almost an insult to the users to send out small, almost trivial programs (with some - not all - of the programs mentioned above, any programmer worth his salt could hack together an equivalent Turbo Pascal program in 20 minutes), *withouth documentation* and with just the note "Shareware $20" attached. This somehow gives me the feeling that the author sees his program just as a simple way of making money, not as a service to other people (and that's after all what software distribution via Usenet really should be!) I normally move such programs directly to /dev/null ! I'm not saying that you shouldn't post your programs if they're small and if you don't have the time to write docs for them. Also, even if the program isn't worth $20, for me, maybe it is for someone else. BUT - if you ask me to pay $20 for it, you should AT LEAST have the courtesy to include some proper documentation. And this is true even if your program is "self-documenting" - I'd like to know what it does *before* I run it! Magnus Olsson | \e+ /_ Dept. of Theoretical Physics | \ Z / q University of Lund, Sweden | >----< Internet: magnus@thep.lu.se | / \===== g Bitnet: THEPMO@SELDC52 | /e- \q
jdudeck@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (John R. Dudeck) (10/05/90)
In an article magnus@THEP.LU.SE (Magnus Olsson) wrote: >I see it as almost an insult to the users to send out small, almost trivial >programs (with some - not all - of the programs mentioned above, >any programmer worth his salt could hack together an equivalent Turbo Pascal >program in 20 minutes), *withouth documentation* and with just the note >"Shareware $20" attached. >This somehow gives me the feeling that the author sees his program just as >a simple way of making money, not as a service to other people (and that's >after all what software distribution via Usenet really should be!) I suspect that the author is a novice, and after all the work he put into hacking together the programs, he didn't have an objcetive picture as to what they are worth to the average user. >I normally move such programs directly to /dev/null ! I added them to my collection of stuff. Maybe someday they might be useful. >BUT - if you ask me to pay $20 for it, you should AT LEAST >have the courtesy to include some proper documentation. And this is >true even if your program is "self-documenting" - I'd like to know >what it does *before* I run it! Agreed! But I was just thinking, wasn't the author from Australia? Aussie dollars are only worth US$0.82 or so... -- John Dudeck "Nothing is foolproof, because jdudeck@Polyslo.CalPoly.Edu fools are so ingenious." ESL: 62013975 Tel: 805-545-9549 -- quote from PC Mag.
davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (Wm E. Davidsen Jr) (10/06/90)
Due to the large and totally hostile reception these utilities have
gotten, I'm either going to can them or package all the rest in a
collection. He sent me a bunch of this stuff when I had little else, and
I rejected a bunch of it, which he documented and repriced. Now it's
clogging the queue, and I think I't got to get out of the way.
--
bill davidsen - davidsen@sixhub.uucp (uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen)
sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
moderator of comp.binaries.ibm.pc and 80386 mailing list
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -mejdb@bitcave.in-berlin.de (Joern D. Busch) (10/09/90)
magnus@THEP.LU.SE (Magnus Olsson) wrote: > > I normally move such programs directly to /dev/null ! > > I'm not saying that you shouldn't post your programs if they're small and > if you don't have the time to write docs for them. Maybe some of the recent stuff should've never appeared in cbip. Bill: how about sorting more things out? Joern. -- Joern D. Busch, Postfach 210401, D-1000 Berlin 21, (+49 30) 3931111 jdb@bitcave.in-berlin.de ..!tmpmbx!einoed!bitcave!jdb ..which reality?