nwc@galileo.shearson.com (Nick Christopher) (04/02/91)
"Freeware hurts the NeXT" This whole line of though REALLY bothers me. Consider it. How can something freely offered be harmful? I mean fundamentally, not specifically (specifics have been offered). If freewhare really is damaging what does this mean? o Should we ban its use? o Tell people they CAN NOT distribute applications they have written for free? o If we charged money for things that are now free would the they be ok then? o Is low priced software bad too since it is less than market price? I mean it could simply be freeware someone is charging for! o Is programming for personal use bad too since ones own code is free - shouldn't you ONLY buy software? I am sorry, but the concept that freeware is harmful seems STUPID!!! If you think freeware is harmful do your part to fight it an buy every commercial product you can. Heck, send commercial software vendors checks just as a pat on the back for charging for their product. Most of the people I know with NeXTs could not have afforded them if they had to pay for all the software they wanted at commercial prices, bundled or unbundled. They would not have bought machines - period. If a working platform is too expensive and no one buys it the commercial vendors would have lost that many possible customers. Commercial software has its place but if it was not for freeware we would all be on VMS not UNIX.... scarey thought huh? \n -- \n Nicholas Christopher (212) 464-3837 Internet: nwc@sisyphus.shearson.com uunet: uunet!sisyphus.shearson.com!nwc