CSvax:Pucc-H:Physics:crl (04/22/83)
#R:sii:-26900:pur-phy:5000002:000:1287 pur-phy!crl Apr 22 11:10:00 1983 The question, as I see it, is "How commercial can something be and still be allowed on the net?" This is not an easy question. I just thought about it some, and reread the net.eunice article, and in a way, it doesn't sound much different than what we use net.unix-wizards and net.bugs.* for. Remember, UNIX itself is a commercial product, especially System III/V. Also falling into this category now is net.emacs, since both versions (CCA's and Gosling's) are now being licensed (from what I have heard). The argument may be put forward that these groups are for the common good--well, so would the EUNICE group's information, at least for those sites running it. I believe that more and more sites are joining that have non-source licenses (I could be wrong here, however). Do they receive and/or forward the net.bugs.* groups? Well, they do them little good (or so I would assume). Why should they shoulder the cost of forwarding them? There are probably more sites not running EMACS than do, so why should these sites forward it? I'm not really trying to defend the commercial use of the net (despite the above), just acting as a "Devil's Advocate" and trying to provoke more thought (re: argument?) about the subject. Charles LaBrec pur-ee!Physics:crl purdue!Physics:crl