Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!sharkey!cfctech!teemc!fmsrl7!nucleus!dar
From: dar@nucleus.UUCP (Dario Alcocer)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: A Serious Challenge to Shareware Authors on the net
Summary: I agree!
Message-ID: <5469@nucleus.UUCP>
Date: 8 Nov 89 17:21:49 GMT
References: <1989Nov6.160522.28191@Octopus.COM>
Organization: The Nucleus Public Access Unix, Clarkston, MI
Lines: 34

> My proposal is this:
> 
> Shareware authors should choose a *significant* portion of their algorithm
> and/or code, and should release it to the net in source code form. By
> significant, I mean that they should choose something that hasn't already
> been done on the net.
> 
> [ text deleted]
> 
> The benefit to the net is that others can continue to build incremental
> improvements, benefitting from your knowledge, just as you have benefitted
> from others in the past.
> 
> [ text deleted]
> 
> The time has come to cooperate more.
> 

I am relatively new to the net, but it seems to me, based on past
experiences, that people in the unix world (especially those in the
academic community) seem more open to the development of a collective body
of knowledge so that everyone can prosper.  In contrast, I see most people
involved in the PC world (with the exception of some writers in DDJ, PC-Mag,
etc.) generating software for the commercial environment, and seem less
interested in sharing knowledge that in making a buck.  I know that this is
a generalization, but I think it holds true.  Here at work, I'm suprised how
many times we have to 'reinvent the wheel' because PC developers are
concerned about others making money with source code or algorithms they
developed.  If I have offended anyone, my apologies, I just wanted to share
my general impressions.  However, I remain open to any other points of view.

Dario Alcocer (San Diego, CA)
via Nucleus
(dar@nucleus.mi.org)