Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen From: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: Re: Proposed New Newsgroup - comp.shareware Message-ID: <2054@crdos1.crd.ge.COM> Date: 25 Jan 90 18:27:19 GMT References: <139@sneezy.tcom.stc.co.uk> <10619@saturn.ADS.COM> Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.com (bill davidsen) Organization: GE Corp R&D Center, Schenectady NY Lines: 19 In article <10619@saturn.ADS.COM> xanthian@saturn.ADS.COM (Metafont Consultant Account) writes: | | It is probably quite important to distinguish adequately between true | shareware, and crippled/demoware, before deciding whether the | non-commercial requirements of USENet permit/require such a group. I think this is a reasonable statement. Distributing a product and asking for payment seems to be a reasonable tradeoff. Commercial sites carry the net because the value of the information exceeds the cost. Our company uses some shareware products, and probably will in the future. In general there is no interest in a demo version, since it does not allow proper evaluation of the software. I'm not sure that a separate group is needed, but I'm not violently opposed, either. I like getting shareware on the net, and via ftp. It has a legitimate business application in many cases. -- bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me