Xref: utzoo alt.security:1333 alt.folklore.computers:4644 comp.society.futures:1963 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!shelby!mcnc!wolves!wolfe From: wolfe@wolves.uucp (G. Wolfe Woodbury) Newsgroups: alt.security,alt.folklore.computers,comp.society.futures Subject: Re: Feedback on Computer Crime Message-ID: <1990Aug9.224118.9917@wolves.uucp> Date: 9 Aug 90 22:41:18 GMT References: <14443@wpi.wpi.edu> <9008081452.AA18175@stc06.CTD.ORNL.GOV> <14462@wpi.wpi.edu> Organization: Wolves Den UNIX and Usenet node Lines: 65 In <14462@wpi.wpi.edu> dmorin@wpi.wpi.edu (Duane D Morin) writes: >I understood Levy's opinion of Stallman to be that he was the last of a dying >breed, trying to fight for an ethic that was as good as gone. I may, >of course, be wrong, but that is what I got out of that section. > >You took that quote out of context. I went on to say that people circulate >software most notably in piracy, such as trying to get the newest game to as >many of their friends as possible. There are even bulletin board operators >who support themselves by alowing pirated software to circulate their boards. There are *some* EBBS operators who operate in contravention to both the law and the current community standards regarding the theft of property. But to imply that they constitute a majority or even a significant minority is to fall prey to simple media hype. As an EBBS sysop, and as a computing professional, who takes carefull pains to know what is going on in and around my communities, I can assert that the pirate EBBSs are definitely a fringe phenomenon. Unfortunately, this fringe group (like the 1% "outlaw bikers") is siezed on by the media and promoted as if they were the paradigm of all EBBS operators and users. I suspect that the administration at wpi.edu would insist very strongly that one user there is totally representative of the whole institution. >I fully agree that people will support the type of 'groupware' thing that >Stalman tried to create with GNU, but simply that it will never flourish like >it could when people can get the new Sierra game, which is definitively the >state of the art in adventure games, for free, This, again, assumes that the majority of computer users want to get something of value for free. The old adage that "something free is usually worth what you pay for it" represents a feeling that cuts both ways. (You use its negative sense in your next phrase, discussed below.) It's positive sense however is that even if user's think a product is overpriced, they are willing to pay for that product if it is made easy to do so. Some shareware authors may go broke waiting for the payments to roll in, others succeed quite well. > or something written by a >handful of high school kids after school which simply isnt as good. Some >do work, granted (Minix comes to mind immediately), but I dont think that the >quality of the freeware in the world will ever match the commerical stuff. This is the negative side of the adage mentioned above. I don't know what you are basing your evaluation of "freeware" as being hopelessly inferior in quality, but the quality of a number of freeware packages surpasses that of come of the similar stuff that is "commercial" and therefore (supposedly) "more professional". As an example, several vendors offer some kind of e-mail front end for various flavors of 80386 Unix, having evaluated several of these packages, I selected to use the freeware "ELM Mail System" because of its portability, flexibilty and level of support available. A large number of people reading this newsgroup are also probably quite upset to see their work called sophomoric or worse by someone who is apparantly not competent to make that judgement. Oh, by the way, the GNU project is alive and well. (Go ahead and scream.) -- G. Wolfe Woodbury @ The Wolves Den UNIX, Durham NC UUCP: ...dukcds!wolves!wolfe ...mcnc!wolves!wolfe [use the maps!] Domain: wolfe%wolves@mcnc.mcnc.org wolfe%wolves@cs.duke.edu [The line eater is a boojum snark! ]