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From: jbvb@FTP.COM ("James B. Van Bokkelen")
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.ibmpc
Subject: Re: Price of FTP Inc.'s Stuff
Message-ID: <9102281450.AA28124@ftp.com>
Date: 28 Feb 91 14:50:03 GMT
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Reply-To: jbvb-tmp@ftp.com
Organization: The Internet
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Francie and I usually mention version numbers when we discuss bug fixes or
enhancements in postings to this and other lists.  However, most of the
regulars here saw Bill Yundt's posting late last year; There is disagreement
at the highest levels about the exact definition of "appropriate use" for
the Internet, and I'm pretty sure that posting the Release Notes for our new
versions here would draw fire from somewhere.  We could set up a public
"pctcp" list, but even this is in the gray area.  I have gone so far as to
send "new release features and bug-fixes" postings to an academically-based
list dedicated to our LANWatch network monitoring product.

I suppose I shouldn't complain, because after all, there are many things
I like about being out where not everything is cut-and-dried...

As far as pricing goes, one could divide the product up so that the basic
applications cost less, and things like mail or network backup were add-ons.
Sun and TWG have done this, but from what I hear, not everyone is pleased.
We've kept prices more-or-less the same since we began in 1986, but every
new release has had major features added.  Also, it's part of our philosophy
to push advancements like distributed mail protocols or automatic
configuration via BOOTP, which works better if everyone gets the feature.

Why pay when there is freeware?  Well, a support group is one thing, but
another is that a commercial company can hire people to do hard things
(put the protocol stack in a TSR, write an RFC 1001/1002 NETBIOS or a
DOS I/O redirector) that appear to beyond the scope of most of the
plans people have for the non-commercial packages.  Maintaining freeware
is usually a labor of love, and many of the laborers have burned out or
gotten their degrees and moved on.  I respect and appreciate their
contribution, because it all advances networking in general, but I
do see them as addressing a different specific need than we do.

If anyone has specific comments on "bundled vs. unbundled", send them to
my "reply-to" address above; I won't summarize to the list but they may
affect our future plans.

James B. VanBokkelen, President   26 Princess St., Wakefield, MA  01880
FTP Software Inc.		  voice: (617) 246-0900  fax: (617) 246-0901