Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!questor!aberno
From: aberno@questor.wimsey.bc.ca (Anthony Berno)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Freewhare hurts the NeXT (was Re: Desktop publishing)
Message-ID: <5RkqZ2w164w@questor.wimsey.bc.ca>
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 91 09:51:15 PST
References: <1991Mar30.063733.27117@news.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: Questor - Free Internet/Usenet*Vancouver*BC::+1 604 681 0670

jashley@loanshark.cs.indiana.edu (J. Michael Ashley) writes:

> In article <1446@toaster.SFSU.EDU> eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) writes:
> >One of the reasons
> >there aren't "hundreds of add-ons" for the NeXT is that THEY'RE
> >JUST NOT NEEDED.  And if someone wants to reinvent a wheel for
> >profit, they have to do a better job than what's already there
> >"for free."
> 
> I think I'd kind of like hundreds of add-ons for the NeXT, because they
> *are* needed.  Competition is good; competition is great.  Look in the
> Unix world.  There are exactly two compilers.  The cc compiler everybody's
> machine comes with and GNU cc.  On the NeXT, those two compilers happen
> to be the same, but that isn't true on Suns, for example.  This is bad.
> 
> It's bad, because GNU cc is *not* the last word in C compilers.  I am
> positive that several or even lots of people out there are capable of 
> writing a C compiler that will smoke gcc, but they're never going to write
> it, because they can't compete against a free product.  Why should the
> sell their compiler in the first place?  Because they have to eat, that's 
> why.  GNU gets grants from corporations and the government; not everybody 
> is that lucky.
> 
> Furthermore, free software tends to be poorly supported, and I would
> lose sleep at night if I knew my hypothetical company was depending on
> unsupported software.  Yeah, I know there are businesses that exist to
> support GNU software, but that doesn't invalidate my previous point, and
> at any rate, they only support GNU software.
> 
> NeXT will never have strong software as long as this deluge of free software
> exists.  Has a situation similar to this existed in another economic market?


Well, there are *some* of us that cannot afford $2000 for a bleedin' C 
compiler! If it were not for the "deluge of free software", I would still be 
stuck with my Mac. For businesses, great, let them pay megabucks for 
certified-correct, super-supported power software. For me, I'm happy to use 
PD stuff. I would also like to take this opportunity to bless and kiss the 
feet of Gnu for their compiler and Lighthouse Design for selling a very nice 
and useful application (Diagram) for only $25. There are lots of others that
are in the same boat.


Also, I might get flamed for this, but I frankly like to see freeware / 
shareware smoke the pants of some commercial stuff, because for one, it 
keeps commercial programmers on their toes (i.e. they can't get away with 
distributing some of the junk that I have seen in the past), and because I 
am at heart a bit of an anarchist. Although some of the NeXT stuff isn't 
bad, there is also the matter of gross overpricing on some stuff - you can't 
tell me that WordPerfect for the PC cost nearly as much as the profits they 
are making - millions of copies, at hundreds of dollars each. I would *love* 
to see WordPerfect undermined by something better and cheaper for persons 
that don't really care about support, etc.

Pardon my rambling. Anyway, some of us are eternally grateful for free/cheap 
software, and if you want to begrudge us this benefit, you'll have fewer 
people using a NeXT. Flames welcome, as soon as I get my asbestos suit on... 
: )


 ---
    Anthony Berno (aberno@questor.wimsey.bc.ca)
      The QUESTOR Project: Free Public Access to Usenet & Internet in
                            Vancouver, BC, Canada, at +1 604 681 0670.