Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!cognos!garym From: garym@cognos.uucp@uunet.uu.net (Gary Murphy) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Love's Labours Lost (was Re: Shareware is junk) Message-ID: Date: 1 May 91 18:58:41 GMT References: <1991Apr30.174659.9082@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <1991May01.022439.16596@osh3.OSHA.GOV> <1991May1.153211.21245@agate.berkeley.edu> Sender: garym@cognos.UUCP Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada Lines: 48 In-reply-to: c60b-1eq@web-1g.berkeley.edu's message of 1 May 91 15:32:11 GMT I think the same rule applies here as applies to going to a jazz concert (or any other concert for that matter): If you don't like what the author has so painstakingly produced, don't use it. As a self-confessed shareware addict, I average at least a megabyte a week in downloaded programs, some just to see what they do, but most with at least some intention of applying the program to some problem. True to the old axiom that 90% of anything is junk, I generally find I delete the bulk of these from my disk within hours of downloading them and a large percent of the others will go after a few days of tests --- that IS the purpose of shareware: To allow the consumer to verify that the software is what they want BEFORE they buy. Now if the product is crippled, how am I to know it will do the job? And my results? Odd results, indeed. I _have_ consciously rejected software solely for excessive nagging, regardless of utility (such as with the otherwise possibly useful pctag package) and for cripplings (I was so sad to find the recent incarnations of WSSINDEX to be too crippled to test), but even with the remaining (admittedly majority) programs, I find more and more that the best conceived, best implemented and best supported programs are FREE. Someone in marketting, please explain this to me! I get 'instant' support via e-mail, usually full source code and at worst the only restriction is a GNU-ish copylefting. Urging the consumer to pay for something they have obtained anonymously for free is a tricky business, but how else can a programmer survive? As a shareware author, my approach was (a) write a program I myself needed and (b) never expect to see a cent --- needless to say, I didn't quit my day job! There are other approaches: some authors have a pyramid-scheme whereby any copies registered are tagged and then, if a new registration comes in showing it to have been copied from the first one, the registered owner of the first one gets a commission on the sale. Rather than bitch on about whether Miles should stay away from keyboards or whether Madonna can still sing anything from her first albumn, I think it would be more productive if we accept new software for what it is, take-it-or-leave-it, and if we want a discussion ... why not try to come up with an ALTERNATIVE scheme? -- o| Gary Murphy |o |------------------------------------------------------------------------| o| uunet!mitel!cunews!cognos!garym garym%cognos.uucp@ccs.carlton.ca |o | Cognos Inc. P.O. Box 9707 Ottawa K1G 3N3 (613) 738-1338 x5537 | o| "There are many things which do not concern the process" - Joan of Arc |o