Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: please reply to this. favorite dealer listing. Message-ID: Date: 25 May 91 16:49:52 GMT Article-I.D.: thelake.A1580865209 References: <1991May24.143348.1@wharton.upenn.edu> Organization: St. Croix Valley rhubarb and tomato patch Lines: 33 X-UUCP-route: {rutgers,plains,decwrl}!umn-cs!thelake!steve [In article <1991May24.143348.1@wharton.upenn.edu>, zeibari@wharton.upenn.edu writes ... ] > Well, from the mail I received it seems 10 people on this net purchase > their software and everyone else either uses public domain software > or pirates their software. I know that's not true, but I was expecting > everyone to submit at least 1 favorite dealer to add to this list. It Why shouldn't it be true? Not the piracy part, but the public domain part. The most common applications for personal computers are word processing and spreadsheets, and there are several PD and shareware programs for each of those categories. Many of the people on this network write their own software, which makes them potential purchasers of development tools, but Sozobon and the Free Software Foundation provide very good C compilers. There's a lot of freeware/ shareware to choose from -- our user group has published more than 500 disks -- and some of it is excellent. I have commercial software, bought and paid for. Half a dozen games that haven't been played in a year or so. A drafting program I've used once. A C compiler whose library lacks the functions I need and get from dLibs. A spreadsheet that I probably can't even find. A couple of educational programs for the kids. The software I use daily -- editor, formatter, compiler, shell, communications -- is the free stuff. (The exception is PageStream.) I wouldn't find this particularly encouraging if I made my living selling software. But I'm on the other end of the food chain, so for me it's a good thing. ---- Steve Yelvington, Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, USA / steve@thelake.mn.org