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From: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com (Jim Mann)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc
Subject: Re: Is Reliance commercial software lending reliable?
Message-ID: <5861@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
Date: 30 May 91 15:07:32 GMT
References: <400@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com>
Sender: usenet@lectroid.sw.stratus.com
Reply-To: jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com
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In article <400@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com> rfh3273@galileo.rtn.ca.boeing.com  
(Dick Harrigill) writes:
> I have not personally heard about this Library but I'd be very skeptical.
> If the business is "legit" they would have to be lending original diskettes.
> However, the only real use a "borrower" could get would be to permanently
> "borrow" a copy for his/her hard disk.  These people are known as software
> pimps, and the users are simply in it to break copyright laws and try to
> get something for nothing.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the "only" use would be to steal a copy.
I would love a service that would let me try software for a week before
buying it.  Does a word processor do what you need?  Does it feel right?
Is it easy to use?  The only way to find out now is usually to plop
down a couple of hundred dollars and, if you don't like the way the
thing works, well, too bad, you're stuck.

Granted, borrowing software is not the only solution to this problem.
Microsoft is heading in the right direction with its working models.

Jim Mann                                      jmann@vineland.pubs.stratus.com 
Stratus Computer

   Not since Cromwell's troops, their puritan sensibilities offended by beauty, 
   went around smashing decorative art in churches has there been an act 
   of folly  comparable  to the abandonment and destruction of Forbes Field, 
   the Pirates' home for generations.   
                            --  George F. Will, from Men at Work: The Craft of  
Baseball