Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!bu.edu!wang!news From: DAVE.JENKINS@OFFICE.WANG.COM (David E. Jenkins) Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d Subject: Please give type and price when posting Keywords: type price request discussion Message-ID: Date: 6 Jun 91 13:56:15 GMT Sender: news@wang.com Reply-To: dave.jenkins@office.wang.com Organization: Wang Image Peripherals - Fax Group Lines: 42 I really like reading the messages about new software that has been uploaded to wherever or are now available from wharever FTP site. I also get a lot out of Timo's (and other's) arm chair reviews. Keep them both comming (IMHO). But, (you had to know there was a but), I would REALLY like to see each of these announcements/reviews mention the type (Free-, Share-, Charity-, Beg-, Nag-, Ask- ware) of software and the asking or suggested price (if any). Some things are really neat and I would check them out for myself no matter what the asking price (OK, within reason). But for many things the type and asking price has real impact on whether I waste bandwith/network traffic to fetch it for perusal. If it looks potentially usefull and the guy wants $10 then I'll certainly check it out. If it is one of those 'that might be nice to have around' but he/she is asking $75 then I won't bother. When I look through a commercial catalog I expect to see the price. Is it asking too much to know that up front here? When I put something in my personal archives for possible future use I create a one line summary like: PD11 - Outstanding simple push/pop change directory - Shareware $5 Screen Peace - Nice Windows screen saver - Charityware $5 - $10 suggested So that when I have the need for it I know immediately what it does and how much it costs and can judge how badly I need it against what it would cost to register it (or in some cases write one myself). Some of the more potentially usefull things in my archives I have never ended up using but keep around for when people ask me or a whatever type program. Then I can say "Sure, its called xxx. It's yyy-ware. And it costs $zzz." Yes, I know I'm cheap. But the point is that a simple piece of information available up front might help avoid shipping 2 megs across the network only to find out that the author wants more than I am willing to spend. I suppose I could be like some others I know and just decide "It isn't worth what he's asking so I'll just use it anyway and not pay for it". :-( Sorry for starting a discussion in a .d group ;-) P.S. :-o This accidently went to c.b.i.p. Please forgive the faux pas.