Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!jpm@bnl.ARPA From: jpm@bnl.ARPA (John McNamee) Newsgroups: net.micro Subject: Re: Free is inferior -- by definition? Message-ID: <9680@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Mon, 1-Apr-85 18:38:55 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.9680 Posted: Mon Apr 1 18:38:55 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 7-Apr-85 10:43:27 EST Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Lines: 32 Date: 1 Apr 1985 13:07-PST Subject: Re: Free is inferior -- by definition? From: William Chops Westfield The major problem with Public domain software is that it is hard to get ahold of. It lacks a distributer network. What I think of as support (with respect to PD having less than boughten software) is that you can go down to your friendly neighborhodd computer store, say "I need a program that does XXX for my YYY computer", and have them give you a disk that fits YYY's disk drives, and a manual that tells you how to use the program. Instead, you go down to your friendly neighborhood computer club and ask for help. You will get a much more honest opinion of which package is best by asking other users than you will by asking a salesman, and if the best package for you happens to be public domain you should be able to get a copy from the club. Another thing to note is that PD programs like Kermit frequently have a "distribution fee" to cover the costs of making the tape and sending it out and so on. This is usually $100-$200, more than many micro programs... The $100-$200 fee seems to be the going rate for tapes. In the microcomputer world, the going rate for a public domain disk is around $10. If you have an oddball format it might cost a bit more to get the disk converted, but this is less and less of a problem as the industry standardizes itself. Only the CP/M world still has major disk format problems, and that world has become a non-issue since no new CP/M software is being written (anybody who cares to debate this point should move the discussion into Info-CPM).