Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site sphinx.UChicago.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!beth
From: beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Beth Christy)
Newsgroups: net.news,net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Cleaning up net.sources.mac
Message-ID: <1192@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 10:41:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: sphinx.1192
Posted: Tue Oct 15 10:41:13 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 17-Oct-85 00:14:32 EDT
References: <1134@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Organization: U. Chicago - Computation Center
Lines: 40
Keywords: net.shareware.mac
Xref: watmath net.news:4062 net.micro.mac:2984

[Somebody debug this hum...]

From: jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West), Message-ID: <1134@sdcsvax.UUCP>:
>However, it appears that net.sources.mac is now being filled with
>"shareware".  Since I don't see Microsoft or Lotus using it for
>distribution, I must conclude that the software there is:
>      * Not worth enough to support conventional distribution
>	 channels -- either in testing, documentation, or support; or
>      * The author thinks he can get others to do his work for him
>	 for free.

Shareware is there so programmers can get a little something for their
efforts without having to turn themselves into d*mned corporations
like Microsoft or Lotus.  Shareware has two delightful properties that
make it worth *more* than "conventionally distributed" software: 1) it
allows you to test in your own home on your own applications before
you purchase; and 2) it's Cheap, precisely *because* the authors
haven't turned into corporations.

>Shareware is useful, but I don't think various sites should pay
>their TelCo for someone else's marketting.  I propose we either
>	1.  Ban shareware from the net or
>	2.  Confine it to specific newsgroups (mod.shareware)
>	    that sites may or may not carry.

Posting shareware to the net benefits us all just as much as posting
public domain final or pre- release software: it allows easy, rapid
access for people who otherwise might not get a chance to try stuff.
Sites who carry net.sources.mac have already generously agreed to allow
this access to their users.  The fact that some programmer gets a few
bucks in the mail every now and then does not diminish the benefit to a
site's users, and hence is completely irrelevant.

-- 

--JB        (Beth Christy, U. of Chicago, ..!ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!beth)

"What if the after-effect of the terrible bomb is unusual beyond belief?
 Wouldn't you rather the whole population had listened to somebody like
    the old Indian chief?"   (The Roches)