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From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: net.sources.mac and shareware (problems and solutions)
Message-ID: <3006@sun.uucp>
Date: Mon, 18-Nov-85 14:53:32 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.3006
Posted: Mon Nov 18 14:53:32 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Nov-85 03:40:24 EST
References: <2998@sun.uucp> <2237@amdahl.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Sun Micro -- NFS Consulting Group
Lines: 31

> >  ...                                                     It's time to
> > stop posting binaries, folks -- we simply don't need them anymore.
> 
> What about the new MacOwners who don't have all the binaries yet?  When
> I first got my mac, net.sources.mac was indespensable in making it
> a usable machine.  What about those who don't have a compiler yet?
> Those who don't want to lay out $N, where N is large, for M,
> where M is large, different environments/compilers?

Perhaps we want to ship both source and binary, if the binary isn't huge.
The new Macowner is a small enough part fo teh group that we can handle
them as we go (look at how few requests for downloading software we're
getting on the net). If we always aim at catering to the lowest base of
knowledge, we'll never teach each other to be experts.

Here is a great case in point: Jeff Shulman at topaz posts three messages
of Diatom in net.sources.mac. To quote, "I wrote it to learn how to make
the Mac do all the wonderful things it does". What he posted was a binary,
a doc file, and a configuration file. Great. He learned how to do lots of
wonderful things, and I have a program binary that prints pretty pictures.
If I had a source, I could learn how to print pretty picutres myself, but
he didn't post the source, so I can't. He gains, but nobody else can share
in it without decompiling his program. I don't see how this helps out the
new user. Or even the not so new user...

chuq
-- 
:From the Crystal Caves of Avalon:   Chuq Von Rospach 
sun!chuq@decwrl.DEC.COM                 {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq

Our time is past -- it is a time for men, not of magic.