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From: mentat@auscso.UUCP (Robert Dorsett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: looking for a terminal program
Message-ID: <376@auscso.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Sep-87 00:32:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: auscso.376
Posted: Wed Sep 23 00:32:43 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Sep-87 05:54:41 EDT
References: <2645@bellcore.bellcore.com> <2860@husc6.UUCP> <113@ur-tut.UUCP> <2861@husc6.UUCP>
Reply-To: mentat@auscso.UUCP (Robert Dorsett)
Distribution: na
Organization: Austin UNIX Users' Group, Austin, TX
Lines: 32

In article <2861@husc6.UUCP> fry@huma1.UUCP (David Fry) writes:
>Current Red Ryder owners of 9.4 or earlier can get 10.0 by
>sending $20 and their Red Ryder Maser Disk (the one with the
>label) to 
>The FreeSoft Company
>150 Hickory Drive
>Beaver Falls, PA  15010
>
>It is $80 to new users.

Now THAT is ridiculous.  If I remember correctly, Red Ryder was developed as 
a learning project.  The author started out with a VERY elementary dumb ter-
minal in Microsoft Basic 1.0, then gradually enhanced it.  He openly re-
quested comments and produced at least two dozen major revisions of the 
program.  I'd be very, very interested in seeing how he justifies the $80.
"Development cost?"  :-)  (tangentially reminded of the "$150,000 investment"
justification for Visicalc's $200 price tag, well after the company had made
$20 million from it).  It's well and fine for the author to try to make a buck,
but $80's offensive.  Most people will continue viewing the package as being
*public domain*, and will copy and distribute it freely.  I'd be surprised if
he made more than $1000. 

Red Ryder is worth about $40, to be quite fair.

Doesn't affect me one way or the other.  I like my old VersaTerm.



-- 
Robert Dorsett                          {allegra,seismo}!sally!ngp!walt!mentat
University of Texas at Austin           {allegra,seismo}!sally!ngp!mentat
                                        mentat@auscso.UUCP