Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!bloom-beacon!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Thomas_E_Zerucha
From: Thomas_E_Zerucha@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: (none)
Message-ID: <3254@cup.portal.com>
Date: 16 Feb 88 00:17:35 GMT
References: <8802142327.AA17362@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 16
XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.3273

I released my TRANSFER desk accessory (that supports WXmodem - it got a
mention in the Atari Explorer) as shareware requesting $5-$20.  I have
gotten about $120 - $150 from it.  It is not the way to go if you want to
do a commercial product.
     The reason I released it as shareware is because I needed to create the
accessory (actually, the underlying protocols) because at the time, I couldn't
get any communication program that did Ymodem Batch and the various other
protocols, and since I am a heave PC Pursuiter, I wanted WXmodem so it would
run nearly as fast over Telenet as direct.  And IBM PC boards support this
and many other protocols.  I also had to write an autodialer to get by the
busies and the general fingerbusting that PC Pursuit usage causes.
     Since I thought that others might have use, and that the program was
too small to warrant a full blown commercial package, I just released it as
shareware instead of PD.  I certainly wouldn't do that now, and it is
likely that any improvements may be kept to myself.  The "as soon as I pay
a few more bills..." effect seems to be prevalent.