Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!purdue!gatech!uflorida!codas!killer!dcs!wnp From: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: I'm beginning to get tired of shareware Message-ID: <21@dcs.UUCP> Date: 18 Feb 88 14:09:53 GMT References: <2990@aramis.rutgers.edu> Reply-To: wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) Organization: DCS, Dallas, Texas Lines: 40 In article <2990@aramis.rutgers.edu> hedrick@aramis.rutgers.edu (Charles Hedrick) writes: > >My major gripe is that by and large I don't know in advance what is >shareware and what isn't. Defenders of shareware say more or less >that if I don't like it, I just shouldn't get any. But typically it >takes me a couple of hours to get a major package from Simtel. Part >of that is the wretched Arpanet delays (even at odd hours, which I do >use), and part of it is waiting for kermit to upload the thing. Then >I get it and I find that it is shareware. I have just spent about an >order of magnitude more time getting the thing (my consulting rates >are about $150/hour) than the cost of the product. I have also used >both Rutgers and DoD resources to deliver what is in the final >analysis a commercial product. The problem here is that of course the people running SIMTEL are responsible to make sure that there are NO COMMERCIAL packages on their machine; they are responsible to decide whether shareware falls into that category. You as the user should not have to worry about the legality - if they offer it for anon. FTP, they are in fact suggesting to you that it is legal to FTP it. The issue of wasted time when you find out that a package is shareware could be addressed by lobbying the SIMTEL operators to identify shareware as such in their index. The same thing applies, of course to any other supplier of freely-distributable software, and as far as I know, both on CompuServe and Genie the descriptions of download files include notice of shareware status. As for your university, the managers need to made aware of the distinction between freeware and PD on one hand, and shareware on the other. PC Blue should also be challenged to include some identification of shareware in their indexes. -- Wolf N. Paul Phone: (214) 306-9101 (h) (214) 404-8077 (w) 3387 Sam Rayburn Run UUCP: ihnp4!killer!{dcs, doulos}!wnp Carrollton, TX 75007 INTERNET: wnp@dcs.UUCP ESL: 62832882 Pat Robertson does NOT speak for all evangelical Christians--not for me, anyway!