Xref: utzoo comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d:944 comp.sys.ibm.pc:18795
Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!syntron!jtsv16!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!limes@ouroborous
From: limes@ouroborous (Greg Limes)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d,comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: requests to post zoo
Keywords: ZOO COPYRIGHT
Message-ID: <67033@sun.uucp>
Date: 6 Sep 88 23:14:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: sun.67033
References: <3668@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: limes@ouroborous (Greg Limes)
Followup-To: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Lines: 53
In-reply-to: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)

In article <3859@bsu-cs.UUCP>, dhesi@bsu-cs (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>Downloading throughput is very hard to measure consistently.  It varies
>with time and with protocol.  (Last time I measured it at CIS about a
>year ago, it was approximately 30 characters per second while I was
>logged in at 1200 bps.  I didn't try 2400 bps, but far more people use
>1200 bps than 2400 bps.)

My download throughput at 1200 baud (using "Quick-B" protocol) runs between 80
and 120 (!) characters per second, and at 2400 runs between 150 and 240; if I
care to call late at night (and do, for those big transfers), I can keep overall
transfer efficiency at between 230 and 240 cps.

>I don't care how much they charge for Spacewar or for anything else.  I
>just care how much they charge for distributing version 2.0x of my
>software.

If the baud rate doubles, it takes (roughly) half as long to transfer, so using
connect time charges as a cutoff makes LESS sense than a per-kilobyte or
per-baud computation. Assuming you figured $8.00/hr at 1200 baud, and a
reasonablly efficient transfer routine (say, 100 cps), that comes to about $0.08
per cps of throughput; $8.00 for 360kb comes to roughly $20/megabyte. 

This means it is now possible for a service to charge more for higher speed
links, assuming they are bound by your license. This reflects the real world
much more closely than expecting a 56 kilobaud hardwire link to cost the same as
a 110 baud pennywhistle accoustic coupled link.

One step further, though; your license prohibits most long distance carriers
from allowing ZOO to be transmitted long distance. $8.00 per hour comes to a bit
over $0.13 per minute; I tend to call a lot of "free" bulletin board systems
that cost more than this in phone charges.

Whose responsibility is it that I am being charged more than $8.00 per hour to
download your program now? MCI? They never see the contract. The BBS? They have
no way of knowing that I am on a long distance trunk. Me? Yes.

So who bears the cost of your $8.00/hr limit? Gee, I could download at 2400 baud
from CompuServe (at $12.75/hr) with a local call, but thats too expensive, so I
have to make a long distance call (at upwards of $24/hr) to get to a "free"
system that would carry it.

Or I have to subscribe to a different service (Genie, maybe?), which may not
have a node in my home town, so now its $6.00 per hour (or whatever the number
comes to) to Genie plus another $10.00 per hour to MCI; or maybe I come in via
TeleNet, and that could also push the cost up above your magic line.

I dunno. I think I will stick with ARC, or PK's latest. Good work on the
program, but your licensing restrictions bite the wax tadpole.
-- 
Greg Limes [limes@sun.com]		semper ubi, sub ubi
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