Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!apctrc!zgel05
From: zgel05@apctrc.UUCP (George E. Lehmann)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Anti-Commercialism (was Re: File packaging and compression)
Message-ID: <572@flyer.apctrc.UUCP>
Date: 10 Oct 88 13:15:59 GMT
References: <259@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
Reply-To: zgel05@flyer.UUCP (George E. Lehmann)
Organization: Amoco Production Co, Tulsa Research Center
Lines: 34

In article <259@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> jbrown@jato.UUCP (Jordan Brown) writes:
>                                            I agree completely with somebody
>who said that we (USENET, BBSes, etc) simply should not be depending on
>a commercial product.
   ^^^^^^^^^^

This mini-flame is directed not only at the author of this note, but at
everyone who bears similar thoughts...

I have no particular love for either PK or SEA (though I really dislike court
battles, having been involved in more than one myself), but I think these
comments about 'not depending on commercial products' are total rubbish.

Forget the needs of the people who write commercial software to make a buck
to pay mortgages and feed families, forget flag-waving patriotism and the
rights we capitalists love and cherish, forget the resources of the large
companies that give me the time to reply to this note without having to
flip a burger at the same time to make money.

WE ALREADY ARE TOTALLY COMMITTED TO MANY COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS!!!  Or did you
get all of that juicy hardware you're running on in a swap meet?  Did you
register that shareware 'DOS-alike' that runs on your system?  What shareware
compiler are you using to compile your programs?  Etc., etc., etc...

Not all commercial products are good, nor are all good products commercial.
However, without the ongoing revenue earned by these entities, none of the
major developments we love would exist.

Flame off..........

-- 
George Lehmann,  ...!uunet!apctrc!zgel05
Amoco Production Co., PO BOX 3385, Tulsa, Ok  74102  ph:918-660-4066
Standard Disclaimer: Contents are my responsibility, not AMOCO's.