Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tikal!nwnexus!happym!kent
From: kent@happym.UUCP (Kent Forschmiedt)
Newsgroups: news.admin
Subject: Getting working versions of Unix(TM) utilities
Message-ID: <604@happym.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 89 23:57:51 GMT
References: <1327@dretor.dciem.dnd.ca> <856@mailrus.cc.umich.edu>
Reply-To: kent@happym.UUCP (Kent Forschmiedt)
Organization: Happy Man Corporation
Lines: 24

chk@zorac.dciem.dnd.ca asks:
>So, how do we poor slobs get versions of the software *without* bugs?

Peter Honeyman answers:
>you BUY it.

Gosh, thanks.  For only twice what I paid for my 8 user system, I can 
get Unix sources and spend the next month getting stuff running here.  
If I am lucky, a few of the programs will work better than what I have.  
For the rest, I can spend a few thousand dollars worth of my time fixing 
the bugs that have already been fixed but AT&T hasn't seen fit to sell 
to the world, even at obnoxiously inflated prices.  

Of course, if I want any of the stuff that isn't in the standard 
distribution, I can get those things from the Toolchest for only a few 
thousands more. 

Yes, I know; in a perfect world, my vendor would provide current 
versions and fix bugs for a reasonable fee.  Unfortunately, the world 
isn't perfect, and my vendor isn't even close.  They are half way there, 
at least:  they do collect the reasonable fee, they just don't fix bugs 
or provide current versions. 
-- 
 kent@happym.wa.com, tikal!camco!happym!kent, Happy Man Corp 206-282-9598