Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rice!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!uhura.cc.rochester.edu!ur-valhalla!davis
From: davis@galaxy.ee.rochester.edu (Al Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: Commercial software in comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Message-ID: <2043@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu>
Date: 20 Mar 89 08:05:35 GMT
References: <6236@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@valhalla.ee.rochester.edu
Reply-To: davis@ee.rochester.edu (Al Davis)
Organization: UR Dept. of Electrical Engg, Rochester NY 14627
Lines: 43


In article <6236@bsu-cs.UUCP> dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
>the license says that you may not use it beyond a trial period of 15 days
>without paying.  (But it lets you extend the trial period a reasonable
>amount of time under "extenuating circumstances", leaving those to your
>judgement.)

The moderator's judgement says it is ok to use forever, for free.  Is the
moderator willing to make this judgement, for the world?  If I were
moderating, I would not.  Likewise, I would not rely on such a product to
operate the net.


>the only thing that makes it a demo is that 15 days from the
>date of first use it will stop working.
>The license says that when you call their toll-free number ........

A commercial firm is using the net as a free distribution medium, saving the
expense of doing it through the normal channels, giving them an unfair
advantage, at the net's expense.  Let commercial firms pay their own way.
This one is especially offensive.

Also, how does this work?  If the method is more sophisticated than checking
the exe file date stamp, or expiring on a pre-programmed date, they are
using some of the same mechanisms that make Trojans, Viruses, etc.  I would
reject for this alone, unless the mechanism was well documented, but that is
giving away how to defeat it.


I have no problem with offering additional services, at a cost, such as
source, technical support, updates, libraries, etc. provided the posting is
useful as is, and is primarily intended to be so.  Also, it is ok to have a
copyright, to declare ownership, and to prevent others from commercially
exploiting the work.


Disclaimer: a few years ago, I used to own a software business.  We did not
use such distribution at public expense.  We did not sell repackaged public
domain software.  (The present owners still work the same way.)  The (more
successful) competetion did, and still does.  Crippled versions of their
products, essentially PC ports of public domain software, have appeared in
c.b.i.p.  The postings were done by someone not connected with the company,
as far as I know.