Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!wang!fitz
From: fitz@wang.com (Tom Fitzgerald)
Newsgroups: comp.sources.d
Subject: Re: Get shareware off the network
Keywords: You want to make money off of me?  Pay me rent!
Message-ID: <1990Feb20.220848.7809@wang.com>
Date: 20 Feb 90 22:08:48 GMT
References: <1287@polari.UUCP>
Organization: Wang Labs, Lowell MA, USA
Lines: 47

root@polari.UUCP (The Super User) writes:
>  I run a public access unix system here in Seattle.  I pay for the 
> phone lines & equipment, and I've devoted quite a bit of time to keeping
> the system going through thick and thin.  and after reading
> it, I would like to see an end to shareware distribution via the network.

> Usenet is not
> free, and by distributing your shareware on it you are destroying any  
> good will that I might have had towards you.  

I'm truly impressed.  You're claiming that other people should stop using
the net for their commercial interests, because it interferes with _you_
using the net for _your_ commercial interests.  Even on a net full of
arrogant turkeys, this is the most arrogant thing I've seen in a long while.

We've seen posting here saying that the net should never be used for
commercial services (because it's paid for with other people's money), and
posting that say it's OK to use the net for commercial services as long
as you contribute to it.  Both these attitudes are self-consistent,
regardless of which attitude anybody in particular happens to agree with.

Your claim that you can use the net for a profit, but that shareware
writers cannot, is absurd.  If it came down to a choice, I'd rather
keep the shareware writers and have the public-access machines kicked off.
The shareware writers are contributing stuff that can be used by anyone
on the net.  You get a profit from your customers without contributing
anything yourself.

>  I pay for advertising my product.  You pay for yours.

"You" pay, hm?  I see this in the latest nixpub posting:

    10/89  206-328-4944   polari      Seatle              WA  3/12     24
      Equip ???;  8-lines, Trailblazer on 206-328-1468;  $30/year (flat rate);
      Multi-user games, chat, full USENET.
      Contact: uunet!microsoft!happym!polari!bruceki

The nixpub postings are distributed across the net, so we're paying for
your advertising too.  If you don't think people should pay for other
people's advertising, get your listing out of nixpub.

What total hypocrisy.  Someone tell me that that article was a forgery.

---
Tom Fitzgerald   fitz@wang.com
Wang Labs        ...!uunet!wang!fitz
Lowell MA, USA   1-508-967-5278