🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <N7..ACxds13@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>Jef, I'm afraid your analysis of shareware is both simplistic and
>deceptive.

IN YOUR HUMBLE OPINION.

>You're right about one thing: you are under no legal or ethical
>obligation to pay for software that arrives through broadcast
>channels such as Usenet, Bulletin Board systems, and publicly
>redistributable disk libraries. However, it is in your self-
>interest to do so, since it provides an incentive for people who
>write the programs you use to improve on them. You may also find
>them more likely to support you with little problems if they have
>a check from you in their bank account.

This is not an unquestionable truth.  There is some shareware which
might be worth money.  There is much shareware that is not worth
money, and being forced to transport some program which falls far
short of being a commercial offering should be a criminal act, in
the full legal sense of the word criminal.

I prefer to argue that providing =free= software on the net
encourages other programmers to do likewise, which directly benefits
us all by increasing the amount of free software which is available
for use on our systems.

>So, don't worry. I'm not calling you scum. I just think you're a
>little short-sighted.

No, Jef doesn't share =your= vision.  This is not "USENET According
to Peter da Silva".

>As for your diatribe against shareware authors, though, it's a
>bit out of line. Any transaction that provides percieved value to
>both sides is ethically and morally sound. And that includes
>receiving a shareware package over a public channel.

It's only perceived value, and at a cost which the site owner
was =coerced= to pay.  The owner of the site didn't have the
option to not pay for Brad's Shareware offering, that's the
issue.  Shareware belongs in biz.sources, pure and simple.

Ultimately the value of a piece of software is the number of
dollars someone is willing to pay for it.  If shareware authors
aren't receiving money for their programs it only means one
thing.  The software isn't worth a dime.  And I'd prefer they
didn't cost me money by posting it and begging for money.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                             UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh
Ma Bell: (512) 832-8832                           Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org