🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <833817688snz@webcor.demon.co.uk>
           phil@webcor.demon.co.uk "Phil Martin" wrote:

>In article <833832232snx@holly.demon.co.uk>
>           mcr@holly.demon.co.uk "Mark Rogers" writes:
>
>> I've registered quite a few things (although not KA9Q - I'm still waiting
>> on Demon for that - maybe it's time I did it myself?).
>
>I'm really glad that someone still remembers that.  Was it before or
>after the free webspace, the scalable news-server or the public
>flotation?

The agreement that Demon would take 10 quid (or dollars) from each of us
and send a check to the author was back when there was only *one*
machine at Demon (called various things like gate, post, and "that
bloody broken thing" <g>).  I joined in 92, and that was the statement
then, back when they were hoping for a couple of hundred users by the
end of the year.  Now they have 50k or more users, with around 10% still
using the software - that's still $50k the author is owed...

I don't bother releasing stuff as shareware because:

(a) I write it for myself; if it happens to be useful to someone else
that's a bonus, but I maintain it, upgrade it and add documentation when
*I* feel like it.  Users are free to request features, but they only get
put in when I decide I want them.  Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I do
this for fun as well as for a job; if it's a job I get paid at least 25
quid an hour for it, if it's for fun then I do what I want...

(b) I can't be bothered to do the paperwork for registration.  I'd
probably have to charge around 20 quid just for the hassle, and I don't
think enough people would pay it to make it worthwhile.

I don't usually release the source either, because although I have no
objection to people using my libraries they are very idiosyncratic,
having evolved over more than a decade, and *I* don't know which bits
are still used.  If someone really wants it I'll dump the whole lot to
disk for them and let them sort it out, they're welcome to use any of
the bits they like...

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|    chris@keris.demon.co.uk    |  FIAWOL (Filking Is A Way Of Life)  |
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