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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!godot!massar
From: massar@godot.UUCP (J.P. Massar)
Newsgroups: net.emacs
Subject: Emacs cost
Message-ID: <1127@godot.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Mar-85 12:08:49 EST
Article-I.D.: godot.1127
Posted: Fri Mar  1 12:08:49 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 2-Mar-85 04:42:15 EST
References: <172@encore.UUCP> <137@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Organization: Thinking Machines, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 29

> In conclusion, then: No, there  is  no public  domain Gosling's Emacs.  Yes,
> there  are  versions you can get, with some difficulty, without  paying  the
> (rather high) price which Unipress charges.  No, Mr Gosling will not want to
> give permission to do so very often.

For a piece of code as complicated and as useful as Emacs (either CCA's /
Zimmerman's or Unipress's / Goslings) the 'rather high' price which is
charged is ridiculously low!

Emacs could never have been developed commerically and sold at these
prices...  The only reason supported versions of Emacs exist at all is
that James Gosling and Steve Zimmerman worked long hours for no
compensation (Richard Stallman and Chris Torek should be included here also) 
many years ago.

Is it not worth some $200 / person (or less, depending on how many
people you have on a machine who use Emacs) as a ONE TIME COST?
Give me a break...

Note:  Please, I do not mean to insult whomever wrote the above comment.
I merely want people to think about the effort involved and the
'cost/benefit' ratio of an editor like Emacs.  I got paid
to work on CCA Emacs / Elisp, but appreciate all the work that was done
gratis before that.

-- 
-- JP Massar, Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge, MA
-- ihnp4!godot!massar
-- massar@cca-unix