Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site tolerant.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!oliveb!tolerant!dws From: dws@tolerant.UUCP (Dave W. Smith) Newsgroups: net.news,net.news.group,net.micro.mac Subject: Re: shareware Message-ID: <194@tolerant.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 12:11:37 EST Article-I.D.: tolerant.194 Posted: Fri Nov 1 12:11:37 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Nov-85 16:14:38 EST References: <132@mit-eddie.UUCP> <690@dcl-cs.UUCP> <1269@tekgvs.UUCP> <1256@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> Organization: Tolerant Systems, Inc. San Jose, CA Lines: 36 Keywords: shareware, mod.micro.mac Xref: watmath net.news:4240 net.news.group:4218 net.micro.mac:3242 In article <1256@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> benn@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP, (Thomas Cox) writes: > 6) solution: ... >B. state a USENET policy that the net *Strongly Discourages* shareware > payments. > Thomas Cox >...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!benn The issue is not "is shareware a bad thing". The issue is, as I see it, the use of USENET as a profit making vehicle. The secondary issue is bandwidth. Consider a book. If the author where to use USENET to hawk his work, this would be a clear violation. After all, he stands to profit. Now, if I were to post a message recommending the book, would that be o.k.? After all, you (or someone) would still have to buy the book, and the author would profit. Right? There's still money involved, so should we issue a proclamation discouraging people from recommending or buying books? I think not. Now consider shareware. (Let's ignore for a moment the 10% that gets posted by the authors themselves -- this can be dealt with within existing policy.) The differences between someone posting a piece of shareware that they've found useful and someone posting a book recommen- dation are 1) bandwidth, and 2) you get to try the shareware out before deciding if you want to keep it (or pay for it). The difference, as it should concern USENET, is 1) bandwidth, and the fact that somebody (read everybody) has to pay for it. An effective way to deal with bandwidth is to add some filtering. A moderated group for mac postings should deal with this nicely. -- David W. Smith {nsc,ucbvax}!tolerant!dws Tolerant Systems, Inc. 408/946-5667 [Standard Disclaimer]