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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]