Xref: utzoo ont.general:475 tor.general:427
Path: utzoo!yunexus!geac!david
From: david@geac.UUCP (David Haynes)
Newsgroups: ont.general,tor.general
Subject: Canadian Software Library
Keywords: Software, tapes, service
Message-ID: <2982@geac.UUCP>
Date: 11 Jul 88 01:27:28 GMT
Article-I.D.: geac.2982
Distribution: ont
Organization: GEAC Computers, Toronto, CANADA
Lines: 34

(Seems to be my month for volunteering...)

Lyndon (lyndon@ncc) and I have been exchanging a few messages about
the difficulty of obtaining software releases from the United States.
Primarily, the cost, timing and customs hastle.

Here is a portion of his last message to me. What do people think
of this?

----------------( Lyndon's message follows )----------------------

I'm thinking of addressing the tape question specifically. It's a
royal pain in the ass to get tapes from the US. What I'm thinking
of doing is setting up a tape library and duplication service.
We already have things line GNU, TeX, MH, Icon, the Sun User Group
tapes (have to check on redistribution restrictions), etc.
What I can do is provide these in various formats (1/2 and 1/4 inch)
on a cost recovery basis. Doing a quick calculation, we should be
able to put out 1/2 inch tapes for about $50, and 1/4 inch for $75.
This covers the cost of the tape, shipping, and my time for making
the copies. To build the library up, I'll exchange one tape in the
archive for any new tape someone adds to the archive.

Why don't you bounce this around the people out east. If there's
enough interest I'll do a posting.

--lyndon

---------------( End of Lyndon's message )----------------------

The sysop folk around here thought it was a good idea, so I'd 
like to solicit a larger sample from the net.

-david-