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Message from discussion Shareware (My Experience)
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David Hayes  
View profile  
 More options Aug 10 1993, 5:48 pm
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps, comp.sys.mac.system
From: mer...@lerami.lerctr.org (David Hayes)
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1993 19:39:51 GMT
Local: Tues, Aug 10 1993 3:39 pm
Subject: Re: Shareware (My Experience)
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In article <PETE.93Aug8134...@tatjana.rice.edu>,
Pete Keleher <p...@cs.rice.edu> wrote

>   I don't agree w/ Stallman's absurd proposition that all
>   software should be free, but I do enjoy contributing to a body of freely
>   available software. Think of all the free software available on unix
>   machines. Kind of neat, yes?  (Even more to the point, my own software has
>   draws substatially from public domain sources.)

I'm glad you are so fond of the free software available to the Unix world.
However, you are mistaken in your belief that you contribute to it as a
shareware author.

1. The free Unix code you admire is distributed as source code. How do you
   distribute your shareware?

2. The free Unix code can, in most instances, be reused by any other
   programmer. In most cases, all that is required is acknowledgement of
   the contribution of prior authors. Free code under the GNU General Public
   License is somewhat more encumbered, but it can still be reused. Almost
   all of the free Unix authors prohibit reuse of their code in commercial
   programs.

3. Shareware is not "free", nor "freely available". Shareware is a commercial
   program, for  which the author requires payment, that happens to use a
   non-traditional distribution channel.

I wrote some of the original code in the GNU "diff" program. (It has since
been replaced by other code.) I have also written several programs available
from the "comp.sources.unix" archives. The GNU program is of course covered
by the GPL. My other works I explicitly gave to the public domain. When your
code is available IN SOURCE, for NO DOLLARS, and can be reused by others,
then you have made a contribution.

    David Hayes    mer...@lerami.lerctr.org
--

David S. Hayes                          mer...@lerami.lerctr.org

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