Charging the net....

[Dave Goodman]

In article <1991Apr22.192306.29134 at looking.on.ca> brad at looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) writes:

>                                        ...  As such, they have made shareware
> a non-feasable distribution method on USENET.     Too bad, because the
> grass-roots nature of shareware fits well with the grass-roots nature of
> usenet, except with those who think it is a sin for programmers to charge for
> their work.

You are confusing the medium with the message.  I, for one, have no
argument with shareware; I support, nay, applaud the concept.

But I see two problems in using usenet to distribute shareware:

  1) Shareware *is* a commercial product; using usenet to distribute it
     is a commercial use of the net.  

  2) My site is being involuntarily recruited as an *unpaid* distributor
     for the product.  I am out of pocket for the costs of acquiring it
     (connect time); it uses my facilities and my disk space.  All of
     this to make a buck for someone else!

At least the author should offer me a percentage if one of my users registers 
the package!  :-)

-- 

Dave Goodman   .   .   .   .   .    __|__    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .
daveg at misty.sara.fl.us .   . --o--o--(_)--o--o-- .   ....uunet!misty!daveg