Message-Id: <3.0.32.19970123234001.0069d5c0@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 23:40:03 -0600
To: opendos AT mail DOT tacoma DOT net
From: Chip Turner <turnerjh AT ctrvax DOT Vanderbilt DOT Edu>
Subject: Re: [opendos] Rants and Raves
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At 10:47 PM 1/23/97 -0600, "Colin W. Glenn" <cwg01 AT gnofn DOT org> wrote:

>Have you ever read ALL his docs?  The man clearly put a lot of work into
>creating a _single_pass_ assembler which wouldn't choke over the size of
>the source file, has extensive macro handling, structured program
>constructs, and also considered building in support for MASM!  This was no
>minor undertaking.  His debugger is a piece of art too, supports two
>monitors, (your old cga for the debugger, and your shiny svga 1600x1200x1m
>super dazzle color for your program.), plus viewing memory in a variety of
>ways, (text, ascii, byte, word, hex, binary, octal, & more), trapping
>INT's, patching in memonics, adding symbols, a bunch more.  Heck, if I
>stuck with assembly for x86's, I would've registered!

I've read all of the docs for A86, though not for D86.	  I never said his
product was bad at what it did; I just expressed my annoyance that he was
charging as much as he did for the program.  It's certainly not a bad
program, but let's face it, it isn't that nice.  For $50 dollars you get a
fairly nice assembler, but no support for 386 instructions; to get that,
you must register the assembler AND the debugger.  And he continually
screams 'don't take my software because you'd be stealing food from my
children's mouths' (paraphrased...).  He clearly is trying to make a living
off of the program, which is perfectly okay.  But my silly self thinks that
a) the program isn't worth it and b) such a program should be made freely
available, either by him or someone else.  If I had time, I'd seriously
consider writing a nice, free/GPL x86 assembler.  Ah, but if I had the time...

I know of no (significant) feature in his program that is not available
elsewhere.

Arguing how much time he put into it is not valid -- look at all the great
free software available that took MUCH longer to write.  Gnu C/C++ is one
of, if not _the_ best C/C++ compiler available (though development tools,
such as IDEs, are a different question), and it's free.  Also, look at
OpenDOS and DJGPP...

I was perhaps harsh in my original post; A86/D86 is a nice package, but
nicer stuff is available for roughly the same price.  Mainly, my problem is
with the author and his NaziWare approach to licensing.


On a totally different note, how about this for the OpenDOS slogan:

"Why open a Window when you can OpenDOS?"

Heh.

Chip

--
Chip Turner -- turnerjh AT ctrvax DOT vanderbilt DOT edu
               http://cswww.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~turnerj1

               "A man who is good ought not to calculate the chance 
               of living or dying; he ought only to consider 
               whether in doing anything he is doing right or
               wrong -- acting the part of a good man or of a bad."
                              Plato, The Apology