Message-ID: <3415C9B6.3FDEED48@a.crl.com>
Date: Tue, 09 Sep 1997 17:12:06 -0500
From: Weiqi Gao <weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com>
Organization: Spectrum Healthcare Services
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: For Sale or Free?
References: <199709091931 DOT OAA00899 AT fly DOT HiWAAY DOT net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: bulk

Kurt Wall wrote:
> 
> I, too, am tired of all the complaining that goes on in this list.  It
> seems to me that OpenDOS is both free and for sale.  If you call Caldera
> and order a copy of OpenDOS, you'll get the product, the manuals and the
> support in return for parting with some of your money.  If, on the other
> hand, you don't care about support and printed manuals, download it and
> don't part with a penny.

I thought there is a distinction between free software in the GNU sense,
and other kinds of free software, e.g., sharewares.

There are gazillion software packages that one can download over the
internet.  Nost of them in binary form, and instill a guilty feeling
into your head if you used it for more than 30 days.

I usually don't care for them.  (OK, when I was young, I used an editor
called Boxer, which I threw away later on).

I thought OpenDOS belongs to the (almost) GNU camp.  Without the source
for the utilities also available, I don't know...

I don't have any trouble with Caldera doing whatever they are doing. 
It's their product after all.

--
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com