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000249_news@columbia.edu_Sun Jan 22 15:21:11 1995.msg
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From: bruce@ais.com
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: MS-Kermit 3.14: BegWare?
Message-Id: <1995Jan22.202111.7168@ais.com>
Date: 22 Jan 95 20:21:11 EST
References: <3f6k1k$i58@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu> <D2pqyL.HFL@telly.on.ca> <3ftvo3$arl@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu>
Organization: Applied Information Systems, Chapel Hill, NC
Lines: 67
Apparently-To: kermit.misc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu
In article <3ftvo3$arl@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu>, fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Frank da Cruz) writes:
> In article <D2pqyL.HFL@telly.on.ca>, Evan Leibovitch <evan@telly.on.ca> wrote:
>>In article <3f6k1k$i58@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu>,
>>Frank da Cruz <fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu> wrote:
>>
>>>MS-DOS Kermit 3.14 communications software for DOS and Windows was
>>>released on January 12, 1995.
>>...
>>>Version 3.14 is available via anonymous ftp from kermit.columbia.edu
>>...
>>And then...
>>...
>>>BBS operators are asked NOT to put the MS-DOS Kermit software on their
>>>BBSs for downloading by their users,
>>
>>Wonderful.
>>It's OK to download Kermit from an ftp site, but not a BBS.
>>
> Evan, you didn't reproduce the entire statement, which said:
>
> . BBS operators are asked NOT to put the MS-DOS Kermit software on their
> BBSs for downloading by their users, as this adversely affects the
> Kermit effort, but rather to refer their users to Columbia University
> to obtain a proper copy of the software with manual (contact info is
> given below).
>
> . BBS operators who disagree with the previous condition are invited to
> contact us directly at <kermit@columbia.edu> to discuss the matter.
Frank,
Please consider this as a suggestion rather than a flame. I fully under-
stand your need to find funding -- after all, I run a business, so it's
not as if I'm against commercial software or the needs of maintaining an
adequate balance sheet.
I'm not sure what the proper approach is, but I think that the current
policy will prove counter-productive. Kermit is already a rather
marginal product in the BBS world (for reasons that are mostly cultural
rather than technical; we can debate the exact reasons, but the basic
facts are really not in dispute), and this will probably be the last
straw for it in that marketplace.
I will say that you could put more information on how to buy the books
into the standard documentation files, and/or convert Kermit to a share-
ware product; I think both of these could generate some additional
revenue. You have little or no obligation to support users who have down-
loaded Kermit from BBSes; it's been your decision to spend the time to
support such people. But the new policy may well result in a situation
where you have few support demands ... because there are few people using
the product (and consequently few book and tape sales, so therefore little
revenue; possibly too little revenue to survive). This may or may not
be a good thing, but it's not what you claim to want, so I fear that
this issue may not have been thought through very well. (I'm tempted to
say that perhaps someone more familiar with the business world should
be consulted; in my experience, people from University environments --
even from the business offices in Universities -- often have few relevant
skills to bring to the table when dealing with such problems).
To put it bluntly, I think this approach will reduce your income (from
book sales etc) without sufficiently reducing your support costs to make
up the difference. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see how you can expect
any other result. In that case, I would suggest that you (and Columbia)
need to consider seriously whether the Kermit mission is one that is still
worth working on.
Bruce C. Wright