[PL] PL2006 Ware Issues

[Susan Bugher]

Possible donations to the *program* (instead of the special support)
'by accident' is not an argument I can accept as 'pro Donationware'.
All sane people check what amount to donate and if they'll get sth.
out of this. This way they come across the appropriate paragraphs.

Donations are *gifts*. If you "get something out of it" it's a payment
for goods or services.

I confess I don't understand the *reason* for your objection. To date no
*authors* have complained about having their apps labeled Donationware
(I suspect many of them are happy we show that information).

However. Looking at the PW Nominations it doesn't seem a matter of
importance, at all. No 'Second' in view. So FreePdfXP will possibly
fail even to be eligible for vote... Unjust. It *is* a very good
freeware(!!) ;-) tool.

It will be a shame if that happens. You might get a second for the
program if you post some information about it in the PL discussion
thread. There's been very little discussion about the merits of the
various programs that are listed for nomination (and there are quite a
few programs that haven't been seconded).

Susan
--
Posted to alt.comp.freeware
Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):
http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt.comp.freeware
Pricelessware & ACF: http://www.pricelesswarehome.org
Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)

 

[B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson]

I confess I don't understand the *reason* for your objection. To date no
*authors* have complained about having their apps labeled Donationware
(I suspect many of them are happy we show that information).

*That's* the reason! Authors which are happy about such information
*do* write Donationware. But if you make sth. *entirely* for free -
if you even permit unrestricted free *commercial* usage - than
you can't be happy about people telling: 'He only plays altruistic,
but if you turn your back he's piling heaps of money. <Whisper,
whisper>' I consider that defiance of the authors intention and
(because of the public character of acf and the PL) his reputation.

It will be a shame if that happens. You might get a second for the
program if you post some information about it in the PL discussion
thread. There's been very little discussion about the merits of the
various programs that are listed for nomination (and there are quite a
few programs that haven't been seconded).

I can't remember a non-recognition like the one FreePdfXP receives.
Stefan complains on his pages that even a magazine like the German
c't (IMHO the best German general purpose computer magazine) didn't
include this program on its CD *after asking permission*. They didn't
even tell the author the reason, why they dropped FreePdf in favorite
for an *Adware* product...

Same goes with mentioning FreePdf(/XP) within acf. If you do a Google
search on Pdf creation software and take a look how often that program
has been mentioned (and what reactions followed), one can do nothing
else but sit down and wonder...

Best sample is only a few days old:

Message-ID: <MPG.1dbe06725658422698969e@netnews>

and answers. I think, most people interested in such programs read
that thread. So repeating the facts I posted there inside the PW
discussion thread won't make things better, IMHO.

If the program was bad, I could understand this. But that's not the
case. It is simple, clean, and works very well. Of course, it is
only a shell to Ghostscript and Redmon. But (most) other programs of
this kind work the same way. And I remember testing one, which *seemed*
to be a stand-alone project, but contained all the Ghostscript stuff
compiled into the program itself. Let's guess which approach is more
stable. (And more honest to the user, coming to this...)

BeAr

 

[Susan Bugher]

*That's* the reason! Authors which are happy about such information
*do* write Donationware. But if you make sth. *entirely* for free -
if you even permit unrestricted free *commercial* usage - than
you can't be happy about people telling: 'He only plays altruistic,
but if you turn your back he's piling heaps of money. <Whisper,
whisper>' I consider that defiance of the authors intention and
(because of the public character of acf and the PL) his reputation.

Hello BeAr,

Thanks for the clarification. IMO you're wrong about what people think.
I can't resist: "All sane people" KNOW donations are few and far
between.

FWIW - out of curiosity I checked the 62 Donationware apps that are on
the nominations list - at least 53 of them are free for both personal
and commercial use.

Susan
--
Posted to alt.comp.freeware
Search alt.comp.freeware (or read it online):
http://www.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=+group:alt.comp.freeware
Pricelessware & ACF: http://www.pricelesswarehome.org
Pricelessware: http://www.pricelessware.org (not maintained)