Some things are worth paying for

[elaich]

I love freeware as much as the next guy, but after trying some of the free
news servers, I quickly saw that news.individual.net is well worth the
paltry $1.08 a month.

Registration was fast and easy, and access was immediate.

I know this isn't software, but it does come under the discussion of things
"free." Try using aioe.org and x-privat for a few days and you'll see what
I mean.

 

[Art2U]

I love freeware as much as the next guy, but after trying some of the free
news servers, I quickly saw that news.individual.net is well worth the
paltry $1.08 a month.

Registration was fast and easy, and access was immediate.

I know this isn't software, but it does come under the discussion of things
"free." Try using aioe.org and x-privat for a few days and you'll see what
I mean.

quite frankly, I haven't any problems with x-privat.

Art2U

 

[Wayne Boatwright]

quite frankly, I haven't any problems with x-privat.

Neither have I. I switched to x-privat shortly after news.individual.net
made their announcement.

--
Wayne Boatwright
____________________________________________

Give me a smart idiot over a stupid genius any day.
Sam Goldwyn, 1882-1974

 

[dszady]

I love freeware as much as the next guy, but after trying some of the free
news servers, I quickly saw that news.individual.net is well worth the
paltry $1.08 a month.

Registration was fast and easy, and access was immediate.

I know this isn't software, but it does come under the discussion of
things "free." Try using aioe.org and x-privat for a few days and you'll
see what I mean.

There is not anything on the web, that you need, that you have to pay for.
Just a search engine and have patience.

 

[elaich]

quite frankly, I haven't any problems with x-privat.

I guess waiting for things to load isn't important to you.

On top of that, the owner has come under fire for arbitrary bans with no
explanation given.

 

[Conor Turton]

There is not anything on the web, that you need, that you have to pay for.

Really? Still I suppose if you're happy suffering some of the absolute
rubbish that freeware/OSS can put out then maybe you're right.

 

[Alastair Smeaton]

I guess waiting for things to load isn't important to you.

On top of that, the owner has come under fire for arbitrary bans with no
explanation given.

I have had problems with timeouts on x-privat recently -very slow for
the last few days - hope it is a glitch

 

[Mike Andrade]

Really? Still I suppose if you're happy suffering some of the
absolute rubbish that freeware/OSS can put out then maybe you're
right.

Free rubbish is better than commercial rubbish. Better yet, the
hundreds of excellent freeware and OSS programs are often superior to
what one can buy.

 

[Onno Tasler]

Mike Andrade scribebat:

Free rubbish is better than commercial rubbish.

And quality is better than rubish, regardless which is free and which is
commercial.

Better yet, the hundreds of excellent freeware and OSS programs are often
superior to what one can buy.

And, quite as often, they are inferior. It depends on what you want, what
you need and what the price is. Show me any free Office suite that matches
Papyrus Office or Softmaker Office. Any. Maybe there are free Office suits
that fit your needs, but that does not mean they fit everyone else needs as
well or would even be completely superior.

bye,

Onno

 

[Art2U]

I guess waiting for things to load isn't important to you.

On top of that, the owner has come under fire for arbitrary bans with no
explanation given.

no more so than individual.net

Art2U

 

[Monty Grail]

I guess waiting for things to load isn't important to you.

On top of that, the owner has come under fire for arbitrary bans with no
explanation given.

I already had an account with Tera news for binaries, so I figured I was
set, I'd just switch. Two days before the German server went pay I changed
my configs and what I got was halting loading and delays in choosing a post
and waiting for it to load to read. On T-1.

Rather than try to be penny wise and pound foolish I simply paid for the
individual .net and went back to what has usually been very consistent
service. This goes against everything I hold dear, as if I can get
something for free (as I had all these years with individual.net) I will do
that in a heartbeat. But it is also nice to not have to think about it, it
has become a background service.

I just went with the easier way. I fully agree that with search engines and
patience one will usually find what they need for free....IF they have the
time. And in the research I did the free newsservers (of any merit) were
few and far between, and getting fewer every day.

 

[elaich]

I already had an account with Tera news for binaries, so I figured I
was set, I'd just switch. Two days before the German server went pay
I changed my configs and what I got was halting loading and delays in
choosing a post and waiting for it to load to read. On T-1.

The entire Teranews system was completely borked for a whole week. It's not
uncommon with them, which is why I won't rely on them for text.

 

[jimpgh2002]

There is not anything on the web, that you need, that you have to pay for.
Just a search engine and have patience.

True, since all you need is food & water.
If you change that to "want" instead of "need", I disagree
(I'm presuming we want to stay legal).

 

[Clif Notes]

I access alt news using Google Groups and my free 2gb Gmail account
online. I can scan my Gmail news account in about 2 seconds to see if
anyone replied to my messages. It rocks.

If anyone here needs a Gmail invitation, I've got tons of them to give
away.

Clif
http://www.xanga.com/clif_notes

 

[Mike Andrade]

Mike Andrade scribebat:

And quality is better than rubish, regardless which is free and
which is commercial.


And, quite as often, they are inferior. It depends on what you
want, what you need and what the price is. Show me any free Office
suite that matches Papyrus Office or Softmaker Office. Any. Maybe
there are free Office suits that fit your needs, but that does not
mean they fit everyone else needs as well or would even be
completely superior.

Both LBA Office and Open Office are excellent products. Do they
surpass the best commercial products? No. But then, weigh the pros
and cons. Would I rather have a superior product at an exhorbitant
price or a damn good product for free?

Personally, there's no question for me. Again, it depends on one's
needs.

 

[Nicolaas Hawkins]

Mike Andrade scribebat:

And quality is better than rubish, regardless which is free and which is
commercial.


And, quite as often, they are inferior. It depends on what you want, what
you need and what the price is. Show me any free Office suite that matches
Papyrus Office or Softmaker Office. Any. Maybe there are free Office suits
that fit your needs, but that does not mean they fit everyone else needs as
well or would even be completely superior.

*For their particular platforms* those may well be the supreme office
suites. Papyrus Office is, however, an OS/2 application and Softmaker
Office is a *n*x application. Any particular reason why you didn't
mention that fact in your post? It's a pointless exercise comparing
apples with lemons.

 

[El Gee]

I love freeware as much as the next guy, but after trying some of the
free news servers, I quickly saw that news.individual.net is well
worth the paltry $1.08 a month.

Registration was fast and easy, and access was immediate.

I know this isn't software, but it does come under the discussion of
things "free." Try using aioe.org and x-privat for a few days and
you'll see what I mean.

Agreed. For some people, some things are worth paying for, for others,
not. That is what makes this a wonderful world.

PERSONALLY, I have not found any software that I need to pay for since
the freeware community has so much to offer. But then again, I do not
set my expectations very high.

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
El Gee // www.mistergeek.com <><
Know Christ, Know Peace - No Christ, No Peace
Remove .yourhat to reply
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[El Gee]

Mike Andrade scribebat:

And quality is better than rubish, regardless which is free and which
is commercial.


And, quite as often, they are inferior. It depends on what you want,
what you need and what the price is. Show me any free Office suite
that matches Papyrus Office or Softmaker Office. Any. Maybe there are
free Office suits that fit your needs, but that does not mean they fit
everyone else needs as well or would even be completely superior.

bye,

Onno

Very true, but then again think how many people WASTE money on office
suites they never fully use. The two most pirated pieces of software
(outside of OS's) are MS Office and Adobe Photoshop. The person who
pirates them often "borrows" them from work and installs them at home to
type up resumes, spreadsheets and maybe presentations (Office) and
touching up / morphing photos (Photoshop). That is almost $1000.00 US
on software most of them will never utilize.

Your point is a valid one. For those who need high-end expensive
software, then I reccommend they go commercial. For the rest of us,
open source / freeware makes more sense.

--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
El Gee // www.mistergeek.com <><
Know Christ, Know Peace - No Christ, No Peace
Remove .yourhat to reply
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

[Clif Notes]

I have to agree with Elgee and most of the others. I use MSOffice at
work and have used office freeware at home. No problems with
compatibility. I don't need a huge bloated office package. I've used
Open Office, 602 Suite and Easy Office, all of which are MSOffice
compatible freeware. In my opinion, 602 Suite was the best of the three
for my needs. Open Office was too slow and Easy Office tried to do too
many things.

I webmaster several websites and put out a weekly newsletter. I've done
all that with freeware and using free services. There is no "payware"
on my machine, and probably never will be. I even get faxes sent to my
machine for free.

Natually I paid for the Windows OS when I bought the machine. Thanks
Bill Gates ... LOL
I could buckle down and install Linux, but I'm used to Windows. Shoot,
I even like Windows.
I use Unix at work often and I've tried some of the Linux Live CD's.

Clif
Dedicated to promoting freeware and free information
http://www.xanga.com/clif_notes

 

[Onno Tasler]

Nicolaas Hawkins scribebat:

Papyrus Office is, however, an OS/2 application

Papyrus Office is available for Windows, MacOS X and OS/2.

and Softmaker Office is a *n*x application.

Wrong again: Softmaker Office runs on Windows, Linux, Zentaur?,...

Any particular reason why you didn't mention that fact in your post?

Because both are running on multiple platforms.

bye,

Onno