CompuServe Messages

Once upon a time, I thought that public domain software could attain the quality and support found in most commercial software. Just read my first and second columns in Amazing Computing. Since then, I've changed my mind. Empirically, I think we can see that public domain software doesn't go as far as commercial software: the docs for commercial software are generally better and possibly quite elegant, support exists as opposed to doesn't exist, etc. If "using software" is a hobby, those things don't really matter. If you're Joe or Jane Hobbyist who just wants to make the lights blink, or shuffle files between floppies, fine, PD software might make you happy. If you're a pro video person with eight hours to do a job, I think you'll be upset both by the roadblocks and deficiencies in PD software. And yes, a lot of this has been sparked by entering the world of software development. Whenever I hear a customer or potential customer tell me they're going to get the job done with some PD software, I cringe: I know the limits of the PD 3D converters out there. I know they'll be back. I'm not about to tell a customer they're wrong, but they often are. As for Amazing Computing… When I worked there, and made all those "AMICUS" disks, they would pay me a royalty per-disk. When I left the magazine, I still owed them about $1000 for some hardware they bought me. The next few months of royalty were to cover the cost of that hardware. Since then, they continue to sell the AMICUS disks without paying me the royalty. They've also, coincidentally, never reviewed any of Syndesis's products. I've asked for my outstanding royalties several times, and they've ignored me. Great guys.