CompuServe Messages

RE: "When James has a few products out there, he will suddenly understand a lot more about piracy than he does now." Agreed. All my preaching will never stand up to a lesson such as that. Unfortunately, according to long threads in IBM forums on this issue, many pirates who are reformed via finding themselves on the other side of the stick continue to refer back to their old ways to acquire the software of others, while preaching honesty in behalf of their own product. Reportedly, that is, they wish to have their cake while eating the cake of others toll-free. I hope and pray that James's old inbred honesty will prevail eventually. I have been living testimony for him that honesty provides one with a wholesome feeling of oneself. A feeling that is priceless, considering that happiness is not found, but created within ourselves. RE: "I'm afraid that LOTS of people are not very good at sending in shareware fees." Shareware fees are indeed a hassle. I prefer commercial software for its ease of payment, in spite of its greater price. Besides, you usually get more for your money via labeled disks, printed manuals, and honest-to-goodness recorded registration record keeping along with upgrade notices. Unfortunately, some shareware is simply superior to commercial stuff, so I must suffer the hassle. Betty, I have five long-term outstanding uncanceled checks that were gobbled up via USPS to shareware authors, and I'm not talking about ones sent to foreign addresses that often cost the author more to cash than the check's face value. In fact, one of my favorite and regularly used programs, Electric Dvorak, is in that category <sigh>. I even appealed for help in communicating with Tom Phoenix, Electric Dvorak's author, on three online services and several major user groups. No dice, my letters, which include SASE's, go unanswered and my check uncashed (I even wrote it for more than the request, which is common for me). Yes, I managed to communicate with folks who had communicated with Tom Phoenix, even getting a CompuServe number for him. No luck <sigh>. If anyone reading this can help, please do. Tom's USPS address, the only one I ever had, is as follows: Tom Phoenix, Box 265-ed, Portland,OR 97207-0265. Your computer club experience is a great idea, in my opinion. I really like that! I've never seen that done at Mac user meetings. Pirate lectures is the only tool used as far as I've witnessed. What I have done, though, is help friends pay their fees <g>. When I about to draft a letter and send in my fee for something I know or suspect is being used by friends, I call them up and offer to include them with a single letter and check. I've managed to get up to three individuals participating in one fee payment. Sadly, I've never had the favor returned, though. James is in college at UTA, and I'll bet he is aware of the current UTA telecommunication gateway. After all, he is studying computer science. Besides, he grew up with computers, running his own 24 hour BBS before he was out of junior high. His telecommunication knowledge is infinitely greater than mine (or any of my computer friends). Happy Trails, —GeM~~~~