We do not have much problems with people recommending payware.
We have some. Perhaps more than we did. Sometimes we see payware
programs suggested even when there are freeware alternatives.
We have problems with heated debates about principles and definitions.
That takes too much space and creates a bad atmosphere.
Hell, you're right, Roger - what *are* we doing talking about freeware
in a freeware group? Seriously, this is the place for the
never-ending debate about what is and isn't freeware. It isn't just
about suggesting answers to someone's software needs, though it's that
too, of course.
I suggest that most of us here have an interest in freeware and in the
freeware movement that goes beyond a text editor or a graphics
manipulation program that we don't have to pay for. Some here have
seemed to wish to decry the freeware principle in the last few days as
if holding principles was a bad thing. It isn't.
Have a look at
http://www.faifzilla.org/ if you haven't already done
so. It's free. It's even covered by the GNU Free Documentation
License.
Accepting the reality instead of fighting an endless war to protect some
kind of purity which doesn't exist would simplify our lives and reduce
the disturbing fights over principles and definitions.
How impure d'you want to be, Roger? Adware? Crippleware? Spyware?
Commercialware?
I don't think it's the arguments that make life so difficult. We're
here to debate, among other things. It's when people take an
intolerant, dictatorial and authoritarian stance that it becomes so
unpleasant. I read a.c.f because I have an interest in freeware and
wish to communicate with others who are like-minded. I feel quite
strongly about it and would wish to see the good name of true freeware
unsullied by the scammers of one kind or another. I don't see why
that view shouldn't be defended in alt.comp.freeware, of all places.
