On Saturday, October 14th, 1995 - Howard. Carson wrote:
 
HC> In practice, a 'suggested retail price' is identical to a 
HC> 'suggested licencing fee'. The name change has been made (likely) 
 
Well, I certainly hope so.  I'd hate to think that the people who sold
me NeoDesk 3 are going to jail becaue they failed to notice the fine
print on the back of one Gribnif box.
 
HC> Lets' not question Wilga or Gribnif too closely, unless of 
HC> course(!) we've got a technical question. I am not their 
HC> spokesperson, but I do support any fair and legal change they 
HC> have to make, in order to continue developing all of their 
HC> excellent products.
HC>   
 
On page 124 of the manual, they advertise a NeoDesk Developer's kit for
experienced 'C' programmers familiar with desk accessories and pointers.
 
What is your opinion of this package?  Am I to understand this allows
writing of stand alone programs that utilize NeoDesk like routines, or
is this specifically for writing prorams that run on top of NeoDesk.
 
HC> Gribnif products have been spread around (illegaly), with 
 
I have the original disks with serial numbers, the original manual, and
the original white box with black and red lettering and the giant 8
point gold star on the front with the "3" in the middle of it.  :-)
However, I doubt if their licensing agreement will do anything to
prevent copyright infringement on the part of casual copiers.
 
HC> unbridled glee. My own distributed products (SARA software, 
HC> lately), have been illegaly spread around with unbridled glee. 
HC> ANYTHING that I can do to lay my hands on the little shits that 
HC> steal my software . . . I WILL DO! If 'anything', includes 
 
Well, I just don't think it is realistic that you will ever get your
hands on any of them.  Better to just accept that it will happen, and go 
on with business and try to enhance legitimate sales.  The way I figure
it, the more effort you pour into fighting copiers, the less energy you
have to provide good customer support.  Of course, the "fighting" will
give you ulcers faster than serving legitimate customers (although I
might get a few arguments on that!  hehehehehe).
 
Your sense of justice might be burned a little, but I think the
philosophical approach is needed - it will happen no matter what, no
matter how much you scream, no matter what you do.  Don't drive
yourself nuts over something you can't stop.
 
I'm no expert, but I think the trick is to keep offering registered
users updates (for a small price) that will help finance more updates.
:-)
 
--- RiBBS v2.10        

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