From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: a07f3367d7,e276c1ed16429c03 X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,public,usenet X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!news3.google.com!feeder1-2.proxad.net!proxad.net!feeder2-2.proxad.net!newsfeed.arcor.de!newsspool2.arcor-online.net!news.arcor.de.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Dmitry A. Kazakov" Subject: Re: Ada is getting more popular! Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada User-Agent: 40tude_Dialog/2.0.15.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Reply-To: mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de Organization: cbb software GmbH References: <4cc4cb65$0$6985$9b4e6d93@newsspool4.arcor-online.net> <5086cc5e-cd51-4222-a977-06bdb4fb3430@u10g2000yqk.googlegroups.com> <14fkqzngmbae6.zhgzct559yc.dlg@40tude.net> <8732ea65-1c69-4160-9792-698c5a2e8615@g13g2000yqj.googlegroups.com> <4cc60705$0$23764$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <4cc6753c$0$23756$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <4cc71e08$0$23758$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <4cc87d7a$0$23755$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <4cc912e1$0$23761$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> <19rlit851kct1$.db26uwez2yg7$.dlg@40tude.net> <4cc94547$0$23752$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:01:48 +0200 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Date: 28 Oct 2010 15:01:48 CEST NNTP-Posting-Host: e7cf5a2c.newsspool2.arcor-online.net X-Trace: DXC=:UaekI7`@2;NTD55K=A9EHlD;3Yc24Fo<]lROoR18kF[6LHn;2LCV>7enW;^6ZC`4\`mfM[68DC3Te@5@3fc]51 X-Complaints-To: usenet-abuse@arcor.de Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:14895 Date: 2010-10-28T15:01:48+02:00 List-Id: On Thu, 28 Oct 2010 11:41:27 +0200, Thomas L�cke wrote: > On 2010-10-28 10:19, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote: >> On Thu, 28 Oct 2010 08:06:25 +0200, Thomas L�cke wrote: >> >>> If I buy a car, I can change it as I see fit. >> >> You cannot, there are serious limitations on what you allowed to do, at >> least in Germany. > > Luckily I don't live in Germany then! > > The limitations in Denmark are solely a matter of whether your changed > vehicle is allowed to drive on public roads, ie. can you get a license- > plate for it. This is what I meant, a car you cannot drive is not a car. >>> I can take it apart and see how it works. >> >> This also may be forbidden. I believe taking apart a DVD player is >> punishable under the DMCA. > > The DMCA has no effect in Denmark. For how long? >> According to the recent court rulings you can't even sell the thing you >> once bought: >> >> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/09/first-sale-doctrine/ > > You can in the EU. Maybe yes, maybe no. The Pirate bay guys thought they have a right to turn on a server and put it in the Internet. They were convicted in Sweden, an EU member. >>> But when buying software, I'm usually kept in the dark. No tinkering, >>> no learning, no self-maintenance, no nothing. It's a black box. >> >> No, the problem is that the black box is sold with no warranty. The >> producer must be liable to his product. The rule must be: more you close, >> more responsibility you have to take for the money you charged. > > Hmm.. Yes and no. > > Back in 2000 I bought a product from a vendor. This product is an > important part of my business. It has over the years evolved, and > they've kept it running to my satisfaction. I've paid them A LOT of > money to develop new features. > > Then came Windows 7. > > The vendor refused to update the software to be able to run on Win7, > and while they were at it, they also decided to stop supporting the > product completely. > > They do not intend to offer a version 2 of this product. > > The result of this is that my business is now running on borrowed > time. There are no similar products readily available, and the ones > there are, would require completely redifining how my business operates, > re-schooling all my employees and telling customers that services > they've relied on for many years are going to vanish. > > I've asked if I could buy the source, and was met with a blank stare. > > Black box. Let you buy a necktie, which later goes out of fashion. That is your tie and your problem. > An extended warranty would hardly have solved this issue. This one > piece of software, which 2 years ago was just a tool, has become a > ticking bomb. > > I can't upgrade to Win7. I can't get support. I can't do anything about > it. I'm stuck on XP with a software suite that has been abandoned > without any prior warning. > > Fundamentally this is of course my own fault. Back in 1998-9 when I > scoped the market for suitable products, I should of course have > required a guarantee from the vendor that they product would not > suddenly get dropped and that they would upgrade it to newer version > of the Windows OS. Or I should just have required the full source. But > then I would probably not have been able to buy it at all. :o) You should require MS to keep Windows backward compatible. Economically open source does not solve the problem. Because software developing vs. maintenance costs are estimated 1 to 10. That means, economically it just does not make any sense to maintain others' products at any statistically relevant scale. It can function only as a rare exception, i.e. economically irrelevant. -- Regards, Dmitry A. Kazakov http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de