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From: aidan@skinner.demon.co.uk (Aidan Skinner)
Subject: Re: Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing
Date: 1999/11/04
Date: 1999-11-04T00:00:00+00:00	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <slrn8245l3.1am.aidan@skinner.demon.co.uk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: YJlU3.60$0h7.11516@typhoon-sf.snfc21.pbi.net

On Thu, 04 Nov 1999 20:09:28 GMT, tmoran@bix.com <tmoran@bix.com> wrote:

>imply free(gratis), so am I prevented from taking the GNAT source,
>modifying it, say for MacOS, and charging for it (following the

No, not at all.

The only thing that you can't do is fail to provide access to the
source code for the product (including your modifications).

>ACT prevented from charging for upgrades after the customer is

As I understand the ACT pricing model, you pay for the suppourt you
recieve from them in a professional capactiy. The "product"[1] is the
suppourt for the compiler...

>locked in ?  Or the same for any other vendor of "{open-systems}
>{standard}s" software?

Because, with free software, I (me, myself) can start a company (lets
call it "Silly Idea") and start to offer suppourt for GNAT at a
cheaper rate than ACT.

Now, if I offer better suppourt at a cheaper price than ACT, I'll
probably do quite well.

If I offer moderately worse suppourt at a much cheaper price I'll
probably be able to survive.

If I offer worse suppourt, or charge more, I'll probably go bust.

It's a totally open marketplace for the "product", you just have to
change what your perception of the "product" is.

Free Software practically guarantees that you wont be locked in, since
anybody can enter the market place and offer the same services as a
malicious vendor[2][3].

- Aidan

[1] Used here as the thing for which money is charged, not something
which is produced. Hence the """ around it.

[2] Which is, IMO, what any vendor who sets out to lock-in their
customers are, but I'm a bit left-wing at times. ;)

[3] There's one exception to this AFAIK, and that's that a vendor who
owns the copyright can licence the product without code, or under a
different licence to suit their customers (eg BSD instead of GPL).
-- 
"I say we just bury him and eat dessert"
http://www.skinner.demon.co.uk/aidan/
OpenPGP Key Fingerprint: 9858 33E6 C755 7D34 B5C5  316D 9274 1343 FBE6 99D9




  parent reply	other threads:[~1999-11-04  0:00 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 128+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
1999-10-29  0:00 Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing vico
1999-10-29  0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-29  0:00   ` David Botton
1999-10-29  0:00   ` Gautier
1999-10-29  0:00     ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-30  0:00       ` Dave Taylor
1999-10-30  0:00         ` gnat on macintosh James E. Hopper
1999-10-30  0:00           ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-10-30  0:00             ` James E. Hopper
1999-10-31  0:00       ` Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert Dewar
1999-10-29  0:00     ` Tucker Taft
1999-10-29  0:00       ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
1999-10-30  0:00     ` Siow Wey Hua
1999-10-29  0:00       ` Matthew Heaney
1999-10-29  0:00       ` David Starner
1999-10-31  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-31  0:00       ` Robert Dewar
1999-10-31  0:00     ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-01  0:00       ` Tucker Taft
1999-11-01  0:00       ` Gautier
1999-11-02  0:00         ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00           ` Gautier
1999-11-02  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00               ` Gautier
1999-11-02  0:00               ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-02  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00                   ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-03  0:00                   ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03  0:00                       ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03  0:00               ` Aidan Skinner
1999-11-03  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00               ` tmoran
1999-11-02  0:00                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03  0:00                   ` tmoran
1999-11-03  0:00                     ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03  0:00                       ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-03  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04  0:00                           ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-05  0:00                             ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-04  0:00                       ` Stanley R. Allen
1999-11-05  0:00                         ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-03  0:00                     ` Preben Randhol
1999-11-03  0:00                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-03  0:00                         ` Confusing language, was " tmoran
1999-11-03  0:00                           ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04  0:00                             ` tmoran
1999-11-04  0:00                               ` David Starner
1999-11-04  0:00                                 ` tmoran
1999-11-04  0:00                                   ` Hyman Rosen
1999-11-04  0:00                                   ` Aidan Skinner [this message]
1999-11-05  0:00                                     ` Craig Spannring
1999-11-05  0:00                                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-05  0:00                                       ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-06  0:00                                         ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04  0:00                                   ` David Starner
1999-11-05  0:00                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09  0:00                                   ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-10  0:00                                     ` tmoran
1999-11-04  0:00                               ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-05  0:00                               ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-06  0:00                                 ` tmoran
1999-11-06  0:00                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08  0:00                                 ` Tarjei Jensen
1999-11-08  0:00                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08  0:00                                     ` Marin Condic
1999-11-08  0:00                                       ` Ehud Lamm
1999-11-09  0:00                                         ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-11-09  0:00                                           ` Ehud Lamm
1999-11-09  0:00                                       ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-09  0:00                                         ` Marin Condic
1999-11-09  0:00                                           ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-10  0:00                                             ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-10  0:00                                               ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-11  0:00                                                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11  0:00                                                   ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-11  0:00                                                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11  0:00                                                   ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-11  0:00                                               ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11  0:00                                                 ` Robert A Duff
1999-11-12  0:00                                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11  0:00                                               ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-11  0:00                                                 ` Marin Condic
1999-11-12  0:00                                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-12  0:00                                                     ` Marin Condic
1999-11-13  0:00                                                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-12  0:00                                                     ` Marin Condic
1999-11-19  0:00                                                     ` GNAT.Calendar (was: Re: Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing) Mario Amado Alves
1999-11-19  0:00                                                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-12  0:00                                                 ` Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert I. Eachus
1999-11-12  0:00                                                   ` Marin Condic
1999-11-13  0:00                                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-13  0:00                                                     ` Nick Roberts
1999-11-15  0:00                                                       ` Samuel T. Harris
1999-11-15  0:00                                                     ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-15  0:00                                                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-10  0:00                                           ` Confusing language etc Nick Roberts
1999-11-11  0:00                                             ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09  0:00                                         ` Confusing language, was Re: Help help.. please.i am totaly new in ada programing Robert Dewar
1999-11-08  0:00                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09  0:00                                     ` Tarjei Jensen
1999-11-09  0:00                                       ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-09  0:00                                       ` Y2K liability, was " tmoran
1999-11-04  0:00                             ` Richard D Riehle
1999-11-05  0:00                               ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-05  0:00                         ` Stefan Skoglund
1999-11-05  0:00                           ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-11-03  0:00                     ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-03  0:00                       ` tmoran
1999-11-03  0:00                         ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04  0:00                           ` tmoran
1999-11-04  0:00                             ` Charles Hixson
1999-11-04  0:00                               ` tmoran
1999-11-05  0:00                                 ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-08  0:00                                 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-08  0:00                                   ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-05  0:00                             ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-04  0:00                         ` Georg Bauhaus
     [not found]                     ` <01bf25cc$5d390fc0$022a6282@dieppe>
1999-11-03  0:00                       ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-11-04  0:00                         ` David Botton
1999-11-02  0:00           ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-02  0:00             ` Aidan Skinner
1999-11-03  0:00               ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00             ` Robert Dewar
1999-11-02  0:00               ` Ted Dennison
1999-11-03  0:00             ` Free Software -- was, " Richard D Riehle
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