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Rich,
I'm not sure if you mean "freeware" literally -- in which case I agree
with you -- or if you mean "all free software. software without
commercial backing" in which case I think you're out of your mind.
Technically, the problem with WRKDBF is that it wasn't open source. It
was NOT free in the sense of freedom. It was only free in the sense of
not requiring you to pay a fee. Software that's distributed this way
is, indeed, called "freeware" (as opposed to "shareware" which is the
same thing, but requires a fee.)
If it had been open source, Bill (and Levitz) could've said "we're no
longer going to support this", and the other interested parties in the
community could've continued to support it, continue to add features,
continue to upgrade, etc. For sure, a recompile for V6R1 would've been
very easy if this had been open source.
But, since it wasn't -- it was freeware -- we're kinda screwed. In
fact, it's very much like a commercial product. If the company who owns
the product (whether you pay them for support or not) decides to drop
it, you're simply out of luck.
While you seem to associate this problem with free software, the
opposite has been true in my experience... it ALMOST ALWAYS happens with
commercial software. OfficeVision is an example. There are many
others... Any time a company decides they don't want to support
something anymore, they drop support and there's nothing you can do.
With open source, there is something you can do!
Rich Loeber wrote:
Yet another reason not to implement "freeware" into your production
environment. People complain about having to pay support fees, but
here is a situation where it will really pay off. Vendors everywhere
are scrambling now to get ready for the requirements of V6 and all
those support payments are going to pay off with a seamless transfer
of software when the time comes. WRKDBF may be a great tool, but
without any support where does that leave you?
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