Here we have the clasical "circular argument", that has killed many an excellent idea, project, or specifically piece of softweare. One voice says, "Please upgrade Fractint, it's increasingly incompatible with newer Windoze operating systems and the newer hardware. It's slow, and it's 4. 5. years behind the times. Worst of all, it has lost a large segment of it's original user base to not quite as good Windoze compatible product(s) that have more up to date features". Another voice says, "Well, you're asking too much for volunteer programmers, who are working for love & glory. What do you expect for free software? Shut up and eat your oatmeal and be grateful for what you've got! Pay us and then we'll be more motivated to upgrade it." Then another voice chimes in, "Well, I'm philosophically against this software being shareware or commericalized in any way. I would rather see Fractint remain 4, 5 years behind the times, wither & die, and the whole user base completely abandon Fractint to the other newer Windoze compatible shareware product(s), than go against my principles!" Some other voices leap into the fray. "We're leeches and we will never pay for anything! Keep the freebies comming!" The end result: Eventually, Fractint will finally be abandonned by the remaining user base and it will join the ranks of "dead-ware" totally abandonned, unused, and un-supported. All the best, Tony --- Original Message ----- From: <nick.grasso@hrads.com> To: <fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 12:17 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] My two cents worth...
So let's do a "straw pole" to establish who here is willing to "PAY" for an upgrade to Fractint?
Well, I would be willing to pay for an upgrade, but I don't think that's
the
main problem.
First of all, I think it's more of a problem with time rather than money. Anybody with the skill to rewrite Fractint probably already has a full-time, well-paying programming job. I don't think the job of rewriting Fractint can be done in any reasonable length of time by somebody (or even more than one person) working part-time in the evening. And I don't think anybody is going to quit their full-time job to do it as it is doubtful they would make much money with shareware revenue.
Secondly, and more important to me, is that Fractint is open source. I believe in the open source concept, *not* because it allows me to get free software, but because of all the other advantages it has. In fact, it would probably violate the copyright to turn Fractint into shareware. I doubt if Tim would allow it.
Nick
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