X-no-Archive:yes
> Jeff (not understanding why sane people expect good stuff to be
>       free) Vance, CSY

Because we do not distinguish between free and things which have a hidden
cost?

And isn't this an old debate: what should the OS include? Everything that
comes with the OS cost someone something to develop, compile, or test, even
if it's a port of OSS (Open Source Software). Windows included WordPad
because OS/2 had a rudimentary word processor. Is WordPad really worth
having? At what price? OTOH, should MPE include IMAGE? Or even KSAM? This
cuts both ways.

That said, you can't argue with success. OSs have included goodies that
probably would not have gotten used and adopted half so readily if they were
for cost add-ons. OTOH, I had always assumed that MPE did not offer a good
full screen editor or robust database query tool, so as to leave room for
the third-party vendors to prosper. It has been suggested that whenever MS
bundles any utility, even scandisk, EMM386, or MSAV, those utility vendors
get hurt, bad.

And, whose hands do you put these tools into at deep discounts, or for free?
Students? Developers? End users?

It does not appear to be a simple issue, at all.

Greg Stigers
http://www.cgiusa.com

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