On Fri, 10 Feb 1995, Norm Aleks wrote:
> > You come up with a comprehensive manual for listowners and the listowners
> > buy it (I would) and the purchase entitles the purchaser to a year (or so
> > many issues) of updates.   After   that continued updates requires   paid
> > subscription (you got my money).
>
> I do NOT want this to happen -- I much more like Eric's original thought of
> putting   the documentation  online for  anonymous  access.   If you want a
> printed copy, Douglas, it's easy to print it!
 
Norm, I obviously did not make myself clear on this.  I also think Eric
should make the material available as in the past.  But some of us
would like a comprehensive printed manual.  Yes, I have printed out
lots of things, and clogged up my available disk space with notes as
to this that and the other thing as they come along.  It's such a horrid
mish-mash no one but I could make sense of it.  My point is, some
would be willing to pay (and who better than Eric to garner any profits
to be had) to not have to compile their own manuals, valuable though
they can be with one's own notes from experience.
 
>
> Besides my distaste at paying extra  for the manual  to a piece of software
> that  already has  non-trivial license  and  maintenance fees ("you want to
> know  *how* to use it?   that'll  cost extra"),  the list-owner's manual is
> needed by many who  don't "live" at the  LISTSERV site, and for whom having
> to pay for the manual is as good as saying they can't have one.
 
Well, keep in mind that *many* listowners have paid nothing, monetarily,
to be listowners and, unfortunately, they get little support from their
LISTSERV postmasters/maintainers (what *is* the currently correct term?)
who sometimes know less than the listowners.  Since the listowners didn't
buy the software, they don't get a user's manual, and, I think, many would
be delighted to fork over the money for a good, comprehensive, authoritative
printed manual rather than trying to find the stuff floating around on the
net and try to put it together in a useable format.  Again, who better
to profit from this than Eric and his new company?
 
> --
> I will not sell land in Florida
> I will not sell land in Florida
Deal.  I wouldn't buy land in Florida if you paid me to do so.  But
I would pay, from my own pocket, for a really good comprehensive
listowner's manual from LSOFT.  It would be worth it just to clear
out the past few years' accumulation of printouts and items saved
to disk.
 
Douglas
       Douglas Winship   Hays County, Texas  [log in to unmask]
                    Secondary AUTOCAT Listowner
                              MEDLAB-L