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Sender: |
Revised LISTSERV forum <LSTSRV-L@DEARN> |
Subject: |
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From: |
"Eric Thomas (CERN/L3)" <ERIC@LEPICS> |
Date: |
Tue, 21 Jun 88 14:50:49 GMT |
Reply-To: |
Revised LISTSERV forum <LSTSRV-L@DEARN> |
I hope I haven't offended anyone with my previous letter re: back-patters. I
was in a very angry status, as usual (the fact that I work 12 hours a day in
the machine room, read crowded heap of paraphernalia with the sound level you
can imagine, does nothing to improve it), and was particularly pissed off at
some letter I had just read. I didn't mean to offend the people who were
really wishing me luck (anyway they saw the replies I sent them privately). I
was mostly referring to people I had almost never heard of (if at all), who
wrote to me for the first (or second) time in their life to try to get me to
give LISTSERV to EARN or BITNET (they don't have money to buy it) so they
could keep developing it (maybe under a joint contract with IBM, DEC or
whatever - and of course these would want to sell it later), after an
extensive amount of back-patting and the like. I am really pissed off at all
the pressure I'm getting to sign contracts about LISTSERV with EARN and
suchlike. I just will not do it, period. I am *especially* angry at the fact
that these people think it is my duty to sign this kind of contracts without
getting any money in exchange. They should be glad that I am kind enough to
let EARN/BITNET use LISTSERV indefinitely and free of charge, and I really
don't see how they can think they are in a position to demand that I sign
contracts or the like. When I am in "pissed off" status, I tend to forget
about all the other nice guys and to make harsh decisions (or statements for
that matter). I see no reason why I should stop giving out new free licenses
for EARN/BITNET sites, or trying to discontinue the use of LISTSERV on the
network (actually I've just sent 4 more copies yesterday and today). But I see
no reason why I should sign contracts, nor why I should cooperate with people
who demand them (and are usually not even EARN/BITNET officials by the way).
By the way I've just received a new job offer to be inserted in the top three,
which includes VM development and EARN access. Now if I could only trade the
PC/MAC offers for VM ones :-)
Eric
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