On    Wed,   1    Feb   1995    16:51:16    PST   TIM    FUNK   AT    HW1
<[log in to unmask]> said:
 
>Can anyone  tell me where  to get a  trial copy of  LISTSERV/VM-TCP. The
>info that  L-Soft Inc sent  stated that we could  FTP a trial  copy from
>FTP.SPC.EDU. The  FTP site contains listserv  for UNIX and VMS,  but not
>VM.
 
Indeed the  trial copies available  by anonymous  FTP are for  the non-VM
versions only. For these systems  we use cryptographic license keys which
allow us to  create limited capacity trial versions that  anyone can grab
anonymously. For  the VM version we're  still debating whether to  go the
LAK  way or  continue with  the current  versions that  have no  built-in
expiration or capacity checks. Essentially the difference is that we feel
we can trust companies that spend millions of dollars a year on mainframe
equipment not  to cheat  on us  to save a  few thousand  dollars, whereas
putting this kind of trust in PC  users is not generally advisable if you
actually plan to try  and enforce your legal rights some  day :-) This is
how the LAKs came to be and now  we would technically be in a position to
use them for VM as well if this turns out to be useful for other reasons.
Using LAKs for VM would allow us to sell graduated licenses and put trial
copies on  anonymous FTP.  One obstacle however  is that  the EARN/L-Soft
contract requires us to make all the VM source code available to the EARN
Association for browsing  and/or recompilation, and we  couldn't make the
LAK generator/decoder source code available under the particular terms of
this agreement. If we don't use LAKs with VM the problem is solved - it's
not part of  the VM source code. The EARN/L-Soft  contract will expire in
July or  whenever the EARN  association is formally  terminated following
its merger with  RARE last year, whichever occurs first.  At this time we
will be free to switch to LAK if this is what makes the most sense.
 
Anyway,  to   request  trial  copies  for   VM  you  have  to   write  to
[log in to unmask] and they'll make you sign  a form saying you agree not to
use the software for more than XX days, etc. Then we'll get you a copy of
the trial code, which for VM is the same as the production code.
 
  Eric