On Fri, 2 Oct 1998 10:10:29 -0400 Valdis Kletnieks said:
>On Thu, 01 Oct 1998 20:52:34 EDT, you said:
>>     I don't understand why ListServ is so expencive, and why I can not find
>> anouther host that has it besides LSoft.
>
>Well, I can't speak for other sites, but here's the breakdown on *our*
>costs (more or less, a lot of guesstimates here):
>
The exact numbers aren't important, but I would guess that some of
those numbers are low, even though Blacksburg is a lower cost of
living than NY.  Also, Valdis has been working with the software
for quite some time, so has a high skill level with Listserv,
which isn't factored into those numbers.

>
>Now mind you, this *is* to support 2,500+ lists and 500,000 outbound
>messages a day... But...
>
>That's a hefty chunk of change.  As a result, the powers that be have
>declared that we won't sponsor a list unless it's either owned by a
>person affiliated with Virginia Tech, or clearly advances the mission
>of Virginia Tech.  We don't charge for the service, so we can't make
>exceptions - that would get us going down a VERY steep slope, and end
>up not being able to properly support our university community.

similar to our policy, and almost every other one involving
academics that I've seen.

>
>And yes, $3K/year is pretty expensive for the software.  On the other
>hand, I know that I'm a pretty good codeslinger myself, but I'd be
>totally unable to write a product as overall robust and usable as what
>LSoft provides, on the number of hours/week $3K/year would pay for.

Which is why we pay for it, and other things too.  Plus the
support issues.

>
>Remember that every single Listserv site is either (a) at a commercial
>provider who is there to Make Money (such as AOL, etc) where it is
>used as a source of revenue by billing users, or (b) is at a
>university, company, or organization where it's a tool to support
>whatever they *are* in business to do. I'm sure that the people at LSoft
>will be happy to correct me if I'm wrong here. ;)

Well, there are also the shareware versions.  If its is that
important to run, pay the minimal shareware license fee for Win95,
and run your list there.

/ahw