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