Re: [Fractint] My two cents worth...
So let's do a "straw pole" to establish who here is willing to "PAY" for an upgrade to Fractint?
Well, I would be willing to pay for an upgrade, but I don't think that's the main problem. First of all, I think it's more of a problem with time rather than money. Anybody with the skill to rewrite Fractint probably already has a full-time, well-paying programming job. I don't think the job of rewriting Fractint can be done in any reasonable length of time by somebody (or even more than one person) working part-time in the evening. And I don't think anybody is going to quit their full-time job to do it as it is doubtful they would make much money with shareware revenue. Secondly, and more important to me, is that Fractint is open source. I believe in the open source concept, *not* because it allows me to get free software, but because of all the other advantages it has. In fact, it would probably violate the copyright to turn Fractint into shareware. I doubt if Tim would allow it. Nick
Here we have the clasical "circular argument", that has killed many an excellent idea, project, or specifically piece of softweare. One voice says, "Please upgrade Fractint, it's increasingly incompatible with newer Windoze operating systems and the newer hardware. It's slow, and it's 4. 5. years behind the times. Worst of all, it has lost a large segment of it's original user base to not quite as good Windoze compatible product(s) that have more up to date features". Another voice says, "Well, you're asking too much for volunteer programmers, who are working for love & glory. What do you expect for free software? Shut up and eat your oatmeal and be grateful for what you've got! Pay us and then we'll be more motivated to upgrade it." Then another voice chimes in, "Well, I'm philosophically against this software being shareware or commericalized in any way. I would rather see Fractint remain 4, 5 years behind the times, wither & die, and the whole user base completely abandon Fractint to the other newer Windoze compatible shareware product(s), than go against my principles!" Some other voices leap into the fray. "We're leeches and we will never pay for anything! Keep the freebies comming!" The end result: Eventually, Fractint will finally be abandonned by the remaining user base and it will join the ranks of "dead-ware" totally abandonned, unused, and un-supported. All the best, Tony --- Original Message ----- From: <nick.grasso@hrads.com> To: <fractint@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, October 25, 2002 12:17 PM Subject: Re: [Fractint] My two cents worth...
So let's do a "straw pole" to establish who here is willing to "PAY" for an upgrade to Fractint?
Well, I would be willing to pay for an upgrade, but I don't think that's
the
main problem.
First of all, I think it's more of a problem with time rather than money. Anybody with the skill to rewrite Fractint probably already has a full-time, well-paying programming job. I don't think the job of rewriting Fractint can be done in any reasonable length of time by somebody (or even more than one person) working part-time in the evening. And I don't think anybody is going to quit their full-time job to do it as it is doubtful they would make much money with shareware revenue.
Secondly, and more important to me, is that Fractint is open source. I believe in the open source concept, *not* because it allows me to get free software, but because of all the other advantages it has. In fact, it would probably violate the copyright to turn Fractint into shareware. I doubt if Tim would allow it.
Nick
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The end result: Eventually, Fractint will finally be abandoned by the remaining user base and it will join the ranks of "dead-ware" totally abandoned, unused, and un-supported.
Exactly what I meant by my original post. I am not asking anyone to do anything. I just think that it is a shame to see such a great program suffer. Along with the fact that one of my biggest pet peeves is the 'I'll never move off of [INSERT TIRED EQUIPMENT OR OPERATING SYSTEM HERE]' Mark.
And while I'm at it, I'll just throw this in the fire also: I think the only people who have a *true* opinion in the open source argument are the developers. Be it Fractint, Linux, OpenOffice, whatever... The developers look truly at the benefits of open source. Most end users who support open source don't really understand the philosophy behind it, and are the same people who will use the software just because it's free. Think about it - Do the clear majority of people you know, who use open source stuff even understand the source code? Much less, have they ever contributed to the source? or customized it themselves for their own use? Or, do they just use the free, compiled & running software that comes with the source? Do most of these users, who are the 90% majority, even care if the source even comes with the program? I don't know if Fractint distributors keep download statistics, but I know for certain that Red Hat's download for Linux source is about 4% or the download for the actual 'free' operating system. To most users open source=free programs and that is all they care about.
On Fri, 25 Oct 2002 12:17:55 -0400, nick.grasso@hrads.com wrote:
Well, I would be willing to pay for an upgrade, but I don't think that's the main problem.
First of all, I think it's more of a problem with time rather than money. Anybody with the skill to rewrite Fractint probably already has a full-time, well-paying programming job. I don't think the job of rewriting Fractint can be done in any reasonable length of time by somebody (or even more than one person) working part-time in the evening. And I don't think anybody is going to quit their full-time job to do it as it is doubtful they would make much money with shareware revenue.
Secondly, and more important to me, is that Fractint is open source. I believe in the open source concept, *not* because it allows me to get free software, but because of all the other advantages it has. In fact, it would probably violate the copyright to turn Fractint into shareware. I doubt if Tim would allow it.
I think one problem that needs to be thought about is that most home PCs are now sold with Windows XP, and as has been indicated in recent correspondence, there seem to be problems with getting it to run under XP. It is not always convenient to have to specially install a second operating system, and if the price for using Fractint is to purchase an old copy of Windows (while it is still available), it does mean Fractint becomes quite expensive. I am considering moving to XP in the hope that it will cure some of the Windows Me annoyances. I would not wish to see Fractint disappear. John -- John Lewis, jlewis@clara.net on 25/10/2002
participants (4)
-
John Lewis -
Mark A. Freeze -
nick.grasso＠hrads.com -
Tony Parker