Dean, Interesting thoughts ...
Basically IBM is a corporation with stockholders. A 'for profit' corporation. They will do things that they believe will earn them money. IBM is very interested in earning money (as are most if not all corporations). The key to this discussion is to come up with a way for IBM to earn money on a 'hobbyist' license. Something has to fund (pay for) the license and the IBM personal handling distribution/maintance/support of said license. License security (legal usage) is another issue (I will ignore that for now). Find a way for IBM to make a profit on a hobbyist license and they will do it. Remember IBM is a very large company. Their cost structure is much higher than you think. Suggesting a way for IBM to make $100,000 is not going to make it. $100K (or $1 million) is not even on any IBM managers radar screen. Does PWD make money? Probably not but the $13K/$20K everyone complains about probably does not even cover the cost of IBM running the project. Remember, NO AD/CDs any more and PWD costs have largely been moved to T3/Cornerstone as distributors. Most PWD personal are now doing something else. IBM has lowered their costs by moving the PWD program outside IBM but T3/Cornerstone have to make money too. Complain if you want but the reality is if you want a hobbyist license you have to find a way for IBM to make money on it. Heck, you might get them to at least listen to you if you could find a way for them to break-even on the license (but I doubt it). Regards, Jeff -- Jeffrey C Barnard Barnard Software, Inc. http://www.bsiopti.com Phone 407-323-4773 Fax 407-323-4775
