Hi, John. The 70 bucks is no big deal. It was worth it for what I needed at the time, and gave me plenty of service. This is the nature of software: you buy it for a while, then, with operating system and hardware upgrades, it looses its usefulness; you either switch to a more useful product or buy an upgrade. No doubt you will get complaints, but that's life. There are plenty of commercial products that have gone open source. And think of the $500 bucks you spent for Lotus 123 years ago when you can now buy SmartSuite and get it plus a word processor, graph, database, etc. for under $100. I had to leave STN about a year ago when my ISP went to PPPoE. I switched to Coyote, which does run on a floppy, supports the latest kernel, and adds all the goodies everybody wants. It came in a free version and a pay version that added a Windows setup tool. Now the commercial version has been dropped and all versions are free. You might take a look at it for ideas on how to incorporate all those goodies onto a floppy. The URL is http://www.coyotelinux.com/. I think you have done a fanstatic job and have no need of apologizing for changing your marketing plans. I have stayed on the mailing list even though I haven't used STN in over a year because I support your efforts (plus, admittedly, I was hoping one day to see a version I could return to). More than anything, you are to be commended for posting your ideas, frustrations, problems, etc. to this list. At least we all know you haven't forgotten us. Good luck in whatever you decide. You have my support and I am glad you have my $70. Cheers, Carl > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 14:23:31 -0700 > From: "John Lombardo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Open Source? Was "A Final plea..." > > > Sales of ShareTheNet have dropped off almost completely. I believe this is > because of the following factors (in order of precedence): > > o There are plenty of inexpensive hardware alternatives that do as great job > of sharing your Internet connection. > o STN does not support PPPoE, IPSec & other features > o The STN web site is old & crummy > o There has not been an update to STN in quite awhile > o I'm sure there's more, but you get the picture. > > I've been working on a new version of STN for over a year, but I've come up > against a very difficult technical problem - the newest kernel + the newest > glibc just don't leave me enough room on the floppy for everything else. I > spent time working with uClibc, but that has not panned out so far either. > > So, what to do? I'm considering releasing STN as an open source product. > That is, I'll release the source code under the GPL, but still sell support > for it. It will no longer require a registration code to run, but to get > official support you'll have to register it. > > I'm worried that I'll get a lot of people saying "hey, I want my $70 bucks > back." Does anyone think this is a reasonable position? > > Would anyone on the list sign up to be a developer? > > Any suggestions, concerns? > > Regards, > John Lombardo ============================================================ Get your FREE online credit report from ConsumerInfo.Com! ConsumerInfo.Com makes staying on top of your credit history fast and easy. Gain peace of mind and take control of the accuracy of your credit report today! http://click.topica.com/caaacj4bz8Rp2bAfyICf/Pennyweb ============================================================ -- Visit http://www.ShareTheNet.com for info about ShareTheNet Visit http://www.topica.com/lists/sharethenet for info about this list To Unsubscribe send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Rp2.bAfyIC Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
