The idea of the list is to help people solve problems. If commercial
software can do that it should be referenced and discussed. I certainly want
to know about it. If free software does the job, then fine. However one
reason commercial software exists is because people spent a whole lot of
time developing it and need some payback - one has to pay one's bills and
there is nothing wrong with profit from one's efforts. There would be
virtually no GIS or spatial stats or much else without commercial products.
Also free software can be very much non-free if it can't be maintained, has
bugs, and is totally at the whim of the developer, which is of course
perfectly reasonable. Free software is a false economy, so forth.
If someone wants to push their product then reasonable restrain can be a web
site reference to find details. I need to spend less time looking around for
solutions, not more, that is why we join listserves.
Richard Hoskins
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
GMT -8
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On
Behalf Of Ted Harding
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2001 8:06 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: AI-GEOSTATS: Comments about software
On 12-Feb-01 Isobel Clark wrote:
> I agree that we do not want to turn the AI-Geostats
> list into an advertising free-for-all but it is very
> difficult not to refer to what you consider the
> perfect solution to a particular problem.
Myself, I think this is fine as far as it goes. If Isobel
knows that the software developed by her house does a
particular job, and this may not be obvious or known to
others, then I cannot see why there should be objection
to her pointing it out in that context (otherwise the
mickey-mouse situation could arise in which non-free
software writers prompt their friends to point it out).
I don't really see an essential difference between saying
that E**SS* can do something specific, and saying that
ARCI*** can do it.
Equally, this should not take the form of an advertising
blurb. Within the list policy of not allowing advertising,
people should be able to mention a product with a decent
restraint, to the extent justified by the context.
I was unhappy about Gregoire's recent assertion that
"it is a demo version of a commercial product and I can not
accept to have it mentioned on the mailing list", since it
carries an implication that no commercial product should
be mentioned even in the context of pointing out that it
may give the solution to a reader's problem. Surely it must
be allowable to say that the solution to a problem can be
found in XXX package, commercial or not?
The delicate question of course is: where is the line that
defines "decent restraint"?
Ted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Topical Thought: It is better to arrive, than to travel hopefully.
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 284 7749
Date: 12-Feb-01 Time: 16:05:48
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