Back when there were only large and expensive mainframes software was a small cost compared to the hardware. So software was "free". Even the cost of the programmers supporting the applications on the mainframes was small compared to the cost of the mainframes. Interesting that some of those smaller mainframes had only 4K of memory! But that has shifted. Personal computers with power many times the largest mainframes of that time are dirt cheap! Software now is the expensive part. But now the costs of software must be distributed over many users rather than just a few users. I really don't understand how a company can sell a software package for a few hundred dollars and spend hours supporting a user with a problem. At the same time it is hard for one to justify spending money on software comparable to the cost of the personal computer. Microsoft gets away with it because they get PC building companies to include Windows etc. as part of the cost of the hardware. If people knew how much the Microsoft products added to the cost of the PC, how many would look to things like Linux etc.?
Unfortunately, Microsoft and all companies are geared to maximizing profit before quality or facility. People doing it for fun or whatever have that reversed. Now to multiple sources. J is only supported by one company - JSoftware. APL, C, BASIC and Windows-like interfaces are supported by many companies, or at least very large companies. This gives management of companies buying software the appearance of alternatives if the supplier fails. It is false because moving software from the APL of one vendor to another is not as easy as the vendors would lead people to believe. Same for C compilers and others. But do large software companies provide security? Look what is happening to the auto companies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
