Date: Thu, 25 Aug 94 18:05:41 PDT From: ghost@aladdin.com (L. Peter Deutsch) > Part of that is the cost of Unix, both in terms of the actual software > itself, plus the cost of administering it. But y'know, people are > starting to complain about the cost of administering Windows, and > Windows isn't even a real OS! I think the potential is there for > Linux to evolve into an end-user friendly OS. The potential has been there for Unix to do that for almost 20 years, and it hasn't happened. Why do you think that is? Because the people who demand it have never had the hardware to run Unix. Heretofore they've run DOS because they *had* to. They finally have enough hardware to run a real OS. And guess what? A real OS is as complicated as Unix. > Having the source code is great, but it's not a substitute for ease > of configuration, documentation, or reliability, none of which Linux > has. And as a producer, I get calls all the time (from end-users) > telling me that Ghostscript is too hard to install or use. > > So Ghostscript is worth calling you about but not worth paying for? What would they pay for? I can't distribute a supported end-user version of Ghostscript at a competitive price: my time would be nibbled to death by support calls from clueless users. I would either have to pay beaucoup $$ to get end-user-quality documentation written, or beaucoup $$ to hire a support person. So don't. If there's that many users, then there's reason for someone to take the financial risk to write _Ghostscript: The Book_. That's one of the nice things about free software, is that the software, documentation, and support, are all separable as products. -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> http://www.crynwr.com/crynwr/nelson.html Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | ask4 PGP key 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | What is thee doing about it? Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.