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Re: Newsreaders

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In message <bom3nlFu6hnU1@mid.individual.net> 
  Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2014-03-16, Warren Oates <warren.oates@gmail.com> wrote:
>> In article <160320140733290477%michelle@michelle.org>,
>>  Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> wrote:
>>
>>> In article <bolmd6FrvqdU1@mid.individual.net>, Lloyd  E Parsons
>>> <lloydp21@live.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> > > Thoth by contrast appears to have an active developer, and I am tempted 
>>> > > to try it just because I believe that he or she will act on bug reports.
>>> > 
>>> > Thoth DID have an active developer.  But he's dropped it again.  No 
>>> > updates, and you can't buy it and get the unlocking key any more.
>>> 
>>> And directly from the Thoth web page:
>>> 
>>> "Registering and Downloading
>>> "Unfortunately, after a decade of consistently poor sales, Thoth is no
>>> longer available for downloading or registration. The possible influx
>>> of registrations from MT-NewsWatcher users updating to Mavericks and
>>> needing a new newsreader could have kept Thoth going for another couple
>>> of years, but the registrations never materialized."
>>
>> "... poor sales"?
>>
>> He's not allowed to sell it. He never has been. That's always been the 
>> sticking point with this asshole. He wants money for something he has no 
>> right to collect money from. It's like he's in church and wants to take 
>> money out of the collection plate.

> Yup. NewsWatcher source code was released by John Norstad (the original
> creator of NewsWatcher) as free ware with this notice:

> "Please note that both the NewsWatcher program and NewsWatcher's source
> code are copyright by Northwestern University. You may not use either of
> them for profit."

> If you'll recall, Brian (the author of Thoth) was also the author of
> YA-NewsWatcher, which was based directly on NewsWatcher source code.
> Initially YA-NewsWatcher was free; but later Brian decided to charge for
> YA-NewsWatcher. Naturally, this was in violation of the original
> author's intent, and after significant push back from both developers
> and users, he refunded those sales. However, later, he released Thoth -
> another NewsWatcher derivative, and *drum roll* charged for it.

> Initially, Brian said that Thoth was based on Newswatcher and still
> contained code from it. It was only after people pointed out the license
> restrictions were such that he couldn't sell it that he reversed that
> and began to claim that he had eliminated all Northwestern University
> code from it.

> I'm pretty sure at one point in time I even recall seeing disassembled
> code of Thoth compared with disassembled code of NewsWatcher (either on
> a web site or right here on Usenet), and they were extremely similar or
> exactly the same in a some cases, indicating that the author of Thoth
> did indeed use code from NewsWatcher, and was charging for it yet again. 

Yes, Brian was a lying sack of shit.

> At any rate, since Thoth was released, Brian has decided *several* times
> to publicly bitch and moan to his existing customers that unless sales
> pick up, he would stop supporting Thoth and stop accepting sales of
> Thoth, leaving his customers out in the cold. And he has actually done
> that several times now. He also did this with YA-NewsWatcher in the
> past. 

He's also a weasel, a crook, a liar, and a thief.

> I would never support a software developer who behaves in this manner.

Exactly.

-- 
Two, Four, Six, Eight! Time to Transubstantiate!

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Re: Newsreaders Matti Haveri <nospam@here.invalid> - 2014-02-16 15:20 +0000
  Re: Newsreaders Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-03-09 23:47 -0700
    Re: Newsreaders Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-03-10 15:19 +0000
    Re: Newsreaders Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2014-03-10 12:17 -0700
    Re: Newsreaders <address_is@invalid.invalid> - 2014-03-16 04:24 +0000
      Re: Newsreaders Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2014-03-16 00:55 -0700
    Re: Newsreaders Lloyd  E Parsons <lloydp21@live.com> - 2014-03-16 08:14 -0500
      Re: Newsreaders Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2014-03-16 07:33 -0700
        Re: Newsreaders Warren Oates <warren.oates@gmail.com> - 2014-03-16 10:47 -0400
          Re: Newsreaders Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-03-16 17:01 +0000
            Re: Newsreaders Warren Oates <warren.oates@gmail.com> - 2014-03-16 13:34 -0400
              Re: Newsreaders Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-03-16 19:17 +0000
            Re: Newsreaders Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-16 20:18 +0000
            Re: Newsreaders Alan Browne <alan.browne@FreelunchVideotron.ca> - 2014-03-16 16:47 -0400
              Re: Newsreaders Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2014-03-16 20:59 +0000
                Re: Newsreaders Warren Oates <warren.oates@gmail.com> - 2014-03-16 17:49 -0400
                Re: Newsreaders Matti Haveri <nospam@here.invalid> - 2014-03-18 20:23 +0000
          Re: Newsreaders dorayme <do_ray_me@bigpond.com> - 2014-03-17 07:53 +1100
            Re: Newsreaders Warren Oates <warren.oates@gmail.com> - 2014-03-16 17:58 -0400
              Re: Newsreaders Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-16 22:26 +0000
              Re: Newsreaders Michelle Steiner <michelle@michelle.org> - 2014-03-16 16:09 -0700
        Re: Newsreaders Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2014-03-16 11:48 -0700
        Re: Newsreaders Howard S Shubs <howard@shubs.net> - 2014-03-28 15:14 -0600
    Re: Newsreaders Juan I. Cahis <jiclbchSINBASURA@attglobal.net> - 2014-03-16 12:21 -0500
      Re: Newsreaders Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2014-03-16 11:42 -0700

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