MSGID: 1:153/757.0 7fef058e   
   REPLY: 1:18/200@fidonet 56307655   
   TZUTC: -0700   
   CHARSET: LATIN-1   
   > Internet Red, like Telegard, died the minute its author graduated college   
   > and started making money.   
      
   Maximus comes to mind too. Thankfully the source for Maximus was released so   
   anyone interested could move that product forward if they could/wanted to.   
      
   > However, Charles can be found if needed.  Tim Strike, the author of   
   > Telegard, actively avoids his BBSing past.  A few years ago, I tracked down   
   > Tim and called him at his work.  As soon as I identified myself, Tim hung up   
   > on me.   
      
   Tim did what he did with Telegard freely. He never asked anyone for anything. I   
    think he did awesome things with Telegard and gave it to anyone who wanted to   
   use it.   
      
   > I have heard a bunch of bullshit excuses from both authors about not   
   > releasing their code.  Charles, at least, had a good reason: the use of   
   > commercial libraries (though that code could be rewritten).  Tim bleated   
   > about copyright issues and other trivial things that were, to me, an obvious   
   > attempt at pinning the blame on everyone but himself.   
      
   Those were not trivial issues to Tim. Telegard was a full system when Tim   
   started work on it, it was full of code that was not his and he didn't have the   
    right or permission to release it.   
      
   I don't think the source for Internet Rex or Telegard was ever on the table. It   
    would be nice if it was but not all software is open source.   
      
   > So that's why I dropped both products.  At least now, if something breaks, I   
   > can fix it.   
      
   You are in a different boat than I am. I am not a programmer so if I have a   
   problem with software I can only report it. If the software is to be upgraded   
   further it needs to be done by the author of the software whether the source is   
    available or not.   
      
   > Years ago, in the IREX echo when Charles was still active, I was complaining   
   > about a lack of support.  He angrily replied to me, offering to give me my   
   > registration fee back.  I informed him the money was not the point.  He   
   > immediately disappeared into the ether after that.   
      
   I don't think those who write and support BBS software can ever make enough $$$   
    from it to make their living supporting it.   
      
   In every case of active authors of BBS related software today they do it   
   because they love it. I have and do support authors of shareware and opensource   
    software.   
      
   > I have been supporting my own programs for 21 years now without any issue   
   > but it's never been about the money for me.   
      
   That is great, it really is. There are few BBS software authors active today so   
    I encourage you to continue.   
      
   > Charles' and Tim's actions pointed out where their loyalty lies and it's not   
   > with their users.   
      
   I hold Charles and Tim in high regard and I think both of them did the best   
   they could.   
      
   Also Scott Dudley. I think he was a master of what he was doing. I've hoped   
   over the years that he would find free time to continue to update Maximus and   
   Squish but it never happened.   
      
   > If I were you, I'd use something else than IRex.  Its BinkD and FTP server   
   > are both buggy as hell.   
      
   I don't use IRex anymore but there are two links here who still use it so I   
   guess it works for them.   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-4   
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