Hello Sean,   
      
   On Thursday May 19 2011 20:11, you wrote to me:   
      
    SD> I'll leave the subject alone after this message.  I think I put my   
    SD> feelings across pretty clearly on this subject. :)   
      
   I agree with most of your sentiments. OTOH, I can understand how people's   
   lives change and how people can lose interest in what once was their pet   
   projecy. It happened to me too several times in my life.   
      
   Also, I think it is not fair that if one has bought a piece of software, one   
   can expect support for all eternity. It isn't like that for hardware either.   
   If you buy a car, you get a one, two or five year guarantee, depending on   
   sales conditions and the factory guaranties that you can buy spare parts for   
   10 years, but after that you are on you own. So why should it be different for   
   software?   
      
   It is Charles' right to stop developing Irex, it is his right to not release   
   the source.   
      
   Having said that... Fidonet is not a commercial environment. It was once a   
   green pasture for professional programmers, but it no longer is. There is no   
   more money to be made on Fidonet, so Charles has nothing to gain by sitting on   
   the source. Assuming he still has it. FidoNet OTOH would gain a lot if the   
   source were given to someone else willing and able to do something usefull   
   with it. Charles is still a member of FidoNet, an NC even, so I think we can   
   expect some loyalty from him as a fellow member.   
      
   Source lost? I find that a bit hard to believe for a professional programmer.   
   Propriety libraries? Oh c'mon surely a solution can be found if someone is   
   willing and able to take over the project? Anyway, why does Charles not look   
   us straight in the eye and tell us what the position is?   
      
    SD> I still like Internet Rex, I still feel I got my money's worth,   
      
   I got my money worth, and I still use it. But I am not sure if I still like   
   it. I do not recommend it to friends any more unless they can make do with the   
   3 node freeware version. It has a few mildly annoying bugs and shortcomings.   
   There has not been an update in almost a decade and the author is   
   unresponsive, so wcan safely treat is as abandonware.   
      
   I do not recommend paying for abandonware. Not the full price anyway.   
      
   Another issue is IPv6. I tried to get a response from Charles about that too,   
   but all I got was silence. Well, the message is clear: there is not going to   
   be IPv6 support for Irex. Period.   
      
   IPv6 is the Sword of Damocles hannging over everyone using the InterNet. My   
   position is that anything that does not support IPv6 is a dead end. We may   
   delay it and find workarounds, but in the end it will be unevitable, even for   
   FidoNet.   
      
   For well over two years I have taken the position that I will not buy new   
   network equipment that does not support IPv6 and that also goes for software.   
   In this stage of the IPv4 depletion game, IANA pool depleted, APNIC pool   
   depleted, RIPE pool expected to be depleted end of summer or start of Autumn,   
   software that does not support IPv6 or at least has the firm promise of an   
   upgrade before the end of the year, I label crippleware.   
      
   So Irex is now crippleware. ;-)   
      
      
   Cheers, Michiel   
      
   --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20070503   
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