Re: ProSel 8 and 16

[a2mg@aol.comNomail (A2MG)]

>Beverly and Chuck, I hope you don't take offense at this, because I
>certainly don't intend any.  If you intend to keep your Y2K fixes to ProSel
>as your own intellectual property, which is your right, you *have* to keep
>them separate from ProSel itself, perhaps as a patch disk or something.  In
>other words, you can't (or at least shouldn't) call the updated ProSel-16
>version 8.90.
>
>With ProSel in the public domain, suppose that I want to add some new
>features to it and, through whatever version control process Chuck (or
>whoever) establishes, we incorporate them into ProSel as version 9.0.  Just
>from a practical point of view, users of ProSel should be able to expect
>that version 9.0 includes all of the features and bug fixes in version
>8.90.  Otherwise there is no version control, and we eventually have a real
>mess on our hands.  And that's the best scenario; imagine what happens when
>someone (ahem) decides to "improve" ProSel by sector-editing his name onto
>the title screen and calling it version 9.0, including all of your Y2K
>work.
>
>Please, don't take us down that road.  Either keep your Y2K fixes as your
>own intellectual property in a separate product, or release them to the
>public domain as a new version of ProSel.  Thanks!

My work will never be released to the public as long as Apple II developers and
publishers are criticized, kicked, and dragged through the mud as I (and
others) have been. Right now we're looking to help happy, sincere and
supportive Apple II folks. Thank goodness there are a lot more of those  than
there are pirates and cretins.

Apparently ProSel's management thinks the Y2K fixes are important enough to
make a new shipping version, v8.90. Other Apple II developers and key members
of the Apple II press agree. Some won't even distribute the PD version at all.
The Y2K version has been in the works since last summer, long before there was
any idea about ProSel's being "PD."  Even if ProSel had not gone PD, there
would have been a new version anyway. The only difference is that instead of
being $40, it is $10.

If you think that your patches and changes are important enough to become an
official shipping version, then you should discuss it with Chuck. I've done
several other ProSel updates, including bumping version numbers, but I wouldn't
make them official. They are for hobbyists and connoisseurs. I would be happy
to discuss ProSel and AppleWorks development issues in the Apple II Mail Group.

Beverly Cadieux 
Join the Apple II Mail Group at http://members.aol.com/A2MG