Without wishing to totally threadjack but in the almost certain knowledge this is doing so, it is an interesting debate. Zone Chicken has asked a few valid questions and here's my take on them:
Quote: "Just to ask, how can one prove that someone is benifiting from freeware."
Some sites charge £10-£15 for a CD full of freeware, and they've never asked permission to sell them. Some sites charge over £20. Some sites charge just a few pounds, but also charge a membership fee before you can make such an order.
Quote: "How would someone know or judge if the provider was benifiting from it."
I have a simple rule, if they are charging for it and it includes my software then I stop them. People such as yourself would respond by taking my teams work out of your catalogue and it's a case of no hard fealings, but many others dont care and are not willing to enter discource. They seem to think there is a law to freeware, or some mysterious freeware standard EULA that applies to my games.
Quote: "1). The price of cds in the local area. "
Next to nothing.
Quote: "2). The cost of storage of the media if the media is downloadable."
Nothing at all.
Quote: "3). The cost of the bandwith if the site is popular and the bandwith is high. "
Not my problem. I have bandwidth issues too.
Quote: "4). The cost of shipping the cd content via ground/air mail. "
Just an excuse to charge an amount that "covers" whatever the cost may be.
Quote: "5). The cost of cc services if the site is a secured and online ordering site."
Not my problem.
Quote: "I don't see why someone that would take there time to make a site and provide people with software even if it is freeware and would eat any of the above cost."
And why should somebody invest their heart and soul in to writting a game and making a site to distribute it only to have somebody else sell it for profit and not pay the author a penny, or even ask permission to do so?
Quote: "Im not trying to start a argument or anything im just curious as to how someone would know if freeware was being sold or the costs to transport the freeware was the only charge being made? "
There is almost always an "admin" fee. My teams has a simple policy, if the company or individual is unknown to us and did not have permission to distribute our software then they are not allowed. If anyone is going to sell a CD full of our software it will be us or a valid business partner.
Now on to Mnemonix, who of course has the ideal values and best intentions with his site. The sort of site that I might actually approve of, but there is a problem.
How does Mnemonix compete with the thousands of other sites already out there doing this?
The answer surely cannot be by building up the software catalogue slowly in waiting for submissions, he'd be about 2,500th on my list of sites to go through the registration with.
Which is why I gave the friendly warning, because sooner or later most of these sites go off in search of freeware. If you are listing your games on a submission based system then are you accepting PAD submissions to get your throughput of games up, and if that is so are the authors aware of your site?
It's a chicken and egg problem...
Which is the biggest tool? The computer, or the muppet who invented it?
