CFOG's PIP, January 1987, Volume 5 No. 3, Whole No. 51, page 2
SIG/M Guards the Public Domain
by Benjamin H. Cohen
One of the many computer publications that I subscribe to is Micro/Systems Journal. The Editor of M/SJ is Sol Libes, who started MicroSystems, which he sold to Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., for which Sol edited the magazine until they killed it because at 50,000 circulation it was just too small for Z-D's corporate overhead. It was always a bit more technical than my tastes, and gets more and more into non-CP/M topics, but Sol is a nice guy who deserves to have a winner, so I subscribe. ($20 for one year, six bimonthly issues; $35 for two years; Box 1192, Mountainside, NJ 07092.)
One of the features that I generally do find of interest is Steve Leon's column "In the SIG/M Public Domain". SIG/M is the Special Interest Group/Microcomputers of the Amateur Computing Group of New Jersey, and Steve Leon is the Disk Editor of SIG/M. SIG/M has put out some 280+ disks (standard 8" IBM 3270 format, the CP/M standard for 8" disks) of carefully screened really public domain software. Steve is an absolute bear on beggar-ware. In the November/December issue of M/SJ he published the following Ietter from reader Paul Naitoh:
I have been sensing a deep sense of 'frustration' by Steve Leon towards PC Public Domain programs. I have been wondering about it as I have had very satisfying experiences with the SIG/M Public Domain. I wondered why Steve feels a sense of even 'indignation' towards some of the PC public domain programs. A couple of months ago I got my own Zenith, an IBM PC/XT clone, and I began to acquire PC Public Domain programs. Now I know. Some programs offered in the PC Public Domain as 'shareware' are absolutely worthless or very misleading. Some of these programs offer attractive graphic display but they do NOT work unless I pay $35-50. Why should I pay $6.00 to get that program to start with? I realize now that Steve Leon has been sheltering us CP/M public domain users from all those hungry (and greedy) programmers by refusing to include 'shareware' asking money for giving you a demonstration program.
As a result of this and other similar comments, SIG/M is now branching out and has issued in volumes 284 and 285 its first PC/MS-DOS releases, conforming to the same rigorous standards of documentation, etc., that it always has. Leon says, "What we are trying to do is to make available Public Domain software, including non-CP/M material, that is not sitting there as beggar-ware, asking for a donation. What we seek is good quality material, preferably with source code. It cannot be a demo of commercial software or make any request for a contribution."
Let me be clear about one thing: there is some darn good software being circulated in this manner, and it's not all crippled demos. The NewKey24.arc, for example, is a full working copy of version 2.4 of the program, and the simplified documentation included in the arc allowed me to create a Dvorak keyboard layout (all done on my Osborne 1 and transferred to a single-sided IBM PC format disk with Media Master) that I tested on my brother's Zenith 150 -- it worked like a charm. I was a bit disappointed when I sent off $19.95 to the author, as requested, for which I was promised the latest version and a full manual -- I got the promised wares along with a request for an additional $10 to cover a price increase.
The publishers of beggar-ware are entitled to their method of distribution. It's nice to know, however, that when we get SIG/M disks there will be true public domain software and none of the other stuff. Much of the PC/MS-DOS software that circulates freely is of the 'beggar-ware' type, and it appears that we'll be including it in the CFOG MS-DOS library as that project gets off the ground. I hope we can get an MSDOS librarian who will assiduously check all the available materials and clearly label those which are demos, and whether the demo is full featured, of beggar-ware. At least members who get disks copied at CFOG meetings won't be paying for the privilege of getting beggar-ware.