23 Feb
1999
23 Feb
'99
4:51 p.m.
Sorry for the long, yucky forward, but I thought I'd save folks time negotiating
with these people. I basically feel they're being petulant about how nobody
registered teledisk (which I understand, I guess, but can't understand why
they won't *sell* me a single user copy). Note that this is in reverse
chronological order, with the most recent note first.
My reply to this was "thank you for your time, I will be deleting teledisk from
my system." I can't fault Ms St. Clair for being unfriendly or unhelpful,
just her company for being stupid.
And I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $150 dollars for a 25 user site license
of software that has to run in a DOS window.
-Jim
From miriam(a)sydex.com Mon Feb 22 11:45:01 1999
Message-ID: <199902221038530000.00B8538A(a)10.0.0.254>
X-Mailer: Calypso Version 2.40.40
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1999 10:38:53 -0800
From: "Miriam W. St. Clair" <miriam(a)sydex.com>
To: jim(a)calico.litterbox.com
Subject: Re: Information Request: general
22 February 1999
Dear Mr. Strickland,
TeleDisk was removed from shareware precisely because fewer than 1% of
its (often hobbyist) users were willing to purchase a registered
copy--but all of them were quite willing to call for support. Version
2.12 was the last available shareware release, and it will not run
properly in an MS-DOS session under Windows 95/98 nor on most Pentium
systems. Sydex discontinued the distribution of Version 2.12 in early
1991 when TeleDisk was dropped from our shareware product line. We do
not offer any kind of support for this release. Quite frankly, we're
surprised at the number of people who expect a 1990 hardware-sensitive
DOS product to run under Windows 95 on Pentium systems.
The 25-user license for TeleDisk Pro is a site license, and it may be
used only at one specified location.
As I mentioned earlier, CopyQM will handle a number of unusual formats.
You need to work in MS-DOS command-prompt mode, with DIRECT hardware
access, and in BLIND mode. We've made numerous copies of various CP/M
diskettes here using CopyQM in the manner described, so please give it
a try.
That's the best we can do this time. Again, we regret the
circumstances that make it impossible for us to offer TeleDisk Pro for
shareware registration fees.
Regards,
Miriam W. St.Clair
for Sydex, Inc.
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 2/22/99, at 11:07 AM, Jim Strickland wrote:
formats in
de-facto
--
Jim Strickland
jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 22 February 1999
>
> Dear Mr. Strickland,
>
> What you found is definitely hacked, so all bets are off. 22DISK
has
> the less expensive price since it's still
a shareware product, and
> since its users have pretty much supported it by registering
(although
> we've seen big negative changes in this
practice over the last
couple
> of years). TeleDisk was removed from
shareware distribution in
1991,
> and we've sold it ever since as a
commercial product. I'm very
sorry
that we
cannot offer a single-user price now.
How unfortunate. Considering the general standardization of disk the last couple years - ie macs read PC disks, pcs
read mac disks and
not much
else is out there - I would have thought the
hobbiest market was one
you would
pursue with this product. A question. If I went
ahead and bought the
25 user
license, would it then be legitimate to share it
with 24 of my
hobbiest friends
?
> You might try one more thing before you give up the hobby entirely.
> Pick up the evaluation copy of CopyQM from our Web site. Use it
under
> straight MS-DOS (no Windows, please for this
particular use), and
see
if it
will make copies of your Kaypro diskettes in BLIND mode. This
might work, and CopyQM can still be purchased for a shareware
registration fee.
Thanks for this information. I'll give it a try. Unfortunately the standard for this kind of thing seems to be
teledisk 2.12, which won't
run
properly on my windows machine.
==================
Miriam W. St. Clair
Sydex, Inc.
P.O. Box 5700
Eugene, OR 97405
USA
Voice: 1 541 683 6033
FAX: 1 541 683 1622
Email: miriam(a)sydex.com
WWW: http:/www.sydex.com