Xenosoft in New Haven CT?

[Ali]

Fred,

> "they will not be"??!?   Of course I intend to reopen.
> Calling it temporary was honest at one time, but then seemed necessary
> to discourage "abandonware" vultures.

Glad to hear it as I have tried a couple of times contacting you through the
website (info at xeno..) to see if you would be restarting sales. 


> 
> "projects" was a euphemism for PROBLEMS.

Usually is...

> I ran the company at a loss for a long time.  Then, I lost my lease,
> and had a crisis of storage space.  Still do.  I wonder how much stuff
> I can take to VCFWest, . . .

Will you be at VCFWest? I would love to meet some of the guys on the list
and put faces to names...

> My best friend died in 2014
> My mother died last year.

My condolences. Deaths in the family are always very tough!

> I now have two houses, with enough crap to fill three.


> I always intended to re-open my programming business (and Lee
> Felsenstein says that he still wants to go back and fix problems with
> the Osborn design).  Now that I could again, should I?

YES! But I do understand your point and it is a point many authors of old SW
make - I know other guys on this list who may still sell their old wares but
it is kept quite as they do not want the associated headaches, troubles,
work load, etc.

> There are still more disk formats to add.
> There are plenty of bugs to fix.
> I now know ways to make it faster.
> I never mastered "Installable File System" to be able to mount an alien
> disk for active use, besides file transfer.
> I want to add capability of working with disk images, besides physical
> floppies.
> I want to add flux transition board support, besides normal FDC.
> But, disks needing to be converted are now finally fading away rapidly.

Wow, that is a quite a wish list and I would think many people on this list
would be very happy to see them implemented.

> 
> "Free download"/shareware software relies on minimal support
> requirement, and a larger volume than is realistic to expect for this
> kind of software, unless somebody else is supporting you.
> (Realistically, what does it take to pay the bills?) The most
> successful model for this kind of software is to do it as a hobby with
> an indulgent employer, or charge [PLENTY] to also do it as a data
> recovery service operation.  Retail sles of it won't pay for an office
> and/or wage for support staff.

I entirely agree on this point and as the years go by the volume gets
smaller and smaller. That being said I've always advocated a minimal fee/no
support model for old software that is no longer profitable to sell. That
is, if you truly do not want a commercial enterprise, you make the SW
available for purchase at a minimal fee (or no fee) and offer absolutely no
support. That way the buyer gets a non-crippled licensed copy and support is
based on the community (if there is any). 

 
> I may be too old, too tired, and too burned out to try.

I hope not - and if you ever decide to sell XenoCopy-PC, XenoFonts, and/or
XenoComm-Parallel you have at least one ready and willing customer!

-Ali