On Fri, 12 Oct 2001, Dan Shearer wrote:
> Exim Win32 Proposal FAQ
FAQ ? Do you mean RFC (as in Request For Comments) ?
> 2. So why ask anything? Do the port and show us the code!
>
> Tellurian is a business, and we would like to continue to make money. So
> before doing the port, we need to establish some things. Tellurian would
> like to have some sort of a feel for the answers to some questions about
> what people would like to see, and what they would be willing to pay for.
>
> I would very much like to hear from anyone who thinks they might purchase
> an Exim-based product as described in the rest of this FAQ. We need to
> get some kind of idea of potential demand. If it doesn't exist, then we
> won't be doing the work. This FAQ is evidence that we think the demand might
> exist. We could well be wrong.
I suspect that you are asking in the wrong place,
although I can't be helpful and suggest somewhere appropriate.
I suspect that my answers may be typical of a large part of this list
(in the sense that people who have a radically different view are unlikely
to be into exim).
For a mail server I'd choose to run exim on a unix box, over NT any day.
If Exim for Windows existed, I'd consider it as the mail daemon for a
user machine (although I've never found that a user machine needs a mail
daemon), but I wouldn't pay for it.
> 3. Pay for? But this is GPL software!
>
> Indeed. Nevertheless, that's what we mean. Windows users expect to pay
> for software, and like to get nice reminders of having done so such as
> packaging, and manuals, and holographic certificates and the like. That's
> the way they are, and nothing anyone says on this list is likely to change
> that fact. Plenty of Windows users could present sound business cases
> for why they like to do things this way.
I know that GUIs, installers, paper manuals, support contracts etc.
cost a suprising amount and, unlike technical excellence, are hard
to get people to do for love, but what proportion of the turnover/profits
do you intend to go to an Exim trust (founded to maintain the
excellence of exim, current significant beneficiary P.Hazel) ?
If nothing else, you need (morally) to licence the name, if you are
going to use it.
If Philip hasn't registered the name yet, it is time that he did so.
--
Dr. Andrew C. Aitchison Computer Officer, DPMMS, Cambridge
A.C.Aitchison@??? http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~werdna
