This compiler has an integrated editor and de{*filter*}
 as well as an interactive GUI development tool.  Only
 the WIndows95/98/NT version is currently posted for
 downloading, but a compatible Linux implementation
 also exists and may become available for download
 someday too.

 This compiler might be interesting to people wanting
 a QuickBasic compiler.  The language is not exactly
 QuickBasic, but it's definitely more like QuickBasic
 than VisualBasic.  A program could be written in this
 language to convert QuickBasic source programs to
 this language.  Such a program could be integrated
 into the development environment so conversion from
 QuickBasic could be performed within the environment.

 This compiler and development environment is written
 entirely in itself, except for some assembly language
 to speed crutial aspects such as memory allocation.
 The source code for this package might also be
 made available if a small group of programmers
 agreed to coordinate and oversee development,
 enhancement and mantainence.

There are essentially two classes of computer software:

Copyright products, for which the author/current copyright owner establishes
ALL the rules regarding who may use the product for what purposes; and
public domain, which is owned by no one, and may be used, sold, resold,
sliced, diced  or pureed by anyone who obtains a copy.

"Shareware" is a term describing a marketing technique for copyright
software. It is not true that shareware may be used for your own purposes
once you have downloaded or copied it; rather, you may use the copyright
product AS SPECIFIED BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. In common usage, the copyright
owner will allow you to try the product for a reasonable test period, then
ask you to register the software (with or without payment of a license fee)
or cease usage. The shareware  marketing technique relies on the honor
system.

Michael Mattias
Racine WI

Max,

Roughly speaking, the common terms are:

Public Domain - the author relinquishes all rights to the software

Freeware - the author retains copyright but currently makes the program freely
available and copyable at no charge

Shareware - the author retains copyright but currently makes the program freely
copyable at no charge.  A charge is levied on anyone who wishes to actually
*use* the program after a short period of evaluatory use.  The charge, the
period and the evaluatory conditions depend entirely on the author's wishes
although the charge is normally small to encourage payment and may result in a
"registered" version with more facilities being made available to the
purchaser.  The "registered" version is *not* normally shareware.

Commercial - the author retains copyright and currently makes the program
available only to those who have paid "up front".

If you make the source available then I'm interested in your system.
Otherwise, it may be good but it won't be unique.  There are other good BASIC
compilers available.  If you want to make it more available but still retain
some control over it, I would suggest you have a look at the Public Licence
copyright notice which all GNU software (and some non-GNU software) uses.  Some
variant of it may well fit your needs.  Good luck in any case.

Cheers

Derek

Actually, Shareware started out to be software that was freely shareable *at
not charge at all*; then the greedy people got hold of the name and turned
it into a "cheap" marketing scheme...sort of a "snake oil" technique.
Don't get take me wrong here...if people want to offer a trial period before
payment is due, that is their right for the effort they put into creating
the program(s)...but this is *not* what the word Shareware originally meant!

--

"For God So Loved The World, That He Gave His
Only Begotten Son, That Whosoever Believeth
In Him Should Not Perish, But Have Everlasting
Life"John3:16  * http://pw2.netcom.com/~cbrtjr/wrdthing.html *

 I guess I'm inclined to go "freeware" route.  I wouldn't mind getting
 some spending money, but the hassle of setting up to take credit
 cards and deliver support "somehow" would seem - to me - to make
 this a not-very-tasty approach.  Does "freeware" have to be freely
 copyable or just downloadable.  The reason I ask relates to a
 comment someone else made.  If it is freely downloadable but
 only from trustworthy sites, it would be less likely somebody
 crippled or modified or tinkered with it first.  This would also
 assure people get up-to-date versions and documentation.

                   Copyright, Usage and Distribution
               -----------------------------------------

   The program source code and documentation in this archive (collectively,
   "the software") are copyright 1997 Michael C. Mattias Sturtevant WI USA.

   Permission is given to the public at large to use and redistribute the
   software without notification or payment of royalties for non-commercial
   purposes, PROVIDED:

   1. The archive is distributed complete and unmodified.
   2. No fee other than nominal media and shipping charges is charged.
   3. No more than one copy be may distributed at any one time; i.e,
      creating multiple diskettes for mass distribution is prohibited,
   4. BBS operators may post this file for downloading by subscribers
      without limitation on the number of subscribers or number of
downloads;
      except "Pay-per-download" BBS's may not charge for downloading this
file.

   Commmercial use of the software:

   No commercial use of this software or any modifications thereof is
   permitted without the written permission of the copyright owner.

   Commercial use is defined as the production of software for distribution,
   with or without compensation, to a third party or the public at large,
except
   as an incorporated component of a larger software system for the end use
   of an employer or contractor.

   That is, an employee or contractor of company "X" may incorporate the
released
   and/or a modified version of this software into software created
specifically
   for end use by company "X" without obtaining a license from the copyright
owner;
   however, this software (or modifications thereof) may not be incorporated
   into any software which is offered to the public at large (with or
without
   consideration) without a license issued by the copyright owner.

   Under no circumstances may this software or any modifications, migrations
   or enhancements thereof be distributed except as outlined above without
   obtaining a license from the copyright owner.

   This product may not be converted into an executable or linkable form
   or "bundled" with other code modules and distributed except as necessary
   for employees and consultants of end users to effect delivery of a
complete
   software system into which this module has been incorporated without the
   permission of the copyright owner; i.e., converting or migrating this
software
   to .OBJ, .PBU or .DLL format for distribution requires a license except
as
   explicitly permitted above.

   For information regarding commercial use, or to clarify restictions,
   contact the copyright owner:

   Michael C. Mattias
   [ Full contact info ]

===
As I said before,  the copyright owner makes all the rules. I'm the
copyright owner, and these are the rules I made.

It lets individuals use the product, either for hobby purposes or to fulfill
a *specific* requirement for a user, but will not allow a "snake oil
salesman with a disk duplicator" to mass produce and profit from my work.
(Although, in a strange twist, one firm did mass produce and redistribute.
They stopped after I filed a complaint with the FBI).

On the "responsibility" issue, you probably won't believe this, but I don't
even bother. This is America: land of the free, home of the brave and where
anyone can sue anyone anytime for any reason or no reason. I protect myself
the old-fashioned way: I test the hell out my stuff, encourage users to
report errors, and fix any errors promptly. When I have used disclaimers,
they always include: "Author's liability is limited to the price paid for
the software". When the software is free.....

HTH,
MCM

I think the main thing was when you said the terms had not been fixed yet;
somehow this set off an alarm in my gut.  Couple that with the flashy style
of
your pages and, what appeared, to me, at least, that the pages were aimed
at the younger set.

Having read today's postings to the thread, I am rather more disposed to
accepting your sincerity.  Again please forgive me, but these days one has
to be rather careful when dealing with downloads from the internet and the
people who make them available, particularly when they present an
unsolicited,
blank offer in a newsgroup touting their offer.  (I have made a small
utility program
which I wrote available througth SimtelNet...I wrote it in response to a
query in one
of the ng's for a way to accomplish a particular process.  I provided it to
the querying
party via email attachment, and offerend, in the thread, to provide same to
other intereted
partys.  Then I contacted SimtelNet and they invited me to upload it and it
has since
been available on thier mirror sites.  It is freeware.  SimtelNet does offer
many Shareware
downloads (try it, then pay for it), so you could look into that approach if
you really hope to
make some money from your work.

Charles

--

"For God So Loved The World, That He Gave His
Only Begotten Son, That Whosoever Believeth
In Him Should Not Perish, But Have Everlasting
Life"John3:16  * http://pw2.netcom.com/~cbrtjr/wrdthing.html *

 You talk about people getting some income via "shareware".
 I don't understand that - how do individuals without credit-card
 accepting capabilities do this?  I had assumed no painless
 but practical way to sell software existed.

 Another question - for anyone.  A couple people who downloaded
 XBasic with their Netscape browser had problems because
 Netscape converted every 0x0A byte (newline) in the download
 file to a 0x0D + 0x0A two-byte sequence (return + linefeed).

 The format on my web-page is <a href="xbpro.exe">download</a>.
 Is there a way to change this link in my web-page so nobody gets
 screwed by the Netscape browser in the future?

 Max

Well, as to how people get some income from Shareware (without a credit card
acceptance
arrangement).  I had not done this myself, but what it boils down to is you
just have to hope
people will send you checks to your P.O. Box or other snail mail delivery
point.  There are
organizations that take your Shareware software, package it, put it on racks
in stores, and
recive payment (and, in theory, you recieve some of the money), and usually
each software
package also offers a free upgrade if the poeple send in a registration card
with a small
registration fee.  (This is an aproximate explanation, since I have not used
this method, and
the last software I bought like that was some years ago.)

--

"For God So Loved The World, That He Gave His
Only Begotten Son, That Whosoever Believeth
In Him Should Not Perish, But Have Everlasting
Life"John3:16  * http://pw2.netcom.com/~cbrtjr/wrdthing.html *