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Number   :  98
Date     :  2001-05-20
Author   :  Kan Yabumoto
Subject  :  XXCOPY, Freeware for personal users only
Size(KB) :  2



Let me continue what I was saying without pretense.

Why am I so concerned about increasing the membership (or more bluntly
the new XXCOPY users)? That's because my company, Pixelab is not
a non-profit organization. I received a lot of thanks for making
XXCOPY available as a freeware. I'm not doing this for the sake
of being just nice to other guys. I'm not Larry Wall (the father
of Perl) who had a well-paying job at JPL. His contribution to
the computing community is enormous. And, his product is still
completely free for personal or commercial usage. And, I'm doing
XXCOPY, a mere file copying program. Nevertheless, XXCOPY is
basically the way my company has to support itself.

While I appreciate the thanking notes that I receive very much,
they do not let me pay the bills. The whole premise is that the
good reputation of XXCOPY spreads among the freeware users. And,
probably every 1000 freeware users, there will be one IT
professional who thinks that it may be useful in his/her company.
That's what we are counting on.

XXCOPY is not a complete freeware with unconditional free usage.
I decided to make it available for free for personal use as a
freeware which I felt was the only way to promote the product.
I still feel that was a correct decision. From day one, I made
my intention clear on our web site that I will reserve the right
to terminate the freeware status.

At this point, I don't feel it should become a typical shareware
which allows only a 30 days or so for trial and then either you
pay or stop using it. Actually, for corporate users, XXCOPY is
like a shareware (trial-ware) which has a free trial period and
beyond that, a commercial user must acquire a license. I intend
to keep the freeware status for personal user as is.

So far, XXCOPY has been listed in most major shareware/freeware
listing sites on the Internet where most of you heard about it.
Some of you have heard in various newsgroups.

One thing I feel bad about being quite generous in answering all
Emails from freeware users. When I encourage corporate users to
become a paid licensee, one of the benefits that I promise is to
give a priority tech support. But, when I give free tech support
to everybody, the paid customers would rightly feel "cheated".

As the conclusion here, let me confess that XXCOPY as freeware
is a gimmick. My true intention was to make money by selling
XXCOPY to corporate users (and very serious users who consider
XXCOPY a bargain). Everything I do for XXCOPY and its users
are motivated to make money. To do so, I need more users.
This group is one vehicle to the ultimate goal. But, as long
as I keep the freeware status intact for personal usage, I
believe a win-win situation is attainable.

Kan Yabumoto

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