Re: IDL Shareware

["J.D. Smith" <jdsmith(at)astro.cornell.edu>]

Ronn Kling wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> I would like to voice my support to David Fanning's post on the idea of
> shareware.  I have had a few programs available on my site for awhile,
> but no one has bought any. Plus, I notice that no one has replied to
> David's post.
> 

A fly in the ointment of this shareware idea: Most IDL programs that I know
about are produced by researchers supported by government grants, or corporate
expenditure.  Certainly some IDL users have their own companies, or do IDL work
at home, and in private, but the vast majority of contributed IDL libraries
(e.g. the excellent NASA lib) would not be permitted to be sold, as they are
technically the intellectual property of the government or corporate agency in
question.  Now, seldom is this attitude enforced for code which is given away,
since this represents a purely altruistic offering, but if an individual wanted
to make money on programs he had developed while under the employ of a
government agency (including under grant) or corporation, that might raise some
eyebrows.

JD

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