At 8:41 PM -0500 9/29/98, Matthew James Gering wrote:
Jim Choate wrote:
Had Microsoft, for example, been required to publish their API's by the market we wouldn't be spending all this effort ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You state free-market and then you are *requiring* someone to do something? How do you resolve that contradiction? Require = Force != Free[dom]
Required as in purchasers large and small saying "You don't include your source code, we won't buy it". Sort of like how restraunts are forced (usually) to provide dinnerware, sure, they could MAKE you bring your own fork & plate, but they wouldn't be too popular.
As far as *commercial* software vendors go, Microsoft is one of the better companies for publishing APIs and creating useful APIs and tools for Rapid Application Development. Do you subscribe to MSDN? Please do before you crucify Microsoft for lack of APIs, if anything they have too many.
"BETTER"? Remember "Undocumented Dos"? Wasn't there a (couple) windows versions? Microsoft sells/gives away it's API so that it can find competent programmers to hire and lock away in tiny rooms. -- petro@playboy.com----for work related issues. I don't speak for Playboy. petro@bounty.org-----for everthing else. They wouldn't like that. They REALLY Economic speech IS political speech. wouldn't like that.