RE: [Axiom-developer] opinion

[Bill Page]

On May 24, 2005 11:09 AM Kostas Oikonomou wrote:

> In reading this list, I am impressed by the amount of
> volunteer effort that is going into making a *free* system
> like Axiom work on a closed (and, in my opinion, closed-
> minded) system like Windows.

Does it really seem like a lot of effort to you? As far as
I know there are only three people (me, Mike Thomas and Tim
Daly) who have spent any time on Axiom for Windows, and then
only on a very part-time irregular basis. Right now I might
be spending about an hour or two each week on Axiom for Windows,
about the same amount or maybe a little more on linux versions,
and then there is the MathAction web site... But *if* I had
more "spare" time, then I would probably be spending it mostly
on the Windows version since that is the version that needs the
most work and seems to be of interest to the most people (based
on the statistics from the MathAction website).

> I know of two instances of commercial companies that make
> their products essentially free on more-or-less free
> platforms, but charge for Windows: Trolltech with Qt, and
> SciFace with MuPad.

If there was a commercial company that was interested in
Axiom, then I don't see any impediment to their packaging and
marketing Axiom in this way. But are you suggesting that we,
as volunteer open source developers, could somehow charge a
fee for downloading the Windows version of Axiom? I don't see
how this could work.

Regards,
Bill Page.