An alternate to AIM+

[Big-O Mark]

actually i dont think he was supporting it, just stating a fact.

Exactly .

[Master Jedi]

I am definitly sad to hear that people can be so stupid and threaten you guys if you create a program that is used for no private gain (its free!) .. totally sad. Its ridiculous that someone would even do taht .. argh! So now the question becomes, what can i use as a substitue for aim + .. preferable on teh new aim 5.0 ....

thanks guys.

mike

If I were as good a programer as Mark, I'd write one myself, but I'm not so I won't.

[whosurdaddy]

i think if there were a lot more good programmers as is mark, there would be a lot more good free progams. but sad to say theres not

[harra]

I don't think the lack of good FREE programs comes down to a lack of good programmers. I think it comes down to a combination of several things

1. Many good programmers are being paid for their skills and the last thing they want to do after writing code for 10+ hours a day is to come home and work on something for free.
2. Releasing a quality program for FREE requires a semblance of generosity. It takes a kind person/group to release something that took a lot of hard work and not expect a dime for it
3. The releasing of the product doesn't fit within a good Cost-Benefit Analysis (something I picked up in ECON....lol). Everything we do should be analyzed to see if the cost of the action/activity/product/service (i.e. sanity, money, time, etc) doesn't outweigh the benefits (i.e. warm fuzzies, profit, presitige, etc.). As soon as something becomes more costly than the benefits you receive, it is no longer considered a sound thing to do....economically speaking.

Also, I tend to notice that a lot of the free stuff comes from young, talented programmers who are in college or are recent graduates. Once they get engrained into the corporate world they find less, and less time to devote to their "hobbies", which may have been quality free programs. Some older developers release free stuff, but you'll often find that they are add-in's and other support applets/applications that fit within a niche market and you often find they were originally developed to aid the developer in doing their paid profession.

Ray