Re: Where to find good lisp critiques?

From: Brian Mastenbrook (NOSPAMbmastenbNOSPAM_at_cs.indiana.edu)
Date: 12/03/03 

Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 08:54:10 -0500

In article <sfwhe0iui92.fsf@shell01.TheWorld.com>, Kent M Pitman
<pitman@nhplace.com> wrote:

> Um, not to put a monkeywrench in the works, because I can completely
> sympathize with the viewpoint expressed here, but just to defend the
> possibility that their might be expiration (Franz would be the people
> to say if there was):

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I trying to figure out the discrepancy between the
number I heard from the professor who was talking to Franz and the
number on that page. I don't think he would have quoted a number for an
expiring license. I certainly didn't mean to say that Franz was doing
anything wrong with an annual license, just that the number I was
quoting was likely not for the expiring version but for a more
permanent license.

Perhaps my phrasing is at fault - I don't really mean to criticize the
decisions of the CL vendors. I'm sure what works for them works for
them. I do think they have an opportunity to expand their market by
offering something more attractive to students trying to actually use
the language (which precludes heap-limited trials). I'm not sure what
Digitool is thinking with a $450 student product, but perhaps more
students have that kind of money than I'm aware (and I'm fairly
well-paid by the university). My whine was intended to express the
frustration caused by my experience with better tools (I had a
non-limited LispWorks during the 4.3 beta) coupled with their
out-of-reach pricing - nothing more. 

-- 
Brian Mastenbrook
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~bmastenb/