Computer Letter: Sharing software
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Your support makes all the difference.I was interested in your page (19 November) on shareware software, particularly the comment by David Hewson: 'I contacted six 'professional' Mac users and not one had any shareware or freeware on his or her machine.'
The demands are many and varied on our Macs - about 80 in this building alone. In many cases there are no commercial equivalents, so we could not function without the freeware.
Further, we make wide use of free software under the GNU General Public License (for information, try Free Software Foundation, 675 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA). Much of the finest software in the world is distributed free under this license.
As for the stuff I have on my machine, here is a partial list:
Eudora v 1.4. This is the mail program which is sending you this mail. It's free and arguably the best E-mail program there is. Version 2 is commercial.
ScrapZ v 1.3.1. A multiple scrap book utility. It's free and has performed flawlessly.
PopChar v 2.6.2. A control panel that allows you to insert odd characters into a document via a pop-up menu. Free.
Behierarchic v 1.0.5. A control panel which enables the Apple menu to become hierarchical. USD 10 shareware.
Fetch v 2.1.1. Allows me to fetch files from the Internet network straight to my Mac. Free.
Tex-edit v 1.8.5. Public domain text editor. Fast. Good for simple documents.
Applicon v 2.3. Switches quickly between applications. Free.
UpToDate v 1.1.2. File synchronization (between, say, a Powerbook and a desk-top Mac).
Dr Mark J Winter:
Department of Chemistry
University of Sheffield
M Winter@sheffield. ac. uk