Re: Online book cataloging

de Craig 06/01/2006 06:34

Coolabcgirl wrote:

>
> Craig wrote:
>
>> Al Klein wrote:
>>
>>
>>> On 31 May 2006 15:08:42 -0700, "Coolabcgirl"
>>> <ranabasheer@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> The service that I am referring to is a facility for people to
>>>> organize their home library. My plan was to provide a site
>>>> where people with small home library can catalog their
>>>> information and share that with their friends. I thought if I
>>>> provide some program for free to use which normally they have
>>>> to pay money for then it constitutes a freeware.
>>>
>>>
>>> So what program are you providing? Where do we download it?
>>
>> Yea;
>>
>> That was my understanding from your original post, collabcgirl. A
>> freeware proggie for keeping track of books, suitable for web
>> sites. I visited and found your chosen collection hyperlinked to
>> Amazon.
>>
>> At best it's a free /service/. Unless you're posting the
>> css/html...even then, it'd be more of a template than a proggie.
>>
>> -Craig
>
>
> Hello Craig, As I mentioned in my previous posting the age of
> downloadable application is fast declining.

[snipped]

> The only reason I thought of allowing others to use it is...

[snipped]

>
> Thanks and Regards Rana Basheer
>
Rana;

Thank you for the explanation. It's pretty clear that you've spent a
fair amount of time and effort developing these php scripts. And I can
appreciate that. Fwiw, where I believe we disagree is at the onset: I
don't come here looking to use another person's /service/.

A case in point is photography. I have a photo gallery on my website.
I control access to account creation, viewing, uploading, etc. It is
multi-lingual (important for our members) and handles other media types.
This gallery is written in php. Perhaps you've heard of it, Coppermine.

Although technically, many would not consider coppermine a program, but
rather a series of php scripts, the net effect is the same for me: I
have control over its implementation and use. Part of the confusion in
your offering, for me at least, was that you seemed to be offering the
scripts...

>>>> I thought if I provide some program for free to use which
>>>> normally they have to pay money for then it constitutes a
>>>> freeware.

In other words, you offer the product of your labor. Counter-intuitive
though it may be <grin>, that means handing over the scripts.

So, continuing in this vein, I would be interested in administering your
php scripts on my server for my members and would be happy to hand over
any tweaking I do to you. I would also be happy to join or even help
create a community (forum?). I would not, however, be interested in
using a "service." Your assertion that "the age of downloadable
application is fast declining" is debatable and -at the end of the day-
is not true in what I do. But that debate is for another thread. What
I do want to emphasize is that you are offering a /service/. Not a product.

And from where I stand, a.c.f. is not at all about services.

I'd like for you to consider the advantages of offering your scripting
either as proprietary i.p. or open source. I, for one, would consider
joining what would certainly become a community. Forums would spring
up...modifications offered, q&a's, etc. Quite fun actually.

As a service however, your offering doesn't jibe with a.c.f.'s faq (viz
http://users.net2000.com.au/~johnf/faq.html#4). To that end, I think
you've come to the wrong place. This may sound harsh on the face of it
but no harm is meant.

best wishes,
-Craig