Hi Robin, you wrote: > I decided that the time and effort involved merited at least some > return and the price was chosen in consultation with the editor of > ETI with neither of us having any real idea of how much interest > there will be. The development software is free of charge. I am now > wondering whether (and how!) to exploit it commercially..... As one of the main `dissenters' on the PIC list, I thought I ought to clarify my feelings on the matter to you personally. I have no problem with commercial exploitation of ideas, especially those where such a large amount of effort has gone into them. Indeed, I hope to sell some of my more sophisticated designs to manufacturers, with the simpler projects hopefully published *in their entirety* in a magazine such as ETI. [Actually, not ETI, I've stopped buying it for exactly the reasons I'm talking about here]. > I'm sorry if all the above is not in spirit with the free exchange > nature of the Internet, and I half expect angry letters (as I received > with the PIC programmer) from some people who seem to assume that > individuals should always give away the fruits of their labours, or at > the very least supply them as shareware (the same thing to most people) ! The main problem isn't at all related to the `free exchange nature of the Internet' but more to the `free exchange of ideas' which has always previously been the principal behind hobbyists' magazines of every sort. Projects were published for the purpose of sharing the idea and to provide recognition for the author. It was possible to modify them, to improve upon them, and *above all* to learn from them. All of these projects were considered to be in the `public domain'. The recent deluge of microcontroller projects are the electronics equivalent of `crippleware'. There is no question that you should benefit from the `fruits of your labours', you are obviously highly skilled. However I believe that to *deserve* to do so you should have tried from the start to `make a go' of it commercially rather than `testing the waters' in what is supposed to be a *hobbyists* publication. Ray -- Computing Officer, MRC Research Centre in Brain and Behaviour, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University