Re: How many bytes per Italian character?

"Free software is free only if your time is free".

Mine isn't. Either I'm working billable hours, or I'm having fun. Fixing other peoples'
bugs had better be billable hours. Fixing compiler bugs is not fun. I did it for years.
I don't need to do it again (now that I stop to think of it, even it I got paid for it, it
is not high on my list of jobs I would elect to take, unless I got VERY hungry)
joe

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 13:36:36 -0700, "Alexander Grigoriev" <alegr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If one has to spend 10 days fixing the compiler, he might rather want to
spend >$1000 to buy a non-"free" one.

"Joseph M. Newcomer" <newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:r1tc13thvfcmq5kcgjaaddtldctevj8hfh@xxxxxxxxxx
There's a reason I don't use free open-source products: I can't afford
them. They are FAR
too expensive.

Example: someone once said "Well, you should use gcc because that way, if
you find a bug
in the compiler, you can fix it". Rubbish. I used to work for a compiler
company. I
*know* how hard it is to fix bugs in optimizing compilers. Or in
semantic analysis. Or
even in syntax analysis. Who, exactly, is paying me to make this fix?
Not my customers,
that's for sure. And if I fix the bug, then only MY version of the
compiler has the fix,
for months, assuming that the fix makes the cut to get into the master
source. So now I
have to get into the compiler maintenance business because my customers
can't compile the
code without my version of the compiler. They may be maintaining this
product for a
decade or more. So I have to maintain THAT VERSION of the compiler for
ten years. Sure.


Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newcomer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Web: http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips: http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm
.

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