Yes, Juan, Dan pointed that out in his response.

I mistook Dan's original as a polite rant against profits generally, which clearly it was not.

But still, we should not confuse things like "profit" and "reasonable cost". The two certainly do not live in opposition to each other. . . look at the banks!

Here, in Canada, we pay "service charges" for ANY move we make relating to ANY banking service. The cost of each is relatively small.
Now the banks here have millions of accounts each (6 major ones, each with more than 2 million personal accounts plus commercial accounts).

As consumers we gripe eternally that they are nickeling and dimeing us to death. It is decidedly the thing we collectively abhor about our banks.
The baks answer that it ain't so bad and, after all, accounts for less than 3% of their profits.

Yet they will NOT cancel those charges! The charges are small, but they are bothersome. And when a bank declares profits around $2 BILLION, you can see how people might get upset.

Now I wouldn't mind at all if the UT resulted in a profit of $2 billion, as long as it continued to do it as it has been doing so. Should they move to other pricing structures, some of us might start to feel differently.

Cheers,
Jim N

.>Jim,
>
>I won't argue that UT has to come up with money to support this site, but as Dan points out it's not entirely about profit. UT does offer free access to the forum, and the free insight all of UT members provide would otherwise cost you the big bucks in the consulting world.
>
>>Dan,
>>
>>Some lovely sentiments expressed, but just a little lacking in facts. . .
>>
>>Many have looked for the "silver bullet" for Y2K problems, spending much time and money doing so and basically coming up dry. Some were no doubt motivated by money alone, but I would bet that most were at least also trying to solve a very critical problem for the general benefit of us all. The person "discovering" THE cure for cancer will be rich beyond belief, whether they want to be or not. Could have been similar here. But the problem seems mucj like cancer, but with a time-limit.
>>
>>Profit *probably* has something to do with the fine facilities provided here at UT. These things don't just materialize, and the guy responsible does have to eat, etc.
>>
>>My 2-cents (Cdn) worth,
>>
>>Jim N
>>
>>>Really? I've heard this from many different sources and I have to wonder is it such a good thing.
>>>
>>>How many of you have heard comments like, "Things were much easier before we got computers." When fixing a bug in a program (yours or someone else's). "I guess this is what you would call 'Job Security' ", with that smirk that lets you know exactly what that person thinks of your ability. "You don't do anything. You just sit in front of that computer all day."
>>>
>>>The point is that it is not just the jobs that our important. It is people's attitudes in general towards programmers. Look at how public opinion towards M$ has changed in the last few years. I have a problem with anyone who tries to stamp out competiveness. There are so many things that Microsoft can do to better its image and provide a better programming environment for all of us.
>>>
>>>What about some sort of "program" to allow younger aspiring programmers the availability of an "advisor", to get past some of the road blocks that hindered us all. I believe that we all have a responsibility to make things easier for others to develop and better themselves as programmers. It is very easy to fall into the selfish stance where I will only do things that benefit me, I will not divulge any of my secrets. But this hinders the development of us all.
>>>
>>>Look at the movie "Lorenzo's Oil" as an example. When the efforts of the best of the science community comes together to work as a team, science can make leaps, where normally they would be crawling at their normal competitive pace.
>>>
>>>These problems, like the year 2000 problem, may provide us with more jobs, but it really points to a deeper problem within the programming community.
>>>
>>>UT is a good example of a good environment in which to learn and develop, because many are willing to provide support. At the same time they are not a profit driven organization which speaks very highly of those that put UT together.