In article <1993Apr29.102341.13820@comp.lancs.ac.uk> julian@comp.lancs.ac.uk (Julian G. Self) writes:     Wasn't the shareware fee a "suggestion" by John?    Is so then it's up to the individual to make the choice whether or not to    honour it and part with money.  Personally if I was in his position I would    do exactly the same thing, John has obviously put in lot of time and effort    into xv and why shouldn't he receive some money for it.  It is interesting to look at the change(s) of mind that John has had.  The AUTHOR file for xgif (an early incarnation of xv) reads (in part)  as follows...    Do whatever you want with this program, though it *would* be nice if my name   remained on it somewhere...  Other than that, it may be freely modified,   distributed, and used to fill up disk space.  The README file for xv 1.00 (?) reads (in part) as follows...    NOTE:  If you like the program and decide to use it, *please* send me a short   email message to that effect.  Be sure to mention the full name of your   organization.  When our sponsors ask us 'what have you been doing', it would   be most handy to be able to come up with a nice long list of organizations   that are using code developed in the GRASP Lab.  Brownie points, as   it were.  The copyright notices as it appeared then was...    /*    * Copyright 1989, 1990 by the University of Pennsylvania    *    * Permission to use, copy, and distribute for non-commercial purposes,    * is hereby granted without fee, providing that the above copyright    * notice appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and this    * permission notice appear in supporting documentation.    *    * The software may be modified for your own purposes, but modified versions    * may not be distributed.    *    * This software is provided "as is" without any express or implied warranty.    */  The README file for xv 2.00 reads (in part) as follows...    Also, if you find XV to be nifty, useful, generally 'cool', and of   some value to you, your donation (not tax-deductable) would be greatly   appreciated.  $10 (U.S.) is probably a fine amount to donate.   Folks who donate $25 and up will receive a nice, bound copy of the XV Manual   printed on a spiffo 600-dpi laser printer.  It'll look lovely mounted over   your fireplace.  Which looks to me as a suggestion (see Julian's comment above).  The copyright notices as it appeared then was...    * Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 by John Bradley and   *                       The University of Pennsylvania  The README for xv 3.00 reads (in part) as follows...    XV is shareware for PERSONAL USE only.  You may use XV for your own   amusement, and if you find it nifty, useful, generally cool, or of   some value to you, your non-deductable donation would be greatly   appreciated.  $25 is the suggested donation, though, of course,   larger donations are quite welcome.  Folks who donate $25 or more   can receive a printed, bound copy of the XV manual for no extra   charge.  If you want one, just ask.  BE SURE TO SPECIFY THE VERSION   OF XV THAT YOU ARE USING!    Commercial, government, and institutional users MUST register their   copies of XV, for the exceedingly REASONABLE price of just $25 per   workstation/X terminal.  Site licenses are available for those who   wish to run XV on a large number of machines.  Contact the author   for more details.  The second paragraph to me says that universities MUST register and pay (a potentially) large sum of money.  The copyright notices now read...    * Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 by John Bradley  Was this developed on upenn's time/equipment?  What do they, and the GRASP lab mentioned above, have to say about all this?